Elza Hayen is the owner of Hayen Company, an internet marketing and public relations company specializing in social media marketing and promotions. At Hayen Company, she continuously researches latest trends and new applications being introduced in the social media marketing world in order to build internet identity and give a client exposure.
Elza serves as the State Representative in SC for the National Association of Women Highway Safety Leaders, a member of the SC General Assembly Women’s Caucus and a Leadership Columbia (’08) graduate. She is the VP for Communications and Marketing, chairperson of Communications Council and serves on the Board of Directors for the Junior League of Columbia. Elza is on the Board of Directors for Families of Highway Fatalities and is a member of the South Carolina Impaired Driving Prevention Council. She also serves on the Steering Committees of Social Media Club Columbia and Columbia Children’s Theatre.
Inspired by the series from *Danny Brown, here’s Elza and “Five Questions about Social Media.”
1) How do you define social media?
Social media are internet-based tools that allow users to connect, create and communicate with others. It allows users to generate content thereby creating their own internet identity
2) Which social media tools or applications do you use, and why these in particular?
This question is hard for me to answer. Being a person that consistently looks for a better product, the application that will “do it all,” I make a point to try multiple new tools daily. Basically, I have profiles/accounts with the majority of applications out.
As of this moment, I must say that I have a longstanding relationship with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger and Retaggr. I feel these tools will stay in my bag for a while. I’ve grown fond of 12seconds.tv and LaterLoop as well.
Facebook is great for revisiting friends (old and new) and creating new relationships like my relationship with Social Media Club. This neat link happened because Facebook gave users a platform on which to generate exposure for the Club. I have really seen the business side of Facebook pop lately. I love having a Fan page for my company. It allows me to feed my Blogger posts to my FB Notes for Fans to read. FB also allows for groups and events to be advertised. It also allows sharing of multimedia.
Blogger is a great personal favorite. I have about six or seven blogs running on Blogger. They stem from my company blog to shopping tips, blog tips, technology news and voluntarism. I post top links I’ve found, post my “Daily Tips” videos, post my profiles for others to connect and build relationships, share information I deem useful and newsworthy. Blogger is user-friendly and allows a person to be as creative as they’d like. WordPress is wonderful also, but is a little more difficult to create and maintain. 12Seconds.tv is a tool that allows users to create a TV channel and record 12 seconds (maximum) of footage. It will also generate 2 formats of video for you to download (FLV, MP4), it creates a tiny URL and will post to Twitter and Facebook automatically if you so desire. Users may subscribe, comment, bump and tag your content as a fan favorite.
Twitter is great for getting answers to your questions fast. Need advice? Toss out a question by way of a status update and ask for help and you’ll be surprised by those willing to lend a hand. Twitter also allows those in similar industries to share and exchange content. Brainstorming happens here.. of all kinds. A user can link to social icons and many others with one click. You can learn more about them throughout the day if they choose to “tweet” (post a status update). Retaggr is an application that allows a user to link EVERY online profile they have, add affiliations, blogs and then create a page with this information for your selected viewers to see (where they will see an option to “Connect” with you on every profile you have in common or allow you to create one you don’t have already). It also creates an online business card for you to embed on your blog and numerous other communities. This is one tool I don’t think I could do without.
LinkedIn is a great community to post your resume, connect with other professionals and see who they are linked to and what content they’ve posted. Basically, you’re visiting a bio and multiple social media tools, posting or looking for a job, joining/creating groups, sharing content and subscribing to updates. LaterLoop is a great application that allows a user to copy a link and save it for later. These links can be shared and/or posted or kept private. Nifty tool.
3) With increasingly busy schedules, Where do you find time for social media?
Social media is my business so I eat, sleep, breathe and dream it. It’s at the core of almost everything I do.
4) What advice would you give to local businesses wishing to effectively embrace social media?
Go, see and do … NOW! Most of the tools out are FREE and waiting for you to scoop up and utilize. The possibilities are endless really. Social media allows you to build new relationships and strengthen current ones. Why wouldn’t you take advantage?
5) Where do you see the future of social media?
Snailmail to E-mail!! What does that tell you? Social media is progressing rapidly and I don’t foresee this train stopping. I only see it growing and evolving in a way that all people will need to take the next step if they want to stay in the loop and communicate. For those of us familiar with social media, it’s not hard getting acclimated when we’re posed with another step forward. Those people who have yet to engage might find it extremely difficult to navigate the waters later if they don’t take the plunge now.
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