Almost two years ago, I made the decision to stick my big toe into the muddy stream of  social media while listening to a teleseminar by an “older” woman promoting its value. I thought, “Hmm, if she can figure it out despite her aging brain, then why can’t I?” That was the day I realized that technology would continue to be my foe because of my fear of it; if it learned about it and then jumped in, my fear would disappear and I could make Web 2.0 work for me.

Today I continue to be a student of internet marketing, website building, and book promotion, and I try to soak up information about what’s going on with social media and technology. Or at least as much as this aging brain will allow!

I’ve concluded that social media is a powerful force to befriend. Particularly for writers who are struggling to promote their writing, their books, or their brand. As I look back over the social media influences in my life the last week or so, I find many examples of its influence.

Last week I attended a writing networking group and author Marcia Reynolds shared how she created a buzz for her new book Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction using social media. Her publicist was able to get her a blog gig on the Huffington Post, which upped her credibility several points in my book. An older audience member dared to raise her hand and asked the author to explain what a blog is. I listened as the group debated the best way to set up a Wordpress blog, which was really WAY more information than this poor woman wanted or needed, before I jumped into the discussion to set the group straight on Wordpress.com versus Wordpress.org.

In Oregon over the weekend, I checked out Yelp reviews before deciding on a restaurant and then visited the restaurant’s site to check out its web presence and menu.  In one hotel room without—horror of horrors—internet connection, I resorted to acquiring restaurant information the old-fashioned way by letting my fingers walk through DEX.  Since Google became my best friend, I can’t remember when the last time was that I’ve touched the yellow pages other than to put them in the recycling bin as soon as they’re delivered to my front door.

Back in Phoenix after I posted photos of my trip on Facebook, my parents invited me to dinner at Grapes, a little Italian restaurant and winebar a mile from my house that I had driven by ever since it opened. They had heard about it through social media for old folks–word of mouth, friend-to-friend. Of course, I “Yelped” it prior to our arrival and learned there was a happy hour, which was not advertised on the restaurant’s very basic site. I complimented the manager on the food and wondered how he was promoting the largely empty place. Social media, I wondered?  Then today I saw how Facebook saved a dying Florida restaurant. If Facebook can rescue Betty White from retirement, why not use it to save a restaurant in danger of closing or promote an eatery that deserves a loyal following?

As we lunched today, my writer friend fired up her wifi and questioned how the “average” grandparent will use social media. Some will get it and some won’t, I said. And some will have to hire people like me to help them get it, I explained as I demonstrated how a Facebook fan page works. And some will be too old (in their attitude) so that they’ll never even bother to get it, although my oldest Facebook friend is a computer savvy 85-year-old grandmother and old family friend. On Facebook I just learned her grandson’s tumor had dramatically shrunk and shared this news over dinner with my non-Facebooking parents. For once my mother didn’t bemoan “you people and your computers” after I delivered the news flash.

I told my friend that social media is about building connections as well as trust, especially if you’re promoting a business. Facebook fan pages are a great promotional tool, which is why I created a Wise Women Write fan page that can be accessed via Google by even non-Facebook users. It’s just another way to be….well, social, I guess, while at the same time building a brand. I know my fan page count is but a tiny rhinestone speck compared to the fan base of someone like Lady Gaga—could it be the way I dress?—but I’m happily getting my voice out there as I build my little Wise Women Write fan group and have fun.

Fun. Yep, I’m pretty sure that’s why social media is catching on. People find sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube fun.  And rather addictive. Must be why the latest Facebook statistics say that more than 400 million active users spend over 500 billion minutes per day roaming around the site.

So should you make friends with social media or not? Whether you’re the average grandparent my friend mentioned or a business struggling to be competitive, social media can help you connect to others. If you need “Social Media in Plain English,” check out this YouTube video I stumbled onto by the Common Craft folks explaining social media using ice cream. (My kids have rolled their eyes when I’ve warned them to try a lot of flavors other than vanilla before you find the flavor/guy you like.)  In this case, the ice cream analogy works very well in this video. And who doesn’t like ice cream?

So what flavor of social media is your guilty pleasure? Make mine two scoops of Facebook please.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I highly recommend attending a future More Reinvention Convention. My biggest challenge of the day was choosing the interactive breakout sessions to attend and which speakers to miss. Having the opportunity to hear so many incredible women in one day filled my head with inspiration and encouragement that anything is possible as women age. I learned that sometimes women are forced into reinvention by circumstances we would not choose.

Lee Woodruff  set the tone for the day when she said she had responded to her husband-newsman Bob Woodruff’s traumatic brain injury with writing—because writing is therapy. Later she turned her writing into two books. (I’m on a committee to bring Lee Woodruff  to Phoenix in the fall so watch for updates.)

Next Dara Torres, the 41-year-old swimmer who won Olympic Silver, told about her comeback using hard work and an attitude that “age worked to my advantage.” She also admitted to being very competitive, especially when people asked, “Aren’t you too old for this?” The five-time Olympic competitor has turned her experience into an inspirational memoir.

Being a Richard Carlson Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff fan, I was anxious to hear his widow Kristine Carlson speak about how she coped with his sudden  death. Kris shared from her heart and told us how she turned her 80,000-word journal into her new book.  Another example of writing as therapy. I highly recommend her book Heart-Broken Open because it shows how to thrive no matter what happens. She writes, “I had to get up. The rest of my life was waiting. This was something I could choose. It was all up to me.”

Dana Delaney, our luncheon keynote, hasn’t written a book because she’s busy acting on Desperate Housewives, starring in a new series and supporting a large number of causes. She’s a very wise woman so I’d love hearing more of her story if she ever slows down to write it—or have it ghost written.

Jenny Sandford, the wife of the governor who took off to Argentina with his mistress, didn’t think she had anything to say in a book. But friends encouraged her and she overcame her tendency to be a private person, using her story to heal herself and help other women rather than hurt her ex-husband. The writer in me wondered if the book was ghost written so I asked during the Q&A how she managed to write it so quickly while caring for her four boys. She wrote every day after her boys left for school and a “woman in San Francisco” helped put the book together in record time, two months after she signed the publishing contract. (I think her divorce took longer than the writing and publishing phase.)

The final speaker was Ambassador Nancy Brinker whose promise to her sister, Susan G. Komen, has led to incredible advances in breast cancer awareness and treatment. Nancy, whose memoir about Susan is due out in September, closed the convention with a very powerful example that one woman can change the world.

I have long agreed with Lee Woodruff—that writing is therapy, but before I attended the convention, I wouldn’t have considered writing as a reinvention tool, a tool for self-care. Certainly Lee Woodruff, Kris Carlson and Jenny Sandford used writing to move forward.  And writing can be an altruistic gesture: use the bad things that happen to you to help others, or in Dara Torres’ case use writing to encourage and show that dreams can come true.

Most of all, the day was confirmation that wise women write.

MORE Magazine – Reinvention Convention 2010

Related posts:

1. Saying Hello and Goodbye to Lee Woodruff I just took a good friend back home today.  I...
2. Writing, Women, and Memoir I stumbled on a must-read post about writing because it...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.