Great Time Talking Social Media!

I had a great time talking Social Media with the Berry Company folks here locally today. We had a terrific, far-ranging discussion, and I’m delighted to say these people clearly got it. They asked intelligent, cogent, sharp questions with incisive follow-ups.

This talk helped me further clarify and solidify my Unified Theory of Social Media. These are smart people, and they kept me on my toes. I came away invigorated and excited all over again about the possibilities of Social Media.

One of the things I was most intrigued with is that dawning realization on the part of my audience that selling via Social Media is, as I said in my Unified Theory, a “long, slow slog,” and how each person deals with that internally. It definitely takes time, it definitely takes effort, and it definitely takes dedication. You don’t become the Expert until other people think you’re the Expert. And they won’t think it until you prove it to them. But once they know you’re the Expert, it becomes their idea to come to you for help, and you win.

I have to find a better word than Expert. We had a disconnect, until I explained that you don’t have to actually know everything about a topic; you just have to know where to find out about it. For example, you don’t have to know everything about widgets or doo-dads or wangdoodles, but if you’re the person who finds – and posts – interesting articles about new wangdoodle technology, or novel uses for wangdoodles, or information about the world-wide wangdoodle market, then you’re the Expert. Maybe “Editor” is a better term. Hmmm…

What we lose, with the death of newspapers and good news programs, is the editor. The person who says “this is good, put it on – this is crap, toss it.” We get a mixture from mint to manure, and we have to sort it out for ourselves. If, however, you’re known as the Editor – and a good Editor – then people will happily and confidently use you as their filter. And you win.

We also talked about blogging from the nuts-and-bolts perspective. Let’s face it, blogging’s a time-consuming thing. But what worries most people is that whole “grammar, syntax, spelling” thing. One of the things you have to remember is that blogs are only semi-formal as a means of communication. Sure, you should make sure that your grammar, syntax, and spelling are correct, but if they’re not perfect, you’re unlikely to be ostracized for it. It’s your ideas that people are looking for. Besides, that’s why God made spell checkers! Additionally, if you have a corporate blog (like, oh, say, the Saunders blog!), no one person has the pressure to blog every day. It’s the conglomerate blog that’s important. Sure, you have one person who’s known as the Editor for widgets, and another who’s known as the Editor for doo-dads, and a third who’s known as the Editor for wangdoodles, but as a whole (particularly if they reference relevant points in each others’ blogs – you know, like a network?), the company becomes the Expert/Editor. And you win even bigger.

I’ll certainly be following The Berry Company’s local foray into the world of Social Media with a lot of interest. But no pressure, gang!

Tags: Social Media

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.