Happy International Women's Day! Become a Super Social Woman - Start Today in 5 Easy Steps! #ibmpartner #witi #catalyst #socbiz

 Happy International Women’s day!

To all .. yes, because whoever you are this day applies as you have a wife, mother, daughter or are a Super Women yourself!

In celebration, I wanted to focus on Social Media and Women!

First, A few observations:

• Large Numbers. There is a huge audience of women on social networks. There are a huge number of contributors in Social by women.   From BlogHer, Inc.,and Nielson, * one of my favorite groups and conferences, interesting stats are below with over 80M women using social monthly!
• Differences.  There are differences in how women use the tools. On Twitter for instance, women comment on things, men reference things. And Men are followed and re tweeted more than women.
• Age does not matter. Women over 50 are one of the fastest growing groups online. Women under 30 are embracing!  Are you?
• Social brings power to women. Depending on where you are in the world, it brings business to a woman’s world, it provides a voice, and it enables impact. 
• Women lead.  Woman are leading in many areas. For instance, Lady Gaga has the most followers on Twitter!

How do you become a Super Social Woman?

Beginner?

1. Set your goals!  It is personal?  Business?   Developing a new subject matter expertise?   If you have no destination, any road will get you there!  Make sure you know your direction!
2. Get Started! Get a Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn id. Set up a common picture, profile, and information that will become your personal brand.
3. Listen and follow to decide your “network”. Use tools like Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Klout to find out who to listen to. This will depend on your goals for going social!
4. Contribute. Comment on areas in your area of expertise. Yes, we all have one! I know you do too! Tweet me at sandy_carter if you can’t find yours and I bet I can help!
5. Get educated.   Go to a lunch and learn, ask your nephew to teach you come to the WITI event in June and I’ll walk you through a workshop!  Don’t just sit there!

Advanced:

1. Measure your contribution and influence.  Use Klout for your personally, or engagement DB for companies or Dachis Groups metric.  But know the impact of your social efforts.
2. Contribute.  Make sure you are sharing your knowledge and expertise.   Sharing your expertise is the best way to drive trust!.
3. Drive valuable women’s content.  As an advanced user, help other women.   The research shows that more people retweet men, not women!   Teach a class, adopt a newbie, help out!
4. Set a goal to drive up your influence and reach.   Be purposeful.  Set a goal and work toward it!
5. Experiment with new tools and techniques.   Share your experiences.

The Stats for Fun! From BlogHer, Inc.,and Nielson, * one of my favorite groups see above! * Source: Social Media Matters 2011, BlogHer Inc., Nielsen US Total Online Population sample, N = 1,771; Weekly or more Social Media Activity; Total online raw numbers based on Nielsen Online @Plan

From SheSays, we find that 86% women use social networking. Women over 50, grew from 31% to 70%. Women under 30, have a 96% participation rate on social networks!

And from the Harvard study

“…there are more women on Twitter than men, women tweet about the same rate as men, but men’s tweets are followed by both sexes much more than expected by chance.“

*  women create fewer links in their tweets than men.”  “Women actually say things, guys give references to other things.“
But even accounting for these differences, the researchers still saw differences between how men and women are followed, perhaps pointing to a fundamental representation of the role of men and women in society.