About Social Media Leaps
We know “Social Media” is likely here to stay. And, we also know that there are a whole lot of small business owners and chamber of commerce staff wondering how exactly they get started with all of these new tools. This project and this resource is a result of our desire to provide a little bit of help getting started.
This isn’t designed to be the “be all, end all” resource for social media. And, if you have the time and money to invest with an ad agency or to go to a multi-day seminar or hire a consultant to help with all of this, the Social Media Leaps resource will likely just be an interesting primer for you. If, however, you are like most small businesses and small organizations with a smaller staff, limited resources and a whole lot of questions about social media and how you might get started, this resource is a great first step.
Like so many things in the social media space or the Internet world, this resource will never be finished. In fact, it is designed to be expanded by you. We really don’t feel like we “own” this project – we’ve simply tried to begin to facilitate people with similar questions and good ideas. A lot of the links will take you to other places that may lead you to even more resources. And, that’s ok. There’s no specific value to keeping you from going wherever you want to with these tools. We’ve also tried to provide ample opportunity for you to reach out to us and everyone else using the Social Media Leaps resource to ask a question, provide an example or add to the body of knowledge. The Social Media Leaps Facebook page is designed with just that in mind.
Overall, what we have tried to do is put a whole bunch of stuff in one place for your convenience. We’ve tried to link you to some good resources. We’ve tried to provide step-by-step instructions to get started. And, we’ve tried to convey some tips and tricks as well as a way of thinking about how to approach using these new tools, to do a better job building relationships with your customers.
As you get started, it’s important to remember that you need to listen, experiment and play in this space. You simply can’t read a book and know it all. Because social media is an ongoing conversation with customers, peers, friends and family, it has its own ebb and flow. Sometimes a conversation takes you in an unexpected direction – be open to the experience.
Often we can’t exactly duplicate what others are doing – and we probably shouldn’t. However, we can likely always take the best ideas and examples we see and figure out how to best apply them to our own businesses. That’s the trick here. If you can look at enough stuff, eventually you’ll begin to figure out exactly how you can make these tools work the best for you and your objectives.
Have fun and go do some great social media stuff!