Julia and I go way back, to our days of selling on eBay.  I could tell right from the beginning that she was a go-getter, and full of positive energy!  Her art portrays that, and her free-spirit of expressing ones self.  Her passion comes thru in her art work, no matter what the medium.  And this is also portrayed in her Social Networking used for her website Julia Trops.

And the phrase ‘what you see is what you get’ rings true as well.  We finally got the chance to meet in real life a few years ago.  Besides being a very gifted artist, Julia is a loving, caring wife & Mom….that was evident when I watched the dynamics of her with her family.  She has great people skills, and they are genuine and evident when you talk to her in person, as well as online.

1. How long have you been using Social Networking for your business?

I’ve been using social networking since about 2003 when I started posting on forums for artists. It wasn’t called Social Networking back then, but I consider any interaction online as social networking. LinkedIn is another way to interact and Google groups as well as blogs for comments and news articles. Facebook and Twitter, I’ve been using since they became accessible to the general public. I am an artist, and back then, web interaction was frowned upon as frivolous but now is regarded as a requirement. Just goes to show you to follow your own path, and mind.

2. Is your business using Facebook &/or Twitter?

Both. I have a Facebook page for myself Artist Julia Trops http://www.facebook.com/ArtistJuliaTrops, one for my art show that I organize and manage http://www.facebook.com/EroticArtShow. Twitter is http://www.twitter.com/juliatrops – I have one twitter account and feed all my actions through the one account. I am a big hashtag user – I consider them similar to webpage metatags.

3. Facebook vs Twitter – do you like one better? If yes, why?

Currently fb is more interesting to me because there is much more diversity. One thing that bugs me though about fb is that businesses who use fb for interaction and promotion are making personal profiles rather than pages – that shows me they don’t really know what they are doing.

Twitter is useful – as mentioned all my fb posts from my two pages are fed automatically to twitter with appropriate hashtags, as well as my webpage, which I have turned in to a blog format – plus if you set your twitter feeds to before 7 am, you are more likely to get picked up by those paper.ly feeds which pull hashtags, and get featured in them, and you get double exposure.

Find out which papers are running in your area or your area of expertise and use the tags that they pull. Connect with the paper owner and maybe talk strategy. The thing about SN is we are all in this together.

4. Do you post daily?

Most of the time. On fb, I try to post relative content on my business pages. I post every day on my personal one, and if I say or see something that relates to my business then I will carry that over to my business pages. The art show fb page is strictly art show. It takes me a year to do the art show, (Call to Artists to show completion) so when it is up, I feed one or two artists into the fb/twitter machine, so there is content every day the show is up.

My blog(s) are also fed in to twitter and fb – and if NetworkedBlogs does not pull the feed, then I post them manually.

5. What is your favorite thing about Social Networking?

Interacting with people. Testing ideas, and thoughts and perceptions. I get great feedback that teaches and informs me, which in turn I give back to others.

6. What do you think is the biggest benefit of Social Networking?

Understanding my fellow man and consequently, myself.

7. How do you measure Social Networking, and explain.

If I am still interested in doing it, then the interaction is successful. If it becomes a chore, there is a problem – and some days it becomes a chore. I use SN as a way of discovery in to myself. If it is a chore, I examine why, and change up my strategy so it becomes exciting for me again.

8. What is the best moment you’ve had on a Social Networking site?

Seeing reactions to my work by people I admire, and them loving it so much they want to purchase. I only do original artwork, and it is nice to see that a select few people out there really do value and understand the concept of original artwork. As an artist, the mass print market seems to have taken over the world and there are times when I think everyone is a neanderthal without the ability to understand original art…. then someone comes along and says hey I get it. They have my loyalty for life!

9. What is your best piece of advice to other businesses about Social Networking?

Be consistent with your name… dont have one name on Twitter and another on Facebook and another for the webpage.

And finally…Screw what anyone else says. Do what you want and feel comfortable with. If you are going to use a tool, take the time to learn the tools and their proper use. Don’t be afraid to do something new. If you are afraid, good, do it anyway. “Where you stumble, there your treasure is….” Joseph Campbell

 

Julia Trops

Facebook: JuliaTrops

Twitter:  @JuliaTrops

LinkedIn: Julia Trops

 

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