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This one is for the multitude of marketing and communications pros who have yet to seriously engage in social media, whether on behalf of their organizations or on a personal basis.
Maybe you’re overwhelmed with the workload you already have. Or family obligations make it impossible to devote the time it takes outside of the office to really support your social media involvement. There are many excellent, valid reasons not to dive into social media.
And there’s really only one reason you must … You have no choice.
This is where our profession is and will be. It may not be Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Wave or any of the other tools with which you have a nodding acquaintance. In another year or two it might be something that doesn’t exist. But the concept of online communication for whatever purpose, enabled and supported by technology, isn’t going away. You need to understand it and put it to work for you or run the risk of becoming obsolete.
I won’t embarrass any of my colleagues by name, but it astonishes me the number of people working in marketing or communications who still haven’t taken the pledge. When I look for them online, I feel like I’m playing Where’s Waldo. Are they on Facebook? Not there. Are they on LinkedIn? Not there. Are they tweeting? You’re kidding, right?
It’s almost worse when I find someone “using” social media in the most pathetic way possible. They have a Twitter account with four followers and three tweets. “How was your Fourth of July?” it reads in December. Or a LinkedIn account with 20 connections. You’re communicators, dammit! Connect! Communicate!
I’ve run across agency folk, designers, marketeers and other extremely smart, talented pros whose social media footprint suggests borderline imbecility. Better to do nothing than to be lazy or halfhearted.
Here’s a question for the Luddites among us. If you had been handling corporate communications back when movable type was introduced, would you still be pushing block printing and illustrated manuscript? Or would you be figuring out how to introduce the new technology into your marketing and communication efforts in a way that laid the groundwork for the inevitable transition that was coming?
I’m not one of these “Print is Dead” fanatics. I love print. Print will have a valuable role long after we’re gone. But it’s time to retire print as a channel for some forms of communication.
I am no social media guru. I like to think of myself as an enthusiast who’s trying to figure out how to make the best use of new technologies on behalf of my organization. That said, here’s my simple advice to those who haven’t braved the waters yet:
- Blog. I don’t care what you write about. Make it work-related, hobby-related or just share whatever’s lurking in the deepest recesses of your mind. But get into the habit of writing for the web by blogging. Others have waxed poetic on all the benefits. I won’t. Just do it and don’t ask a lot of questions.
- Join LinkedIn. It’s the Chamber of Commerce mixer, your Rolodex and your social network wrapped into one great tool. Join in the discussions, reach out to fellow professionals or just people you respect. Connect, connect, connect.
- Open a Facebook account. I’m a little ambivalent about this one given the amount of crap you have to wade through in terms of advertising, inane games and the like. I use it mostly to stay connected to friends, although I do feed my profession-oriented tweets into it (and no doubt bore the crap out of some friends).
That’s it. Just do these three things for the next several months. I love Twitter, but that’s a hungry monster that demands to be fed on a constant basis. Stick with the gateway social media drugs to start.
I welcome comments from those who agree and those who think I don’t know what I’m talking about. Feel free to whale away. That’s part of the social media fun.
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Great almost rant that I’d like to pass along, but I’d have to get some coworkers who WON’T GIVE UP Mac OS 8.6 to get out of 1991 first. I was possible for them to stop the data world and get off (and try finding an email operating system that will still service 8.6). “Obsolete” would have to bang them over the head. Took me a while to understand that a facebook post like “Just woke up and am feeding my wonderful children blueberry pancakes!” could possibly lead to some marketing objective (other than a good new recipe for blueberry pancakes). Key word is “could.” Still searching and trying to find the voice.
As the Nike commercials say, “Just do it!”
I’ve had a blog for 3 years, http://theterracottainn.blogspot.com I own a 17-room boutique inn. If I can do it, so can marketing and communications pros.
No doubt about it that print is on life support, barring some retro-paradigm shift. I use social media extensively whether I like it or not. Yes, I did start on an IBM Selectric and have been using a PC for 25 years now. Few PR people remember that, like in any field, there are really good texts and references. I’d suggest that practitioners keep up to date with the latest literature.
But social media cannot easily take the place of trained journalists. Google and the other search engines must find ways to properly compensate journalists and traditional new gatherers for their content. Google has a pile of cash on their balance sheet. If the news media would refuse to provide content, that might be a game changer.
I don’t know that I’d characterize print as being on life support, although I suppose it depends on how we’re defining print. I think print in terms of media is finding its new place in the communications ecosystem. And I don’t think social media will take the place of trained journalists, period. Social media are tools, which require people to use them. It amazes me what passes for strategic thinking among social media “pros” who obviously have no background, training or experience in traditional marketing, communications or public relations. Knowing how to use social media may put them at a temporary advantage, but once more professional communicators and marketeers master the tools, I think the playing field will shift dramatically.
This is a GREAT post. I, too, am amazed by the people who are watching the train go by. Social media is powerful, and it’s not just changing our industry…it’s changing our world.
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