I came across a video of a talk that Zack Arias gave at Luminance 2012 Conference on what is social media. I instantly was nodding my head in agreement with a lot of what he said. Here are a just few takeaways:
- Social media is about telling your story.
- Stop the noise – the unending barrage of Top ten lists to be the best of the best.
- Send a clear signal up through the community tree
- It’s not about the number of followers or likes
- Build a community with deep roots (tree metaphor used in his presentation).
- Be yourself – no pretense, no facade. Don’t pretend to be someone you are not.
- Personal brand and professional brand are intertwined.
- Give your content away for free – stop trying to sell, capture emails, ebooks, etc.
- Social media is about being social – stop the constant push and interact.
The video is 40 minutes in length but if you are interested in watching an honest approach to social media you won’t be disappointed. So grab a cup a coffee and danish and click play.
Zack Arias speaks at Luminance 2012 from PhotoShelter.com on Vimeo.
[...] This all started when Larry Snow suggested I look at a video on his Blog, and in the process saying it was about 40 minutes long – my first thought was, I’m not sure if I can concentrate that long on anything that did not involve cars or football. But I gave it a watch – and then I watched again with a note book taking notes. The speaker is not an EP guy; he is a photographer talking about Social Media at a photographer’s convention (I think). His talk is about Social Media, and how to effectively use it. But as I listened to the speaker it was apparent to me that his presentation was more about an individual trying to succeed in a difficult business – sound familiar? When he is talking about all the camera equipment he bought – substitute cameras equipment for guns – when he talks about taking pictures of toilets and telling folks he was a real-estate photographer – think about doing halls and walls or guarding a fence – or a car – He found success when he decided not to embellish what he did but to simply tell his story. The title of his presentation is – Tell Me Your Story, Don’t Sell It To Me http://larrysnow.me/tell-me-your-story-dont-sell-it-to-me/ [...]