NAREE's San Antonio Conference Offers Social Media Tips for Journalists

By Marcie Geffner, Freelance Writer & NAREE Member

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Social media can make a journalist's job easier, though the various services can be time-consuming to set up.

That was the premise of "Rock Out Twitter, Facebook and Your Blog in Less Than Half an Hour a Day," a lunchtime presentation at the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference here today. The presentation was given by Fayza Elmostehi, social media editor at CultureMap, a Houston-based online magazine.

"Social media can make your responsibilities easier," Elmostehi said. "It's really easy to use; it's the setup that freaks people out."

In a little less than one hour, Elmostehi explained some of the do's and don'ts of social media and listed some of the basic tools that can help make daily social media tasks more efficient. On the list of tools were HootSuite, TweetDeck, Twitter Lists, Twitterfeed, WordPress, Blogger, Google Alerts, Googlepulse, RSS Graffiti, the new HootSuite for RSS and more.

Elmostehi's top two tips:

• Social media should always be "you-centric" and "them-centric." The former refers to posts about yourself, the latter to posts about other people.

• Tools make social media friendlier, but don't replace human interaction and participation.

Other tips from Elmostehi:

• Twitter and Facebook are "two different networks" that require different approaches and different content.

• Journalists who are high-profile or want to create a public persona should consider a Facebook page as well as a Facebook profile.

• Facebook, Twitter and blogging are "the three most important" social networks since those are "where the people are."

• RSS feeds are useful social media tools, but again, "not a good substitute" for interaction and participation.

Marcie Geffner is a freelance real estate reporter in Los Angeles. Twitter: @marciegeff

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