At out last Social Media Breakfast, Using Social Media for Marketing and PR, Ross Lasley, one of our speakers, shared this golf analogy with us. A lot of people are concerned that social media can’t be used for business. Social media is fun and for some reason work cannot be fun. If you are participating in an activity for your job AND you are having a bit of fun, something is very wrong.

Social Media is all essence fun. You connect with your friends, family, coworkers or other people you have met on this wild journey you call life. You CAN use it for business too and there is nothing wrong with that!

Ross told us to think about all the people who claim they gets lots of work done when they play golf. Sure, they are making deals, forming stronger relationships and shaking hands but they are also having fun too. Isn’t that like what we do on sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? but we do these things virtually?

So maybe social media is like golf!

For more information about previous breakfasts, presenters slides and bios please check out our archive page.

Social Media is becoming less and less its own world and more so being integrated into marketing strategies. Unlike a print ad, radio commercial or article, social media is happening in real-time and even if you aren’t participating, that doesn’t mean people aren’t talking about your business or industry. The content is raw and unapproved which makes a lot of businesses uneasy.

To protect your brand, your staff and your businesses reputation you should consider creating social media policies. Policies protect you and let your staff and community know what is acceptable online behavior and what is not.

This month we have two local professionals, Sarah Wallace and Brad Lawwill, to talk to us about creating a social media policy, if you need one and what other organizations are doing. This is going to be a popular topic so please register early so that you are not left out when we sell out.

We hope to see you there!

Line up change

Unfortunately Christine is unable to attend this month’s breakfast so we have a small change in the line up. Franklin McMahon will be presenting ’10 Secrets to Developing Your Personal Brand Online and In Person’. Franklin is an amazing resource for all things new media and social media. We are very excited to have him join us!

See you on Friday!