Well, the Roman Catholic Church has declared it could be bad for your children. London, apparently, is the tweeting capital of the world and the founder of Twitter has been given airtime on BBC’s Newsnight. Social media has very definitely arrived.
With all the brouhaha, it’s easy for businesses and business communicators not already involved in this brave new world to feel the need to jump in the deep end and get socialising.
A couple of questions in discussion forums in the last few days illustrate the point. “What’s the cost of a one-hour crash course in social media?” cries one. “Anyone know how many businesses use social media? Where can I find out?” panics another.
The first question is almost hilarious in its inappropriateness (the approach to and learning about social media being a gradual, organic process of engagement).
In response to the second question all I can say is, “who cares?”. If you try using social media and it brings the results you want for your business, surely that’s all that matters.
So in case you are tempted to take that crash course, are spending sleepless nights counting all the businesses using social media or worse still you have jumped in the deep end and are wondering what all the fuss is about, here are some tips to keep you sane.
Tip 1: Remember the true business purpose of social media
For businesses and business communicators, all the hype makes it easy to lose sight of social media’s true business purpose. Funny really, because it’s simple - to network and build links.
In essence, this is no different to the networking you would do in the real world. Just like in the real world, it’s all about meeting contacts and establishing relationships built on trust. Over time in both the real and virtual worlds, you hope that these contacts will become customers, suppliers, business partners, mentors and even employees.
Tip 2: It’s the what?
My second tip brings to mind Bill Clinton’s constant reminder to himself during his presidential campaign. My social media version of Bill’s reminder would be, “It’s the content, stupid”.
At that real world networking event, you need something useful and interesting to say. In the virtual networking world, providing quality content to your target audience groups is the key. If you do this consistently, over time you will get noticed and you will build your and your business’s reputation.
Tip 3: It’s a two-way process
At the real-world networking event, no-one is going to love you if you babble on endlessly and don’t really listen to what other people are saying. It’s no different with social media. In the previous tip, I emphasised quality but let’s not forget about listening to your audience’s needs and responding with content that is top quality and totally relevant.
If you take the view that social media is just about throwing yourself out there as much as possible and engaging regardless, you’ll surely end up with the virtual equivalent of, "Excuse me, but I need to go get another drink”.
So avoid the hype, avoid the panic and build your social media networks slowly but surely. Listen carefully to what people have to say and always respond with quality, relevant content.
