This year I was speaking at PodCamp in Halifax – the 4th year for this event. PodCamps are generally a free to attend event, where the attendees host sessions to share their info and they are mostly based around the topic of new media.
These types of events are held all over (My Project Manager, Theresa, was at a WordCamp in Victoria BC – all about WordPress) and I really encourage everyone to look for PodCamp or WordCamp or even a SocialMediaCamp in your local area. There are so many benefits to attending – besides the new information you will learn at the sessions, there are all the networking benefits that can help you build your local contacts.
I always like to network with local contacts – having conversations with people you have met (or will meet) in person just adds another dimension to your online relationship. Events like PodCamp always find people connecting via Twitter and other networks as they build up to the event. When you get there, you will find yourself searching out and also recognizing these new faces. (Another big reason to use a picture of your face, not a over a logo on your profile picture.)
Talking to people and having conversations on social media is very important to building your presence in the online world. Social Media marketing should be about the relationships first and sales second. To start these relationships, you need to talk to people online. Making the local contacts is just another way for you to open a doorway to more online conversations.
Networking and Training Events generally have a hashtag (A one word term preceded by the # sign to allow people to follow this topic online by searching for the tag) they are using on Twitter. Get out there and do a Twitter search for that tag. Then start looking through the stream of people talking and you now have a list of contacts to follow and talk to all about the event and eventually more topics as you learn more about them.
Meetup is a good place to start to find local events – or try a search on Twitter and add in the location (go to advanced search ) – you may be surprised what you find!
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