Lena West

Response to Skype chat with Lena West

Lena West is a social media strategist, which involves helping companies use all these different forms of social media that are available today, and picking the correct ones to promote their company. West’s interest in computers helped her create her own company twelve years ago.

She started as a web designing company because twelve years ago social media did not have the hype surrounding it that it does today. She understands the idea that companies need to use the Internet to gain consumers, which has created so much competition.

The idea of using social media to market yourself and your personal brand has really been introduced to me this year. There is much more to learn than being able to “friend” someone on Facebook. Some companies choose to use social media more than others, and West said that lots of companies surprisingly have not engaged themselves with various forms of social media as much as they should. She defined the difference between social media (tools) and social networking (one of the tools), which are often misunderstood. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are all considered to be social networks, within the social media realm, and she said that these three are extremely necessary to learn how to use.

I found it really interesting when West talked about choosing the correct tools for companies and which social media tools are right for them. There is such a thing as using the wrong one, and since there are so many out there it can be difficult to choose the best fit for you. Looking at the budget and goals of a particular company is the first thing that they look at, and figuring out how familiar a company is with particular technological skills. For people that are not part of a company yet but aspire to work in the corporate world it is important to “sharpen up your skill set,” and spend time learning how to use all these different forms of social media.

West’s passion kept her going through some difficulties that she was forced to deal with at the beginning of her career. Being young was a struggle when starting her company because not many people took her seriously and felt that she did not have a ton of experience. She stressed that the people you work with and surround yourself with are a huge influence upon your work, and it is important to work with people that are just as dedicated as you are.