NXNEi at the Hyatt Regency (370 King West), Monday-Wednesday (June 14-16). Sold out. nxne.com/i.
What exactly does a social media expert do all day?
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Lately, that title is more synonymous with “huckster” than “consultant.” And there are more than a few hucksters out there.
But Amber MacArthur, the host of CP24’s Webnation and local tech celebrity, is the genuine article. Instead of simply offering herself up as some Twitter guru, MacArthur lives and breathes the technology.
When she started her website in the early 2000s, AmberMacArthur.com was already taken. So she went with a shortened version of her name, AmberMac.com. And an internet star was born.
Now she can’t use her last name even when she wants to.
On Tuesday (June 15), her first book, Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media To Grow Your Business, comes out with the name Amber Mac on the cover.
And she’s also billed as Amber Mac for her sold-out appearance at NXNE Interactive on the same day.
“That’s how the whole thing started,” she tells me. “Everybody knew me by my website. So they called me Amber Mac. I ruined my own last name.”
That’s the way of the World Wide Web, according to MacArthur. Part of developing a following online is listening to your followers. Nearly 50,000 Amber Mac followers can’t be wrong.
Which then raises the question, who’s following who here?
MacArthur says it’s a balance. Sometimes you promote your website, brand or product, sometimes you please your audience. Power Friending and her NXNEi panel, Architects Of Community, both serve as how-tos.
“I built up a following because I posted things I knew my audience was interested in. So the best advice I have is understand your audience, understand what they want to hear from you,” she says.
MacArthur’s main advantage is her honest enthusiasm for what she writes about.
“Initially, my publisher wanted the cover shoot to be just me, and stock photos of people who were supposedly my friends would go in behind me. I thought, ‘That’s kind of weird, since I’m talking about authenticity in the book,'” she says.
“So I went on Twitter and asked people to show up for the photo shoot. I got about 20 people, and now all of them have helped me promote the book.”
A social media success story, right from page one.
Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media To Grow Your Business comes out Tuesday (June 15), with a release party today (Thursday, June 10), 6 pm, at Remy’s (115 Yorkville).
