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!