Social Media Club | Columbia If you get it, share it

Jessica Cook Woodrum is the Director of New Media at ADCO, a strategic marketing, creative design, interactive media agency based in Columbia, SC. As Director, she leads the ADCO Interactive team, providing strategic vision for its operations, leading business development initiatives to expand its client base, and collaborating with her team of designers, programmers, and copywriters to develop new media solutions for clients in a variety of industries. Passionate about online engagement, Jessica also consults with clients on how to integrate social media into their overall marketing plans and use it to accomplish their goals. She has written several articles and given many seminars on new media–all of which are focused on empowering people to get online and get going.

Jessica serves on the Steering Committee of Social Media Club Columbia and on the Board of SC Equality. She is also a member of Refresh Columbia.

Inspired by the series from *Danny Brown, here’s Jessica and “Five Questions about Social Media.”

How do you define social media?

Social media is, quite simply, life. For me, life is about interacting, communicating, and connecting with people. Social media is just another space in which to live, interact, communicate, and connect.

Which social media tools or applications do you use, and why these in particular?

Primarily, I use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a WordPress blog.

I love Twitter for the information exchange that is always going on; I think it makes me more knowledgeable every day, or it at least gives me something new to think about.

Facebook is a great tool to connect and communicate with friends on a social level so I use it primarily for that reason. Additionally, I maintain my company’s Facebook page.

I don’t engage with LinkedIn that often, but I think it is important that I have a presence on it. If I had more time, I’d really use the “Answers” section of the site.

WordPress is a wonderful tool. I find it far more customizable and flexible than other blog platforms. No matter how many social networks I’m on, I will always believe in the blog. It’s powerful.

With increasingly busy schedules, Where do you find time for social media?

Fortunately, social media is a part of my job. As Director of Internet Marketing at an ad agency, I’m responsible for integrating social media into our marketing plan—so it’s literally a part of my work day. I am the brand of ADCO Interactive, and most days, I’m online all day, engaging in some form of social media communication. Thank goodness for my iPhone; it’s my lifeline.

What advice would you give to local businesses wishing to effectively embrace social media?

Engage fully (not half-ass). Don’t sell; communicate and connect. Listen more; talk less. Be authentic and transparent; don’t hide; don’t contrive. Don’t be afraid to show the people behind the brand; people are the key to social media.

Where do you see the future of social media?

Eventually, no one will be left “off the grid” anymore. We’ll all be online. We’ll be using social media for all our communications—so much so that email and Websites may begin to lose their relevance because we’ll be using Facebook, Twitter, or the next big “thing” to do it all. In short, I think people need to get online and get going—or risk getting left behind.

Connect with Jessica Across the Web