I attend a lot of conferences around the country, both local and national and one of the hottest topics is always social media. Too often I see attendees coming out of these sessions with that deer-in-headlights look. They’ve just heard someone pontificate about all of the things they need to be doing with social media or their businesses will wither and die. While I agree that social media is an undeniable piece of your marketing puzzle today, it’s not the be-all and end-all that some would have us believe.
So, what is social networking and how is it different from social media… or is it? When you attend Wedding Biz or any trade association meeting or event you’re doing social networking. You’re be surrounding yourself with like-minded businesses who are also there to jump-start their success. Social networking has been going on throughout the ages. Connecting with others who have a common interest is a basic human need. Whether it’s a trade association, a PTA group or the Girl Scouts, people have and will continue to get together around a common interest. Social media has just added a new dimension by eliminating the need to physically be together. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is a debate for another time.
Let’s get real
My good friend Andy Ebon speaks often about how to effectively use social media. While I know he paints a realistic picture of what you need to do, he’s not of the view that your business will die if you choose not to participate, that is, if you still do other marketing. I choose not to get into the nitty-gritty details of Facebook, mostly because they change so frequently. I’ve heard Andy lamenting about having to check Facebook before each presentation to make sure they haven’t changed what he’s about to say on stage.
I prefer to take a higher-level view of social media, a more strategic view, which I’ll be presenting at Wedding Biz in Atlanta and I’ve presented at other speaking engagements. I start out by discussing the different kinds of social media and then I focus on how social media fits into your overall marketing strategy. What’s the minimum presence your business should have on Facebook and how can you use that presence to support your other marketing efforts? I show real examples of Facebook pages and posts and talk about how to improve them.
What’s next?
One of the great unknowns is which platform will be the next big thing. There was a time when MySpace was king and that time has passed. I used to connect with old friends from my school days on classmates.com and now I use Facebook. Google+ is making a push to oust Facebook, but Facebook has over 800 million users worldwide so that’s a long, uphill battle. That said, MySpace probably thought they were unbeatable.
So, can your business survive without social media? That’s entirely up to you to decide. If you need some help deciding, contact me about having a phone consultation or come to one of my presentations.