I’ve talked previously about revising and updating my online image, but now I’ll get a bit more in-depth about my social media strategy, where I use a mix of online and offline tactics.

First, I connect with people I’ve known and met at various stages in my life. I do this not by merely “friending” people, but making a good-faith effort to re-connect with them via phone or email, since the very nature of social media requires the need to be “social”. :). Applications like Facebook and LinkedIn let you see mutual connections as well as making suggestions for friends of friends or other colleagues to connect with.

I look for commonalities in people I connect with, thus my second tactic involves searching online for groups and online communities that are both of personal and professional interest to me. Here I apply a similar strategy of reaching out to others in the community, especially the active participants, since these are the people most likely to stay engaged over time and welcome new members to the community. Adding people from groups and other virtual communities expands my number of connections, but by engaging with members individually, I also get new leads for more people to connect with.

Because I’m still in the process of expanding my online network, most of my connection numbers are low now, but I don’t mind that since the quality of the connections I do have surely outweigh the mere quantity.

And that’s about it. I didn’t get into Twitter because I’ll blog about that later given that it’s a “different animal” as compared to other social media applications. LOL.

K.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my Nashville Home Technology Examiner page, and Follow me on Twitter (@KindraCotton), Link up with me on LinkedIn, and Friend Me on Facebook.