I have kids. Ages eight and three. One thing I’ve committed to as a parent is that they will at least TRY tasting food they don’t think they’ll like. I admit it. I’ve actually forced them under threat of no dessert to take “at least a bite” of whatever I put on their plate. Thanks to this policy, my son is a big fan of edamame and sushi and my daughter has been known to eat an artichoke heart on her pizza now and then.
What’s this got to do with the internet? I’ll tell you.
Facebook and Twitter (and even email for some) is as scary as eating raw fish for the first time. But guess what? It’s not as bad as you think. In fact, there are millions (billions?) of people who love sushi. And so it is with social media. Could that many people be wrong? My bet – once you take that “first bite”, you’re gonna be hooked too.
I don’t know how many friends I’ve had to coerce and manipulate into getting on facebook, only to hear them sing the praises of the platform and laugh about finding old friends and developing new friendships after only a few weeks of using it. When I ask them why they fought so hard against it, they would say they didn’t think they had the time or that they didn’t understand the technology. Can you imagine that argument used against cell phones a few years ago? “I don’t have time to learn how to use that high tech thingy. It’s got too many buttons and features. I’ll just stick with my rotary dial.” AHHHHHHH! Come on people. Social media sites are just tools for being even more efficient with your time.
Need an example? Okay, I recently went to Seattle where I got some great pictures of the city, the space needle, the market, and even the Starbuck’s world headquarters. These are pictures I wanted to share with my friends and family. So, I simply posted them to my facebook and my 184 friends got to see some of the cool things I experienced while traveling. And it goes both ways. I’m keeping up with a cousin in California, friends in Texas and St Louis, and even my mother who lives only 20 minutes away but whom I don’t get to see in person often enough. Think it’s a waste of time? Think again. It’s a way to save time!
And of course this works for business too. If facebook is a place I spend my time, it’s a great place for businesses to connect with me. I’m a “fan” of Jeeps and honestly, probably not that far away from buying one. Think I pay attention when Jeep updates their page? Heck yes. You can use this to your advantage too. Every facebook post, every Twitter “tweet” is another way of creating another impression on your customers and would-be customers. What’s the alternative? Call them one at time? Send them a mailer that goes right in the trash with the rest of the snail mail?
Get on board, people. At least “try a bite” before writing it off.
PS: You know what’s really funny? As you read this, you might be seeing it on my facebook, or maybe my tweet brought you here to my blog. You’re not really even the target audience for this post. LOL. So please feel free to share this with your friends who haven’t discovered the value of social media yet. Send them an email, or print it and mail it.
….wait…
Who am I kidding? Print it? Mail it? Riiiiiiiiight. I crack myself up!
-David McBee