I stumbled onto this blog post today about Kristie Lu Stout, an anchor on CNN and mother of a 7-month old, reserving the URL, Twitter ID and Gmail account for her infant child. Talk about forward thinking!

A lot of people I encounter are interested in social media, but have some concerns about jumping in. What reservations, if any, do you have about social media? Some of the common objections I hear are:

a) “I don’t get it–why do I care what someone had for breakfast this morning?”

b) “I don’t have time.”

In my last post, I addressed “speaking the language” appropriate to the social networking site you are on. While it’s true that you may encounter an occasional Cheerios reference on Twitter or Facebook I can guarantee you (with 99% certainty) that you won’t find breakfast-oriented updates on the professional networking site LinkedIn, for example.

Determine where your target audience spends their time online and invest your time there as well. (Quantcast is a good tool to help you understand the demographic make up of site’s users.) Know why you are there and deliver your message sans updates about your dining habits; cut your potential customers some slack if they want to discuss theirs though…

In my Advanced Social Media workshop I show students how to create a social media marketing “system”– I can help you learn to make the most of your time if you will let me. Right now my seminars are offered exclusively in the Northwest Indiana area; however, I hope to have an online (video) training option available soon.

I am looking for 20-25 people to help me with the beta test of the new training site. Check back soon for details or email me at kathy@mysocialmediacoach.com if you are interested in participating.

Maybe you’re not ready to jump on the socia media bandwagon yet. Maybe you never will be, but how would you feel if someone else took your name? It’s food for thought–maybe making reservation isn’t such a bad idea…

Tip: Facebook will soon allow vanity URLs. Claim your spot!