If you’re NOT confused, you must be doing something wrong.
Everyone is talking about social media and its importance for communication, but it is such a big, daunting, complex topic that there is no wonder many businesses are struggling with integrating social media into their everyday communication. The reality is, if you aren’t confused by social media, you haven’t taken the time to understand what it can truly do for your business, meaning you have either put it to the side to ponder later, or it has gone into the too hard basket.
Two years ago I found out that more people use the internet for Facebook than they do for looking at porn. Clearly, something big was happening here. So, I took the time to get my head around the five main social media realms that I felt I needed to know more about : Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and Linked In and I got well and truly confused. But over time, it started to make sense and that’s when I realised you need to push through the confusion state.
Interestingly enough, I found they could all be intertwined and utilised in a fairly effective way, which didn’t require huge amounts of time. And even more importantly, they all provided a way for me to communicate with my existing and potential customers in a very cost effective and time efficient way.
But, none of this matters if you don’t really understand or appreciate the importance of social media. We all need to be clear on the “why” of social media. The following presentation really sets the stage well. Now because it is a couple of years old, some of the statistics are a little outdated (they are even more impressive and compelling in 2011), but the core messages are extremely relevant today.
If you take a few seconds to flick through this presentation, I think you will get what social media is, as opposed to what it isn’t.
(if there is no presentation in the space above you can click on the text to see the presentation at Slideshare – it is just a link and very easy to flick through).
The real key to social media is to figure out how to apply it to your business. And of course one of the best ways to figure this out is to spend time searching through social media sites to see how other people in similar businesses to yours are using social media.
Alternatively try doing a Google search along the lines of –
Smart ways to use Twitter to build my business
Smart ways to use Linked In to build my business
Smart ways to use Facebook to build my business
Smart ways to use Blogging to build my business
Smart ways to use You Tube to build my business
You will come up with a pile of practical examples of how other people are using social media in very smart ways, along with some tips on how to get the best out of your social media sites.
So if you are confused, congratulations, you are well and truly on your way to getting your head around the social media world.
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