Don't Be An Idiot
I'm not suggesting that you're an idiot...and no, this isn't a play on "_________ (fill in the blank) for Dummies, A Reference Guide for the Rest of Us!," books we've all seen and read. Rather, I'm referring to the acronym IDIOT and an article titled The (REAL) Idiot's Guide to Social Media Marketing which was introduced to me through one of my sales mentors, Jeffrey Gitomer. If you haven't heard of Jeffrey before, you might want to check him out. While I'll be the first to admit that for professionals who sell their services, he might come across as "salesy", I suggest you give him a chance. He's the real thing. But back to The (REAL) Idiot's Guide to Social Media Marketing.
When I read the first sentence of David Newman's article on social media marketing, I knew it was worth a read and hopefully something I wanted to share with you. You see, not a week goes by that I'm not talking about social media and how we use it in my own firm or someone is asking me how to use it in theirs. And as I've said before, social media can be one of the biggest time wasters out there because it feels like you're doing something and you get a false sense of security. Plus there are "experts" around every corner ready to help you and I use the term "help" very loosely.
So in his article, David goes into detail about the six mistakes, misconceptions, faulty assumptions and downright goofy thinking that need to be avoided.
- I: "I, Me, My" syndrome
- D: Dumb it down
- I: Information without invitation
- O: Over-selling
- T: Talk without action
- S: Short-term focus
I'm not saying that you have to be an expert in social media or that you have to spend a lot of time and money on it. I AM cautioning you that you need to use it and if you don't take some time to be sure what you're doing or having done for you is effective, it's enough of a problem that you should give it some attention. I suggest you keep the IDIOT acronym handy and refer to it often.
I thought I could boil the IDIOT mistakes down to a couple of the most important, but I couldn't. They are all in my mind gospel and fact is you know them to be true because you've heard them since you first started to learn how to relate to people. Duh? Makes sense doesn't it since what we're talking about is simply being social. You'd be shunned from most in-person networking situations if you made the mistakes of IDIOT wouldn't you? Just run yourself through them and picture yourself at a conference or dinner party. Do you really think anyone would want to engage in conversation with you for long? Of course not.
Participating in social media is challenging, just like being good at "socializing" in business is. It takes intent. It takes sincerity of interest in others and a willingness to sit back and listen. One of the biggest goals should be to start conversations. I often lament that while I've had a
blog for years, it's really one dimensional. Many of you email me if something I've written strikes a chord, but that's a pretty limited conversation. One that I cherish, but it's not what I hoped for. I wanted you talking to each other. But that rarely happens. I get it. We're all busy so if me talking to you through this column each week is good, you'll keep reading. If you feel like you want to share your thoughts about a particular topic with more than just me, you'll do it won't you? Maybe a good way for you to participate in a little social media would be to participate in industry blogs you want to be seen in. Places where over time people feel like they get to know you. What do you think? Where have you been successful using social media and how do you know you're "successful"? Are you willing to share your thoughts and ideas?
