"That's The Way We've Always Done It"

                     

     Read this carefully.  Repeat it to yourself.   Understand it as a fact that is just as unchangeable as the laws of physics.
     The world is not going to come to you.
     That's right.  The world is not going to come to you.  Oh, you can entice it a bit, sure - and if you're selling bricks, and someone wants to buy bricks, maybe they'll find you out of a million brick sellers on the world wide web.
     Or maybe they won't.
     The point of business social media is to get your name and message out there as well as do the two "P's" - project and protect your brand.  But don't think that just because you are doing that job means you're going to be overwhelmed with customers.
     How many times have you heard - "but that's the way we've always done it."  I would be willing to bet you won't hear it much anymore, because those who don't say it are moving ahead and those who do say it are disappearing at a rapid clip.  The truth is, "the way we've always done it" just doesn't work anymore.  It is not today's business model.  If you want something; i.e., customers, you've got to reach out and GRAB THEM.  They are not going to just walk through your doors.
     So:
     Be proactive with your message.  Take it to the streets.  "The way we've always done it" is as dead as the dinosaurs.    If we did it the way we've always done it, we'd still be tied to landlines for phones.  If you've got something that you've been doing for a long time, invest the effort to examine it from all angles.  Is that method still working for you?  Do you need to tweak it or just ditch it?
    The world is very busy.  It's not going to come to you.
    Ramp up your business social media skills and take yourself to the world - because doing things the way you've always done them is a guaranteed one way ticket to oblivion.

Your Old Clothes Don't Look So Good Anymore

 Would you go to work wearing what people wore in the 1980's?  How about the 1880's?  If you aren't keeping up with the times in the world of business social media, you might as well be wearing those old clothes - because your (lack of) customer base is probably seeing you that way.     

     You can't deny the continuing numbers trend. The July traffic numbers are out from comScore, and both Facebook and Twitter posted record traffic in July. Facebook logged 162 million unique United States visitors. That's up from 160.8 in June, and 157.2 in May. See where we're going with this?    

     For you birdie fans, Twitter had the most traffic in its short five years of business. There were 32.8 million unique United States visitors in July, with 30.6 million in June and 27 million in May.  Sure, we can probably attribute some of this to the fact that we are in the traditional vacation months, schools are out, etc. But on the whole, these two social sites are indeed racking up numbers that would impress even Kobe Bryant.

     What about LinkedIn? This more traditional business professional posting site dropped a bit in July. They had 32.5 million United States visitors for the month, compared with 33.9 million in June. Again, maybe it's the summer vacation months that account for this drop.    

      Anyone remember an outfit called MySpace? It lost ground in July, down to 32.8 million unique visits as opposed to 33 million in June. Facebook continues to be the king, outpointing Twitter five to one.

     However, there is a joker in the deck: Googles new Google+ is making some inroads, but as of yet neither Twitter nor Facebook have anything to worry about from that direction     You can read the full article at: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/21/facebook-twitter-saw-record-numbers-of-u-s-visitors-in-july/

     Get your business social media up and moving in the right direction.  Everyone else is on board, and your old clothes don't look so good anymore!

Always a Wrong Number

     Well, I don't know how it is where you may be reading this, but today is the first day of school here in Dallas, Texas.  While we've spent a lot of time talking about business social media here, let's take a moment to talk business social media cellphone safety - and that message is:
     NO PHONE CALL OR TEXT MESSAGE IS WORTH THE LIFE OF A CHILD.  PERIOD.
     Those warning signs near schools are up for a reason.  You should never be updating your business social media while you are driving, anyway, but you should especially never do it while you are in a school zone.  The first week of school, kids are thinking about everything except watching out for you.
     So fold up those phones in the car, folks.  The extra five minutes you might save while texting and driving isn't worth the cost in a life or in a fine.  Pull into a Starbucks.  Have a cup of joe.  And text to your heart's content.
     Just don't do it in a school zone, because that's always going to be a wrong number.