Social media is much more than marketing. Social media is a fundamental change in how ‘we’ communicate, share information and even ‘congregate’. I’ve been saying this for over a year, both in a personal and business sense, I believe what we are seeing is a fundamental change that will ultimately change the organization of business, not just in practice but in structure.
Curmudgeon T-shirt
Why, oh why do people continue to have such a difficult time grasping what is happening? I know I shouldn’t be so transparent with my frustration, but it’s a new year – a new outlook and dadgummit, the real me.
My motivation for this post is three-fold.
First: On Monday, 1-11-10, I’m launching a web series of interviews I’m calling BOLDBusinessTV. (You can see the promo video on the right of this page as well as at BoldBusiness.TV) There are so many talented, creative, BOLD people doing something NOT because it’s the safe, expected thing to do. They’re doing what’s right for them. Not unlike wading into the social media realm, social media, in many ways it’s an unknown, it’s not the ‘safe’ choice, but with so much out there screaming – “big change is happening!”, so many are still saying things like…
Second motivator for this post: A quote from Dave Griffith (Griffiths Communications – although I couldn’t find a website) in his email newsletter (titled “Our Newsletter”) that arrived in my inbox this morning:
“Back & forth I’ve gone on all this “social media” business, and I’m a long way from making up my mind.” Dave, you’re a seasoned communications professional. What is social media, anyway, but communication?
This was an email newsletter. Not an e-newsletter, or e-zine, but an email newsletter; all 1200 words opened up when I clicked on it. A twelve hundred word email.
1. How many of you would read 1200 words right then?
2. How many of you would save the email …and then never get around to reading it later?
Dave goes on to write,
“Somehow the notion of “tweeting” hasn’t quite penetrated my thinking when it comes to serious and productive marketing.”
There is so much out there that says otherwise, I don’t even know where to start… but it’s all about the objective, right? Clearly, serious and productive marketing involves much more than a single tool, of which Twitter is one of many. Just as Dave will probably agree, serious and productive marketing success involves more than just advertising in a single publication, yes it involves more than just Twitter as well. However, if a targeted audience is on Twitter, why is it so difficult to understand the importance of being on Twitter?
Third and final motivator, Dave ends his 1200 word email newsletter with:
“But I am reintroducing my blog. Why I let it slip I don’t know, but I do recall that it made for relaxed and stimulating conversation. Please join me at http://www.businesscommunications.wordpress.com, and react by sounding off on anything touching on business communications, presentation skills and writing skills, and all their promise and pitfalls. I’ll continue to share what I know about the news media and how you can gain from press encounters, as well as writing and public speaking for success.”
Again, I wonder how many people read enough of the email to even know about Dave’s blog. I’m tweeting this, Facebooking it and putting it out there on LinkedIn. A few of you will link over to Dave’s blog, read and possibly subscribe. Maybe, some of you will Digg his post or bookmark it with Delicious, Reddit or StumbleUpon. Maybe.
Dave, I admire you for many things and wish you the very best. I hope you take this in the spirit it is intended. I guarantee this post will get you far more traffic than your email newsletter.
For even more ideas, here’s a good article from “Finding Blog Ideas“ on 10 things you can do to promote your blog after you post it.
PS – for your reference, this post is 630 words long.
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