A great change of pace New Networking Meetup Group and a Bonus ‘How I got here story’ reminder!
Imagine my surprise when Sophie Smith-Doré, the entrepreneur, who had chosen my name in the introduction game, from the bag, that Nadia Stemberga was passing around, started to speak.
Sophie said “Elaine Lindsay works at TROOLSocial media. She specializes in social media, online video and search optimization training. Elaine speaks about the integration of your digital presence. Elaine Makes the Internet Easy!
What she said next, reminded me that this was the beginning of my social media story.
In 2005, I had been invited to join LINKEDIN. I do not have a university degree, and thought then that it meant I did not belong on LinkedIn. I was wrong! ( That’s another story for another day)
Early in 2007, Facebook opened its doors to the general public. I immediately set up a profile, as I have told a number of people over the years, in order to stalk my adult children. (calling everyday made them grumpy) Amanda and Ryan
(This sentence got quite a laugh,) Sophie continued her introduction “Elaine quickly outpaced her children, in a number of friends on Facebook.” Seeing a good marketing opportunity for small business, Elaine began sharing the uses of “fan pages” with many business people. ”
It wasn’t until 2010, when people started telling me I ought to do Social Media for a living” ( Thats NOT a job I said) that I began researching the best place to get a great education in relationship marketing and social media.
I was introduced to Mari Smith, with whom I mentored for the next few years. Under her tutelage, I was a sponge, I love to learn and I fell in love with all things social.
At the end of June 201, Google introduced Google plus. I had to get an invite, I got into the beta on about day 3. I knew then, that the number one search engine in the world jumping into social media meant some kind of integration with search. Later when Google purchased YouTube I knew I was correct.
Google plus offered video and after my initial hesitation and a mortifying first foray ( see the blog post Naked Woman https://www.troolsocial.com/2011/09/a-womans-thoughts-on-google/) I dove in head first!
Here we are, February 2016 and I’m reposting the first friend interaction I had on Facebook, March 26, 2007 for #throwbackThursday It also happens to be#Friendsday and Facebook greeted me this morning with a really cool video of photos of some of my friends, over the years.
Thank you Facebook. Thank you Sophie Smith-Doré for reminding me about my entrance into social. And a huge Thank you to Mari Smith for being a stellar mentor!
Note: The interaction was with my friend Jane Phillips who had moved to Alberta. Where she still lives today. It’s great that we can stay in touch via social media.