Social Media Conference

I swung by to visit my former employer at McMaster University last week and she informed me about a social media conference that ended up happening today. Considering I'm a public relations student, I jumped on this opportunity. At that first public relations event I went to, I wrote about it a couple of weeks ago, I had countless professionals tell me that they're really keen on finding someone who is proficient with social media. I assumed that since I used Facebook daily, I have a LinkedIn account and I signed up for Twitter that I was a professional at it. I was wrong.

I learned so much from professionals in both public relations, LinkedIn and social media consultancy firms. They were all passionate, educated and great speakers. Today's sessions were about seven hours long, yet, time flew by so fast.

So, what exactly did I learn?
- Social media sites that I've never heard of (Mashable.com)
- I don't tweet nearly as much as I should
- I need to Google myself to see what employers learn about me before they meet me
- I have formatted my LinkedIn page incorrectly
- You should engage in conversations with the companies you want to work with
- Most networking can be done online (though I still prefer in-person)

Where do I go from here?
Though the list looks daunting, it's manageable. I'll start working on most of those things over the weekend. I want to be more proficient in social media. However, truthfully, I would never want a career that solely focuses on social media. I would get bored because it wouldn't really challenge me. I wouldn't mind a part-time job that involves only social media to start off with though because I think it would be a great opportunity to get started in the industry. One of the many reasons why I chose to enter the world of public relations is due to how much diversity there is with the work you do. Nevertheless, social media does play a large role within the industry. Yet, one needs to remember that there are other methods of communication which are equally as important.

If any of you would like my notes from the conference, leave your e-mail address in the comment box and I'll send them your way.