New to the Neighborhood – How I Socialized My Relocation (Guest Post)

A few weeks ago I “met” Donna Talarico on Twitter. She followed one of my clients (@FigLancaster) and I noticed she was moving to the area, so I decided to welcome her. We chatted a bit, and while we haven’t met in person yet, it was clear we had a lot in common, and I was impressed with how she was using Twitter to get acclimated to her new home before she had even moved here. So I asked her to share her thoughts in this guest post. Donna has a unique blend of experience with writing, print and broadcast media, marketing, and eCommerce and social media. Over the past decade, she’s been a radio station promotion director, a career school admissions representative and interactive marketing specialist for a leading eCommerce services firm, all while serving as a regular features contributor to a variety of publications. She’s been a TLC reality show contestant and has done many things to chase a story, including jumping out of an airplane. She has an MFA in creative writing from Wilkes University and is a new resident of Elizabethtown, PA. She brings all her creativity and tech savvy experience into her new position of web content editor at Elizabethtown College.

I’ve long been a user of social media. And, I’ve been creating for the web for even longer. Before there were blogs and WYSIWIG editors, I had a personal website using the fine technology of Yahoo!’s GeoCities. Flashing gifs? You bet. In fact, I was such an early user of that technology that I had to choose my city and then neighborhood – Nashville/Stage. (Anyone remember that?) I shared stories and pictures about my college and radio adventures. I had an entire page which listed my interests. I linked out to other sites and encouraged interaction with a comment area and “hot link” to send an email. Ah, the memories.

My point is, since the late 90s, I’ve embraced the power of making connections with others online. The media have changed, sure. And the technology? So much easier. The reach? Further. It’s no wonder that my career led me into the digital marketing realm. In my previous position at Solid Cactus, an eCommerce services company, I worked with online retailers. And, as an adjunct instructor at Wilkes University last semester, I taught a social media and public relations class, where I also emphasized that social media is a fine way to network for internship and job opportunities.

But, last month, I was able to step away from the business and PR side of things and used social media in a new way.

Social Media Can Help Take You Places

Never have I relocated farther than the next town over. (Unless we’re counting when I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma for three teenage years). That said, I never really needed to get used to a new town, learn new roads, find new places to frequent. Through this process of moving to an entirely new area I discovered a new way to use social media – using social media to discover a new area.

I lived, worked and played in Northeast PA for over a decade. Moving to Central PA would be a change. Would there be Tweet Ups? Were there great corner bars? What would the people be like? Where should I look for apartments? These are the thoughts that kept me up at night. Then it hit me. Let me go to Twitter.

The first thing I did on Twitter was search for the hashtag #lancaster. I wasn’t sure if one existed, but I tried. There were a few recent tweets with that tag – some irrelevant – and the first I chose to click on was from FigLancaster. The name sounded neat. From there, I learned what Fig Lancaster was all about. I dug it, so I checked out its followers list. From there, I began following people and places. In the meantime, since I knew people would check out my profile before following back or replying, I also tweeted that I was relocating to the area and added “new to Lancaster” to my profile. (Even though I was still in the moving process.)

Making Connections

Magic started to happen. Friendliness poured. One of the first people to follow me back was Ken Mueller – you may have heard of him. I read through tweets and checked out his blog and immediately knew he’d be someone I’d want to meet. We DM’d back and forth about Elizabethtown (where I ended up living), about local establishments, areas of the city that would be nice to live in. What’s more is that my new Twitter friend suggested other people to follow. He is well-connected in the area, and he shared those like-minded people with me. He connected me to the husband of someone who works at the college I just started at. Then later, I Googled “Elizabethtown newspaper” to see if there was one, and I found a blog penned by that same someone I just met on Twitter through Ken. And then I found the actual newspaper, and “liked” it on Facebook. I learned the local library was closing for a week, so later, when we moved and there was a sign, I knew why.

Goosebumps. I was very active in Northeast PA, and that was perhaps the hardest part about leaving. I was afraid I wouldn’t find similar people or places or opportunities in Lancaster County, but Ken’s tweetship (a Twitter friendship?) made me feel right at home before I even signed my new lease. From Ken and the others, I learned about markets, local book shops, bands, a new shared creative space and more. A few people asked what I liked to do, and from there, the personal recommendations came. Now THAT is way better than searching on my own.

I created a Twitter List called Lancaster, and I added all of the new people I was following. As I prepared for the move, I often looked at this list to see what was going on in the area. It became a sneak preview – a trailer — of the feature presentation to come.

Learning the Lay of the Land

Through Twitter, I learned the geography of the area. Elizabethtown is smack dab between Harrisburg and Lancaster. I learned the other suburban areas worth checking out – Mount Joy, Manheim. I learned parts of the city to avoid living should I apartment hunt there. I learned Lancaster better suits my personality – all the arts and culture and history. So, when we were house-hunting and when we first moved here, I already knew where our social activities and shopping excursions would be.

When we were hungry, we went to places I had heard about. As we drove around Elizabethtown and the city, I’d point places out to my boyfriend, Joe as if I had been there before. But nope; it’s was all through Twitter and Facebook I knew about this coffee shop or that theater.

Relocation Recap

Here’s a look at social media tools I used for the relocation:

Twitter – updated my city, searched hashtags, followed people that were following the interesting people/places I found to build my circle, made a Twitter list of these new people.

Facebook – added a few people from Twitter as Facebook friends to get to know them better, as well as friended some local publications and eateries.

LinkedIn – I didn’t mention this in the post because I wanted to share the more personal experiences, but I joined a few LinkedIn groups for Lancaster businesses and professionals for two reasons – to meet like-minded people and to also get job leads for my boyfriend. (As of this writing, he had second interview from suggestion on LinkedIn.)

When I relocated, I didn’t have to wait to get here and meet neighbors and co-workers. I had already established relationships. I had already learned the lay of the land. I had already been given an itinerary of must-dos. I moved here in confidence that I would be happy. Things weren’t scary or unknown because they already felt familiar.

I have yet to meet my #lancaster Twitter friends in person, but I am looking forward to those moments when the brief social media conversations turns into in-depth personal interactions. Without using social media, primarily Twitter, during this relocation, I know I’d still be working on getting comfortable. Instead, I was already home before I arrived.

Anyone moving across the state or across the country should do the same.

Have you used social media during a relocation or extended vacation to “preview” the area?

Tagged as: facebook, Fig Lancaster, linkedin, Online Communities, Social Media, Social network, Twitter