Navigating Social Media - Getting up to Speed

Find a teenage neighbor and ask them to go over to your home and help you. Someone in 11th or 12th grade would be perfect.

Thank goodness my child was born just in time to teach me how to use the computer when she was 4, How to use my cell phone when she was 10 and how to use Facebook 2 years ago..

I promise they will love teaching you and will not use all of the technology jargon. They will just show you what you want to know.. Make a list of things you want to learn. And what safety features you should have.. How to add photos, How to scan items and post them, Where on the web are free sites for your business pages.. all of that sort of thing.. You could even offer to pay them for a few hours of their time, or on a "on call as needed" payment agreement..

The problem with having kids or teens teach you social media, is that their priorities are different than a business owner. Many of them are more into MySpace and texting than Facebook and Linked In. I'm also in my (not-so-early) 40s and have just taught myself lots of social media techniques in the last 12-18 months.

I would suggest "playing" around with one or two tools. I'm sure you can figure out much of it yourself. The biggest thing is not to let it intimidate you. The biggest part of my learning curve had to do with comfort. Once I became more comfortable, I was able to do more.

Also be sure to test & measure your results. This can be hard to do with things like social media, but you still need to try. Ask your customers "How did you hear about us?" Look at your website and find out where your referrals are coming from (hosting services like GoDaddy allow you to see where people came from.. google, facebook, twitter, etc.) Be sure to take that into account as you move forward. Social media can become very time-consuming if you let it. And not all outlets provide enough good leads for a particular business to warrant the time it takes you to manage that outlet.

Finally, find a good networking group in your area (chamber of commerce, Business Referral Networking, Hot Pink Mamas, etc.) Once you meet other business owners in person, find someone who's can mentor you in this area.

Good luck!
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You might might to check out your local community college and see if they have any classes on social media. I think I have seen some in the past.

I agree that since your motivation is to promote your business, you look at a marketing professional to give you some pointers and even look at some college classes that focus on internet/social marketing. I believe there are some that are offered throught TCC or DCC.
A teenager can help you understand the ins and outs, but not really how to use these tools to your business' advantage.
Kudos to you for learning and growing!!

I think you need someone in marketing to help you. What type of business do you have, and do you enjoy it?

Remember, one of the reasons these kids can adapt to technology so quickly is because they spend the time doing it! We grownups don't usually have that luxury. It's much quicker to have our kids teach us than to muddle thru ourselves. Budget some time to learn about these things and don't be intimidated because of your age. You'll pick it up in no time!

I can tell you that both Linkdin and Facebook are very easy to set up and get going. Facebook has a few idiosyncracies that irritate me, but it is still very easy to use.