I get a lot of questions when I’m out and about, but the one I get the most is how I got my job. WCNC asked me (most important takeaway: a top-down camera angle will make you look like Jabba the Hut’s girlfriend) and The Charlotte Observer wants me to help others learn how to find jobs at an upcoming conference. The truth is, I don’t know how you can get a job in social media, but I can tell you the steps I took to get my job as a social media specialist at Duke Energy, a challenging, rewarding job I really love. Here are the things I did: Spent...

You know those friends who know you so well that you can start conversations right where you left off six months ago without any explanation? That’s how me and my friend Dawn are. We’ve lamented together over infant teething, toddler defiance, teacher troubles and teenage defiance.  Sipping Dr. Pepper (her) and coffee (me), we’ve sliced, diced and julienned family conflicts, work issues, successful child discipline and failed recipes. I now live three hours away from Dawn and we don’t see each other much, but when I call or email...

A good lunch for me consists of online reputation management talk over a nice Greek salad. I actively seek out people who won’t tire too quickly of my enthusiasm for online networking. My kids call me a “twitterholic.” So when I meet people who think my rants against making people register to comment on blogs mean I’ve just had too much caffeine, what do I talk about? You guessed it. Just as twitter is the Chuck Norris of Ice Breakers, social media is a great conversation starter. Because almost everyone wants to know more about it....

I’m no good with a torque wrench but it’s a powerful tool in the right hands. And when it comes to networking, twitter (used well) would give even Chuck Norris a run for his money. This struck me like a direct message from the great Chuck himself when I was at BarCamp Charlotte Saturday. I met so many interesting people that I can barely remember them all. I’ve never had so many people come up and introduce themselves to me at an event before. Many conversations began with “Hi Lisa, I follow you on twitter.” Instant ice breaker....