502-442-7914 howdy@nowsourcing.com

How to Stay Relevant in Social Media

Staying up to date and relevant in the social media industry is a top priority. As well as understanding that things don’t stay the same forever; rules change, ownership switches and things just get bought out, so a once reliable source of information may be yesterday’s news. The same is true of strictly social sites, whoever goes on Friendster anymore (besides people in Asia) and MySpace? Sure, they were big at one point in time, but popularity has declined making way for the new fad only to repeat the vicious, unforgiving cycle.

Credit

Of the people who do still stick to the old ways, most of them are the ever elusive and infamous aging hipster. He still believes that Friendster has not yet had it’s brightest hour and has forsaken Facebook for it’s mainstream ideologies.  He reminisces about when he was top dog of the conforming non-conformists and wonders why they all picked up and moved to Williamsburg. He has, since his younger years, actually used his degree, has functioning glasses and regrets about the howling wolf tattoo and never settling down like his more successful sister.

Nobody likes the aging hipster. Nor do they rely on him for useful information. Unless, of course, you’re also an aging hipster. Then, of course, your time interacting with one another is spent by hurling insults of being “too mainstream” and branding each other posers.

But, here are some easy ways to not be an aging hipster.

1) Get on Twitter

and follow people who know what their talking about. They’re called “experts”. Whatever it is you’re interested in, chances are that there will be someone on Twitter who knows more about it than you do and, unless they’re jerks, you would do well to listen to them.

Credit

2) Social media books

are just as useless and informative as aging hipsters. They’ll be out of date and obsolete by the time they hit the shelves and will most likely be stuffed full of amateur’s business cards advertising “promoting your website”. When you pick up a social media book, it’s a lose-lose situation.

Credit

3) Subscribe to RSS feeds

so, instead of having to search, it comes right to you. Get out there and subscribe to more than one RSS feed, and be open to what others have to say. Not everything is going to be on one site every time. While nothing is stopping you from subscribing to everything in sight, keep in mind (like the clever Tweeters) that not everything will always be useful.

Credit

4) Join in on Tweet Ups

and hear what other people do to stay “with it”. Sometimes they meet up at bars, so you can’t lose. But with all frivolities aside, Tweet Ups aren’t just a happy hour. Tweet Ups are for Tweeters of all shapes and sizes to get together and discuss what they Tweet about, why and, importantly, how they do it. Anyone can create a Twitter account and gain thousands of followers by being clever, but that doesn’t mean they’re clever about anything useful.

Credit

5) Make friends

with said “with it” people. Pay attention to what they do to be successful, and copy them, but not too much.

Credit

6) Mashable.com

is used by businesses and bloggers alike, this is a reliable and very popular site for a glance at the latest news. Definitely not the spot for the aging hipster.

Credit

7) Limited sources

should never be an excuse for ignorance. Look around, the Internet is a big place full of smart (and not so smart) people that just love when they’re listened to.

Credit

As you can see, it is nearly infinitely easier to avoid becoming an aging hipster than actually becoming an aging hipster. And while staying current does take work and dedication, it’s still not as much effort as living in the past and sulking about it. Plus, once the art of staying current is mastered, people will begin coming to you for the latest information.