Social media is not a band-aid for a broken business. Focusing only on Twitter followers, Facebook likes and influence metrics is unlikely to help you meet your business goals.
Integrating social media within the DNA of your business is the only route to success. Does it take more time? Yes. Does it take more work? Yes. Is the end result better? Hopefully yes.
It’s Saturday morning. You wake up out of the fog. You manage to open one eye and reach for the iPhone. You push the little round button so you can say good morning to your friends. Since the rest of the family is still asleep you think “hmmm… I’ll just go into my office and send a few tweets, see what’s circlin’ on Google+ and upload the photos from the seminar this week to Facebook.
Well, that was at 7:00 am. It’s now 11:00 and you are still in your jammies with messy hair. Your significant other has made breakfast. The kids are watching cartoons & fighting and the house is a mess. The big plans of mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage and hittin’ the gym all before noon are history. You would much prefer to stay in the safety and quiet of your little tweet heaven just for one more hour.
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t is my mantra of life. I am who I am take it or leave it.
There is not one way to tweet, Facebook, Link or circle. The only way to do social media is the way that works for you. Here is a summary of what works for me and my tweets.
We have all seen them. The twitter clueless. The tweeps who refuse to accept Twitter or social media for what it is and what it is not. I am not talking about the newbies who are still learning. I am referencing the folks who have been to the classes, read the blogs yet still refuse to accept Twitter is not a copycat of their hard copy corporate brochure from 1987 broke into fifty 140 character segments.
If you are wondering what Twitter is and is not, here are the top 26 things that Twitter is not.
ROFL, LOL, 
, 
, IRL, <3, Woot!, :0)
If you have spent anytime on Facebook, Twitter or texting you are guaranteed to have seen these characters. Chances are they usually make you smile, maybe even laugh (LOL).
It is important that we don’t let the online LOL’s replace the offline belly chuckles. Or let the smiles replace the smile on our kids face when we do something special with them.
Where are you in the adoption of social media? Are you a believer? A non-believer? Have you integrated it into your business? Are you open to new ideas, new ways of doing business? Or do you throw up the hand and pretend as if your current methods are working?
Some business leaders are doing better than others as they struggle with the question of “do I or do I not take the time to figure out if social media is right for my business?” Are you being honest with where you as a person, business leader and as a company are with adoption of social media?
Granny has been busy since she last stopped by. She’s been tweetin’ and learning about online relationships. She dropped by recently to share some updated words of advice regardless if we want to hear them or not. Check out Granny’s 40 Tips for Good Social Relationships.
So you think you can brand like the wild west cowboys use to brand their livestock? If you answer yes, then here is your chance to prove it!
One of my clients is a serial entrepreneur and recently acquired an airline, LocAir. So what does that have to do with you thinking you can brand and being able to prove it? Hold on to your bootstraps cowboy, I’ll get there
There are special prizes for the winners including a FREE Bahama Vacation, Social Media Makeover and even $100 gift certificate to Bonefish Grill for the 3rd prize winner. It’s not that hard. Just come up with a name. A name that will inspire, connect with audiences. A name that will look cool on the side of a plane.
So you have a Facebook business page, a LinkedIn profile, a blog, and maybe even a professional photo taken for your custom twitter background. However, something about that crazy bird and all those 140 character yappin’ peeps freaks you out. You want to be part of the conversation yet you aren’t certain how to start or what to say!
To this point you have made the choice to sit on the sidelines. Though when you lay your head down on the pillow at night you can hear the little bird saying “come on, tweet with me, you can do it!”
So you are a self proclaimed social media expert, guru, community manager, analyst or anything with the word social media in front of it. You have been doing social media for at least a year. You are doing all the right things.
You have followers. You have likes. However, nobody talks to you about business, reads your blog and your phone is definitely not ringing with leads wanting to buy from you.
I recently wrote an article regarding my experience with Apple. To summarize, my point was that Apple provides a full yet simple brand experience. They inspire us to be inspired.
As I walked into Target a few days ago with no kids, husband or deadlines I couldn’t help but give a big “sigh” of peace. You know the ones I am talking about moms!
There is something about grabbing that red buggy and heading down the Target aisle that fills inner red and white mommy zone?
Getting out into world, learning from new perspectives, enjoying the company of others is the spice of life.
So why in business do we find this so hard to accept? Why do we think we’ll accomplish more if we stay inside our corporate and virtual home offices as we fervently turn in our social hamster wheels of marketing strategies, business plans, engagement approaches, audience research, websites, Facebook pages and suites that hoot?
Yes, the economy stinks. However, that doesn’t mean we need to work the hamster wheel 24/7. It actually should drive the opposite behavior.
Late night tweet sessions. Foursquare swarm parties. Panera Bread meetings at 9 pm and Facebook moments that make you laugh so hard you cry. Your baker knows it, the mailman knows it. You like tweets and they like you. The baker thinks you’re talking about cupcakes and has no idea what Twitter is.
The key is to find the balance between social media addiction and insanity. It’s okay to tweet all night as long as you have some good tweeters beside you, right?
Check out these 60 signs to determine if you may be in fact a social media addict.
What happened to proper etiquette in business? What happened to an introduction? A hello? Or how about a “it’s nice to meet you, what’s your name”?
For some reason people get behind the tweet deck, Facebook business page and LinkedIn and think they can skip the “get to know and like you” phase and skip straight to the coupon blasting or buy now button.
It is important that with social media we don’t lose site of basic audience communication and nurturing principles. Social nurturing needs to start at day one. Take the time to invest in your audience and the quality of their response and willingness to take action on your behalf will be exponential.
Oh the memories of the holidays. The moments that make the memories. From the busy shopping to the eggnog, the neighborhood party, Christmas Eve Service, presents unwrapped Christmas morning to the crazy box of nuts you received from Uncle Albert. What do we do to capture the memories? We take a photo with our iPhone [...]
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Tweetville
Not a tweeter was tweeting, not even the high Klouts.
The iphones were hidden by Santa’s little elves,
In hopes that the Tweeters would do something else.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of daddy without social media danced in their heads.
Yesterday we spent a couple hours consulting with a local non-profit client that supports adoptive and foster families. From the minute we walked in their front office door I could feel the postive intensity. It was a calm energy. Their team of six was ready and waiting for us with creative and technical brains ready to rock out with FruitZoom in an intense two hour social media planning workshop.
My advice to hiring companies is to do your research! Just because somebody has a Twitter account, it doesn’t mean they should be determining your social media strategy. Social Media is NOT free. Yes the tools are free. However, it consumes your greatest and most valuable asset which is TIME!
Have you ever noticed you are no longer in control of your customer discussion?? You can’t tell them what to say, when to say it or where to say it. Instead they are talking about you, your brand and your products regardless of if you ask them or even want them to or not. Social [...]
Do you join in the fun? Or are you one of those that likes to sit on the sidelines and take it all in?
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