Any advice from the professionals? I'll take it!

The following credits @PRSarahEvans and http://www.sevansstrategy.com/

"Business is a contact sport.

Ther are millions and millions of conversations happening out there, right now. That's a powerful thing. Social media is essential if you start to intergrate it into your business or your organization. There are uses for customer service, for fundraising, for buiness development, for marketing, for advertising. The list goes on and on. You could have the strongest brand in the world or the best CEO, and if they can't connect with people, it's not going to work. It's about going to where your customers are talking about you and finding the right time to jump in and become a part of it. There is so much that goes into that and it always goes back to that strategy and buying from the right people and making sure that the right people are actually using the tools well.

Social media is a conversation.

Maybe we should talk."

I don't feel feel popular enough in media. What can I use as my voice so I can become heard? A blog is only going to get me so far.

Social media is connecting and using strategies and having the right tools.

An LV enV Touch isn't going to get me further just because I could have access to the internet --as in Facebook, Twitter, etc. I have, however, upgraded to a new phone, but it probably wouldn't be to @simonleung's standards. :)

I'm not worried about my daily voice and connecting with people since I do that at work; I know I have a great reputation there. @LifeTimeFitness has a mission and as for my line of work, I do my best to provide an educational, entertaining, fun and innovative experience of uncompromising quality. I connnect with Members daily in Aquatics and I do my best to intrigue non-members to become Members who are interested in putting their kids in our U-Swim School program. We offer great rates, reasonable prices and our instructors are first aid, cpr/aed certified.

Go ahead! Check it out for yourself: http://www.blogger.com/www.lifetimefitness.mylt.com/index.jspa We are located in 19 states.

My biggest problem right now, is finding my voice in social media.

I wanted to create something called #RRTweetMeetUp. In fact, I just wrote a blog about it December 19, 2009. The intent of this was to have people meet at a restaurant in Savage, Minn., called Axel's Bonfire and your "ticket" in was to bring non-perishable foods. So far, there's two people confirmed; myself and another graduate from Minnesota State University, Mankato, who I graduated with named Rachel (@rachellaitala). Pretty sure I'm cancelling it until I have a bigger voice and know more about what I need to do to get the word out there. I tweeted about it consistently for a while, made a Facebook event (nobody has "confirmed" their attendance --I even invited a very popular figure in the midwest, but I'm assuming they won't attend) and I blogged about it.

I don't have a 'team' to work with, but I connect with people from Southern California and Los Angeles area almost daily; @PaulTTran @RochelleVeturis @ReporterHaley @GlobalPatriot and even in Portland @Scott_Bryant! Can't forget about the East Coast, though, I'm specifically referring to @PRCog.

These people know how powerful social media is, so I ask them for tips every so often, not that the other 1,000+ people that are following me don't have advice. Unfortunately, 160 characters is not going to get me much.

Another reason I majored in Mass Communications? It's hands-on. It intrigues me. It's so broad, yet so definied.

People don't have time to teach me and in this business, things change constantly --just had a conversation with @RochelleVeturis about this and I couldn't agree with her more. We are all always learning in social media, even the pros. The classroom didn't teach me enough and I haven't "worked" and/or really been truly exposed to social media in six months; I feel like I'm losing ground and the education I paid for is 'slipping' away.

I don't attend social media events enough, but I'm not sure if that's going to be the trigger to make something happen because I'm learning that having a drink at a bar is great, but I also don't really have much reason to go because I'm not sure why it is I'm even going.

Example: there's a room with 300 people in it and I want to make it to at least 20 people in the 3 hours I have. That's not going to happen . . . I'll make it to12 of them if I'm lucky since most conversations last 10-15 minutes? I'm a talker and very, very guilty of this crime, but I've also learned that I have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I need to always keep that in mind that my next biggest problem is I'm very personable. I like to connect with people and in order to really connect, I need more than 15 minutes of their time.

What also doesn't help is that I have so much I want to do (making a difference in the lives of other people) and realize that making a list would help, but I don't know where to start.

It also rolls back to the bigger problem that I'm not popular enough in social media to be noticed. How do you get noticed?

Experience is that thing you need and don't get it until just after you need it. This might just be me at the end of my internship with BRIO, a publishing company in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. But hey! At least I'm getting back into the ball park and I know I'll be to make great networking connections through the 3-month internship.