Yesterday, Shelby addressed her personal and professional growth thanks to social media. I decided to provide a picture of the perks social media has provided me.
The Perks
I’ve always been good at networking myself into great venues and events even before social media. I managed to attend two Milwaukee Brewers playoff games in 2008 for free without the use of social media. To me, social media is networking on steroids. Here’s a small sampling of the cool places I’ve been able to go in the last couple of years because of social media.
The Super Suite at Luxor, Las Vegas – Last October, I made some valuable connections during BlogWorld. This April, those connections gave me the use of an amazing suite at Luxor Las Vegas for a party.
Shed Aquarium, Chicago – Another friend I met at BlogWorld suggested that I should let him know the next time I was in Chicago. As a director of the Shed Aquarium, he said he could provide me with exclusive access to the venue. The weekend I decided to take him up on his offer, he was out of town. Despite his absence, the tickets were waiting at will call. Instead of waiting in line for 20 minutes to purchase tickets, my wife and I bypassed the line and entered for free.
Dscoop Party at Navy Pier, Chicago – I just returned from GraphExpo Chicago, a trade show in the printing and graphic design industry. During the show, I followed the #GraphExpo hashtag on Twitter and noticed a tweet about an exclusive party on Navy Pier being hosted by Dscoop. I followed the instructions and scored tickets for three of our booth workers to attend. The party included a great band, free food, free drinks and amazing business networking opportunities.
Stickers for me and you – I received free JimRaffel.com stickers and it all started with a tweet. As a reminder, two readers of this blog can acquire free stickers from StickerGiant as well. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before next Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Early access – I’ve been able to get access to new sites like Skibbleand Kitchen Table Companies(affiliate link) because of connections I’ve made in the social media space. By actively engaging with folks, they come to know you care about them and what they do. That’s the people we trust with advice on our new projects.
I could add more perks to this list, but you get the idea. While none of these perks pay the bills, they have made my life richer and more enjoyable.
Tonight, we have a special guest host for #shehechat, which starts at 8 p.m. CST. @Einley can tell you how social media took her to the White House!
Tonight’s #shehechat topics
Join us tonight at 8 p.m. CST on Twitter by following the #shehechat hashtag. Our topics are listed below.
1. Where has social media taken you?
2. How personal do you get on Twitter?
3. Hacked Twitter accounts: credibility and gullibility. Shelby noticed that the @NBCNews Twitter account was hacked on 9/11 and was sending out tweets that ground zero had been attacked. How much of what you read on Twitter do you just believe without fact checking?
You’ve got Skibble? Total jealousy on my part. I’ve been waiting for their Android version, so I assume it must be available now. 🙂