Forget the hype. What is Social Media?
A couple of months back, Chris flew in to speak to a crowd of business execs down in the Deep South. A larger than expected sized group turned out to hear Chris, and he started off that speech with a simple question – "What is Social Media?"
To some it's simply the new tech tool on the internet, to others, it's something their kids use, while others are completely befuddled by it. Unfortunately, with all the hype, the core of social media generally gets overlooked mainly because it is so subtle.
Social Media at its core is literally a "conversation on steroids". These conversations can promote a business, impact business productivity and negatively shock a business too. Who's already conversing online? Literally all the key parties to one’s business success - prospects, customers, employees, business partners, and most importantly competitors.
At the end of the presentation, a few CEO's came up to Chris and with perfect southern hospitality thanked him for his time but mentioned it wasn't working for them. They were offering discounts, upcoming sales dates and other insight about their products or services but getting zero results. Chris asked them if when they "conversed" in person, would this be all they talked about too. They laughed and said they would almost never bring this up... and herein lay the problem, while they were extremely hospitable in person, their business social media was the exact opposite and had the social media effect of bragging.
The takeaway – social media is a conversation. The goal is to convert that conversation into a relationship and build trust with your audience. Think about what trust generates… whether you are looking for a job or looking to do business with someone, don’t you select those you trust? |
Gary, how did you create your strategic social media path?
