Do You Still Think Social Media is a FAD?

Recently I have been challenging my friends and colleagues to watch the Social Media Revolution video by SocialNomics.    It's the video you see here on my blog, and trust me when I say, it is worth watching. 

If you are still in doubt whether or not you should engage in Social Media,  watch this video.  This is a video that all economic development practitioners, small business, entrepreneurs, and any support organization to SMB's and entrepreneurs, need to watch. 

 

Some people have been asking me:   "WHY are you challenging people to watch this video?"  Simply put ... some people still think social media is a fad.  A big trend. Something that is going to burn out.  Further, some people can't seem to see the value in social media.  They are really intimidated by the time factor and I can certainly understand this.

The problem is, many people, when they think about social media, they automatically think about the most popular social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook .... and they panic over the idea of spending time (or should I say ... wasting time)  on two-way conversations.  The typical thought process is "I am busy enough as it is - how can you possibly expect me to tweet, beep and update my facebook status, while also engage in online conversations?  I'm already working over 9 hours a day, and you expect me to layer in more?? Holy Bleeeeepppppp???

OK, I can totally get where most people are coming from - put me back in November 2006, and this is what I would look like:

YUP - that's exactly how I looked.  Confused, frustrated, overwhelmed.  I made a lot of mistakes, and ticked a few people off in the meantime.  I can recall using a tool called Evite for Ladies Who Launch socials.  This was back in 2007/2008, and I was really new to social media.  I was hosting a few  events in PEI, and I sent out invitations to various women entrepreneurs I thought would be interested in attending.

 

Well, let me tell ya - I was WAY AHEAD of my time on this social media thing!  PLUS, I was really new and made some awful mistakes.  In Evite (which is a really great tool) I set up auto-responder reminders that were supposed to go out once a week, but in my newbie approach, I made a HUGE mistake and the auto-responders went out daily.

WELL!  You can just imagine the flack over that!  I was so embarrassed!  So before I go any further - I send out a BIG SORRY!  to all those I ticked off at that time.  It was a total mistake!  BUT I certainly did learn from it. 

Much has changed since the early 2007's.  The Social Media landscape has really advanced.  That's what my gal pal, Maureen Kerr of Kerr Consulting, are here for!  To share our knowledge and experience with local entrepreneurs.  Between us, we have over eighteen years experience! 

During the week of September 20th, we are hosting our  'Cool Tools' Social Media workshops!  We are really looking forward to sharing our knowledge and experience with PEI entrepreneurs and Island Business.  We are hosting the workshop in four Island Communities, at three different times during the day to meet different schedules.  We really hope to see you at one of the workshops! 

You can enroll online for this 3 hour workshop, or call me at 902-724-3330  by phone, or by email at nancybeth@sweetspotmarketing.ca

We look forward to seeing you there!

'COOL TOOLS' Social Media Workshop

So my gal pal Maureen Kerr and I have teamed up to deliver a  'cool tools' social media workshop. With so many social media tools and web applications out there, it can be pretty confusing determining which ones to use and how to use them for business.  

 'You don't know what you don't know' and our objective is to introduce you to our top 15 list of cool tools, show you how they can be used for business, and give you real live examples of how local companies in PEI have mastered using these tools for their business.
 

The 'Cool Tools Social Media Workshop'  will be delivered in four Island Communities.  We go beyond the basics of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  We'll show you How to Create a Marketing Plan Using Social Media.

DATES and LOCATIONS:

To enroll or learn more about the 'Cool Tools' social media workshop, click on the community nearest you:

Tuesday, September 21st          ...  Pooles Corner

Wednesday, September 22nd   ... Charlottetown

Thursday, September 23rd         ... Hunter River

Friday, September 24th              ... Summerside 

Before spending money on advertising know your ideal client and where they hangout. ALWAYS ASK for reader, listener and viewer profiles for print, radio and tv. Ask for participant profiles for tradeshow and exhibits. Ask for web visitor and email subscribers for online and email marketing. If the media supplier can't... provide the profile stats, be cautious, maybe your ideal client isn't spending time there.

MUST SHARE LINKS:
http://ping.fm/qSOCN Summerside PEI Film maker, Susan Rodgers of BlueMountain Entertainment, is producing 'Drummer Boyz' featuring two best friends from The College of Piping http://soitsy.com/k0

I will be silent for a few days - it's crunch time. Not accessible by phone - but taking text messages to cell phone for urgent matters. Time to turn it off for a wee bit.

Ahhh,.the wonderful aroma's of rural PEI.

This email sent from my HTC smartphone

I am having a great day. Thankful. Can I get a 'yes' and 'amen' to that.

This email sent from my HTC smartph

Sister and fam from Ontario are here! Gonna have some fun over the next week. Looking at spending some time with my nephew - he's four and such a blast!

So after having a tough day yesterday, which all small business owners have on occasion, I went out for coffee last night with a great friend of mine who is also a small business owner.

I shared the ups and downs of my day, and as usual she had great words of wisdom for me.

The reality of life is this, things change, market needs and demands change, relationships change. This is all normal and is part and parcel of doing business. We should never fear change, we should actually be thankful. Change takes us to new levels and allows us to go deeper with our business. It provides the opportunity for us to evaluate what worked (and didn't work) so we can 'polish and edit' our business and it's product/service offerings.

So I welcome the change that is coming my way. I am thankful for the relationships of the past and the experiences that were shared. I welcome the New!

Today is certainly not going down the way I had anticipated. All the planning in the world and you can still get blown out of the water with unexpected events.

Time will soon tell - big conversation #1 happening any minute. #2 happens later today.

Debate of the day: To PING or not to PING, that is the question. Your opinions please.

Here's the Debate: To PING or not to PING from http://ping.fm ... what is the answer? Opinions please?