Mixing Business with Pleasure: What Social Media is All About

Taking time from a business trip to root for the Mets

Everyone talks about how to do Social Media. About how important it is to do Social Media. About how you have to be part of the conversation and how you have to be involved with your users. The one big thing that they’re not saying about Social Media is about how much fun it can be.

I work in a different niche than any of the friends that I see on a regular basis. I love animals. I always have. None of my friends have any pets. I find that such a pity. They really don’t know what they are missing. There is so much that having pets adds to life. But I digress, that’s not what this blog post is about.

Social Media has been a wonderful way for me to connect with like minded people that share my passions. I’m passionate about animals and their welfare. When I created The Pet Wiki, I was creating a place for all animal lovers to come and share their knowledge with the community.

When I get up in the morning, one of the first things that I do (sometimes before I get out of bed) is to check my user page, twitter feed and facebook fan page. I want to know what’s going on and be part of the conversation.

I live in Israel, so most of the friends that I’ve made over the past year are people in different time zones. I have been able to connect with wonderful people from all around the globe. I have friends in every continent. Our love of pets has been a unifying factor. Social Media has given us a platform to bring us all a little closer.

I’ve been pretty successful with growing the fan base of The Pet Wiki. If I had time to work on it full time, I think that I could be more successful. There are just so many hours in a day. Luckily, when you work on Social Media, if you’re in your niche, you really don’t feel like you’re working at all.

The biggest trick with Social Media is getting people who love being social involved. That might not necessarily be your marketing team. I don’t come from a marketing background. I’ve worked in Content most of my professional career. I’m good at it because I love it and I love spreading my message. I love engaging people.

This isn’t work at all. I kind of feel guilty about being on twitter and facebook so much. Although it’s work, it’s not work. It’s truly a pleasure to do what I do.