It happened again. I had someone adamantly tell me that using social networking for business is a complete and total waste of time. The gentleman felt so strongly about it that he even raised his voice and shook his finger in my face. Yoiks!
I tried to talk with him, but it was clear that he didn’t want to hear anything I said, so I gave up. His opinion was based on watching his wife play Facebook games for hours, seeing his children on MySpace and unfortunately, believing his employees were wasting time on a variety of social media sites. What was sad about our exchange was that his business relies almost exclusively on word-of-mouth and referrals to spread his message. Because of his personal experience, he refused to see that there is a “different” way to use social networking and how it might benefit him.
It is true that many sites are for “social” activities – playing games, finding old schoolmates and colleagues and having fun! However, I simply don’t understand the view that some people have that it’s only for fun, just as much as I don’t understand the people who only use social media for business.
It’s all about connecting with people outside your normal circle. Chris Garrett has a great blog post about this. Among other things, he says that it’s more than just building relationships based on shared interests – it’s about having shared goals.
Maybe for you, those goals are simply to find folks who want to have fun and that’s OK. However, why not develop relationships with people who will help spread the word about what you do – potentially to hundreds, if not thousands, of their online friends?
It’s certainly fun to find old friends online – and to repeat myself, maybe it can turn into more. Several months ago, I “friended” a young woman from high school. I haven’t seen her since she was 16 and that was a long time ago! She recently surprised me by asking if I could show her how to use social networking for her business.
I fully recognize that I’m in a unique position, as my “business” is showing people how to use social media for business, so it’s obviously the best way for me to spread my message. However, is there any business that doesn’t rely at least somewhat on referrals and word-of-mouth? Why limit yourself? It’s OK to have your friends help you!
What are your thoughts? How do you use social networking?
I use for fun, to promote my website ,which is my hobby, to Send/ Receive News. Business Use I think is good it shows a new way to connect you to the customer. That’s what I think.
Cool! I think it’s great that you use it to connect with customers. Some people prefer getting info straight from websites, but blogs are much more interactive…and as you said, fun!
I’ve been reticent about social media networking but have been exposing myself to it and learning what I can from the experts (that’d be you, Ms. Krier). I mean, I’m not even blogging yet.
But seriously: One of the things I feel strongly about is to be judicious –not that I haven’t been — by choosing what I post. I’m using social networking for both fun and business — hence, I’m somewhat guarded, even about the fun stuff. You won’t see health updates from me on Facebook, that’s for sure. The advice that nothing is truly private is very sound.
But the more I learn, the more information I gather, the more I’m apt to let part of me “out there.” Five hundred million people can’t be wrong, right?
Still, for me, nothing will completely take the place of that personal interaction — the handshake, the smile, the sincere interest in what someone has to say….the opportunity to say, “What a lovely shade of chartreuse! It complements your ruddy complexion perfectly.”
Sign me,
Coming Around
Mary – it’s a wise decision to dabble your toes before jumping in to the social networking pool! I think one of the mistakes people make is they think they have to do it all, all at once, and they get overwhelmed. Then, of course, they stop.
The cool thing about social media is when it leads to personal interaction. Of course, when we go to this first meetings, we’re trying to figure out what someone looks like, based on their teeny-tiny Avatar pics!
He shook his finger at you?!? Seriously?! Who does that anymore? I think that is your first sign that he wouldn’t understand these new fangle computer things that those darn youngins are messing around with. Ha!
-Tim
It was kind of an other-worldly experience. It was like I was telling him that the sun rose in the west and the sky was pink! But, everyone has their own opinion and I respected his.
Wow. This blog is awesome! How did you make it look this good .
Thanks! I experimented a bit with the layout to get it the way I wanted. I looked at many other blogs to see what I liked in their sites (and what I didn’t like!). The key is to remember that it should work for your readers so I often ask people for their feedback on the layout.
Hello.This post was extremely fascinating, particularly because I was browsing for thoughts on this matter last Friday.
Glad I could help and hopefully you’ll find value in my other posts.