Angela goes to a Tweetup
So yesterday I hit up the Dover Tweetup (#chopup) for my very first social media event. The event was put on by NH TweetUP at the Orchard St. Chop Shop. It was an interesting experience for me- I was definitely the youngest person there, aside from an infant who accompanied another attendee (up and coming SM guru I’m sure). But in all seriousness there were a few good points that I took away from the evening as a total SM newbie.
One of the first things I noticed was the variety of different businesses represented at the event. I’m sure it seems obvious to some people, but it never occurred to me before that even an oil/heating company can reach out to locals and customers on twitter and FB. Naturally, there is a different level of online involvement for everyone when it comes to marketing strategies, but meeting some NH small businesses who utilize these tools was cool.
Another bonus of the event was finding common interests with others in the area who are on twitter. For instance I talked to someone who had knowledge about marketing and psychology, which happens to be my major. Hearing about real business applications to the types of things that I study was interesting and encouraging… maybe I will get a job someday after all.
As a student, I also found it advantageous to be able to talk to people who work in start-ups, small business, and large companies because frankly, I have no clue where I’m going to be in a couple of years. Even having a slight idea of which direction to look is nice when you’re a junior in college. So the chance to pick someone’s brain about the different pros/cons of different work environments is interesting and gave me lots to think about.
I think that before attending the Tweetup I was a little concerned that as a student with relatively little knowledge/experience I would be uncomfortable in the setting, but that wasn’t the case. The environment was casual and friendly-I thought it was fairly easy to engage with people in the room. It also helped that I went with two others (@liangtfm, @MRDaveThompson) so I didn’t feel totally out of place (thanks guys! haha). In the future I would absolutely encourage more college students to attend these events. There is a lot of potential for this community to grow in NH, and I think that students could help make that happen. Tweetup at UNH perhaps?? We shall see..
