by Claire McGovern, Strategic Initiatives Associate, Pipeline 

On a warm summer night, I ventured down to the YMCA for an advanced course in Social Media. One cool facet of my job at Pipeline is the opportunity to polish my skills through more education. When the opportunity came to take a course taught by some of the best and brightest in social media, I jumped at the chance. Columbia J-school’s professor and dean Sree Sreenivasan is “a technology evangelist/skeptic” (according to his Twitter profile). He also contributes to DNAinfo.com as an editor as well as runs facebook.com/sreetips, a wonderfully helpful facebook page focusing on the goings-on in social media. Formerlly with the New York Times and developing their social media strategy, Fast Company’s cover girl Soraya Darabi is a celebrity in the social media game. Her expertise was evident, but her presentation was approachable.

Sree and Soraya made social media approachable and stressed the importance of these platforms going forward. Sree even went so far as to say your Twitter domain name will be one of the ways that other people know you. The class focused on how to utilize these tools in a way that promotes and brands yourself, your business, or both. The Pipeline team learned a great many tips and tricks, and we recorded our debrief session for all of you to enjoy. Implementing some of these strategies can jump start your online strategy, which can help your brand and your business!

Claire McGovern is Pipeline’s Strategic Initiatives Associate. Her responsibilites include managing Pipeline’s social media presence, content creation, and producing the #womaninnovator series. Claire’s posts will document her summer at Pipeline and her observatinos as she navigates through her own personal pipeline.