Image by normanack via Flickr
For the last few weeks, I have noticed my formally snug, but stylish jeans have begun to squeeze my thighs a certain way. I hate to admit this, but it reminds me of stuffed sausages busting out of their casings! A graphic image, I know, but also a glaring sign telling me to “Get up Girl and start working those thighs… Get on the treadmill! Do some leg lifts, squats, whatever is going to make those frightening images disappear!” (Note: The quotes are me screaming at, well…myself…)
Let’s face it though, three kids with swine flu, an exciting season of Grey’s Anatomy, and a strikingly hilarious new comedy The Modern Family all got in the way and I still haven’t motivated myself to get off the couch.
Many of you are sitting on the coach with me, forever intending to get engaged in social media, but never finding the time to actually do so. I have heard people say, “I am so busy promoting my business” or “I don’t have time to be on Twitter and Facebook.”
The beauty of social media though is that once you are out there and providing quality information, touching people’s lives, and engaging with your audience, you won’t be running like a hamster on a wheel trying to promote your business. You will have other people doing it for you. Seth Godin http://bit.ly/3Wj4i0 talks about this in his book The Purple Cow… once you establish yourself as a business of integrity, customer focus and quality, your costumers will become “sneezers”.
With all of the flu going around you probably feel like there are enough “sneezers” in the world right now. I’m talking about a different kind of sneezer though – people who will spread your idea like a virus because they have found something within you, your product, the way you deliver your message, or the way you interact with them to be cool, fun, dorky, or inspiring.
Hopefully many of you have had the chance to take a look at the video Drew shared the other day. Those are some startling statistics on the growth of social media. As a completely new media, Social Media should be handled as a separate division of your marketing and PR campaign. Not engaging in social media NOW to at least some degree will make it difficult to remain competitive in the next few years.
Social Media takes discipline, and it is hard work. It can also be time consuming. If you truly do not have 30 minutes a day to promote your business, perhaps another partner or upper level executive voice can take on that duty ( as long as that person isn’t planning on going anywhere). Please take it seriously, Social Media is not going anywhere, it is a force to be reckoned with, just like these soon to give Beyonce a run for her money thighs. Sigh. Time to hit the treadmill….