I’m having a little bit of FOMO as the 2017 National Safety Council Congress & Expo approaches next week. No, I am not going this year…but I plan to engage with the conference anyway. You’ll have to follow my social media posts to see how I pull that off! For those of you who get to physically *go* to NSC next week, but have not thought out your social media plan, I’ve got some ideas for you. But first, some quotes from this week that prompted this challenge.
“I wish I had the time to post on social media like you do.”
Abby is “so proactive and speedy” that you may not think “she’s a real person.”
Yes, the quoted words were directed at me! I believe that all safety professionals indeed have the time to use social media as a tool. Just yesterday, through the magic of Facebook groups, I learned the latest information about OSHA’s plans for enforcement of the silica standard before any other source. A fellow safety professional was documenting her day via Facebook, and shared some valuable info for those of us who follow her in the process.
This bring me to my first two tips: pick your platforms and document.
Some of you may have cringed when I mentioned Facebook, and I used to feel the same way. I am now engaged with several safety related Facebook groups and receive valuable, relevant, and timely information daily! I used to worry about security and privacy when using Facebook for business things, but when you follow a group, your profile security remains intact. Use Facebook’s privacy check feature to make sure your profile is sufficiently locked down before joining any industry groups if you have hesitation.
I prefer LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook as my social media platforms that I use for work, in that order!
I find tremendous value in LinkedIn as I have a large audience and I learn so much from their engagement on my posts. I’ve met some awesome safety pros through LinkedIn that I would not have met if I abandoned LinkedIn years ago as I had planned!
Twitter is where I have fun compared to LinkedIn where I am more serious. One of the ways I plan to participate in NSC from my home office is by following hashtags and monitoring the NSC twitter feed as well as professionals and companies that are in attendance at the show. That way, I can understand the “pulse” of the conference and what people are discussing. No one needs to know I’m not there, I can engage in posts from anywhere!
For those attending NSC, use your preferred social media platforms to document what you’re doing, seeing, and learning. At ASSE’s Safety 2017, I searched hashtags and replied to conversations on social media and was able to meet new people, learn new things, and create lasting relationships – especially when the social media interaction moved to IRL interaction.
Engagement is probably the toughest challenge, even for those who use social media all the time.
My best advice is to genuinely post and respond on social media. If you work for a company that is marketing a product or service at a safety show, it’s important to engage in a conversational manner – if you go straight to selling, your engagement will not be seen as genuine!
The TL:DR version of this post:
If you use social media platforms that you enjoy to document what you’re up to and engage with others instead of posting into the void – you’ll be able to crush this social media challenge!
