Feb
17
2010
Starting to get a clear picture on the importance of social technologies in our world today
Over the past three or four days, I have been a very busy boy, preparing lesson plans for our upcoming Ulistic Social Media Workshop in Calgary on Feb 25th. The entire team at Ulistic is pretty pumped about serving our community with this course. It will be a good one, that is for sure. I’m also really looking forward to meeting the 20 or so people who have signed up for our kick off workshop; there are some old friends, and some new names, on the roster.
This is one of the first steps in what we are calling “changing website ‘havers’ into website owners”.
Helping business owners become website owners
I hear it everyday during my travels around Calgary, and the same stories hold true as I criss-cross the country. Many small business owners admit that they simply own a website, and that it could go down for days without them noticing. This website was made by someone (maybe the kid down the street) who vanished as soon as the site was put together, and hasn’t been heard from since. The truth is, these website “havers” have no idea how this marketing investment is performing, how many visitors they get daily, or how many of those visitors are converted into leads.
Our goal with the entire team at Ulistic is simple. We are here to help business owners realize that it is time for them to take ownership of their web presence, and shoot for real and measurable objectives with their web marketing. This is the mission of our team at Ulistic for 2010. We have a great challenge in front of us, but I know we can do it, one business at a time.
Over the next few days, I would like to share my own recent insights, as I craft the lesson plans for next week’s Social Media course. The world of Social Media, especially in my new role as a social media consultant in Canada, is a very exciting place, and it is wonderful to focus on something that I love. But what really excites me is helping my clients with their particular challenges, and introducing them to the right people.
One thing is for sure, there is still a tremendous amount of confusion around how these social technologies and services can help a business owner grow their business. This is where I stumbled for a while, until I actually figured it out, and I think I have figured it out. Over the next few days, I will share what I have learned in a series of blog posts.
Social Media is not Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn
Like the phrase says, “social media” is just another way of getting your message out to a potential audience, just like “print media”, “television media”, or “radio media”. With some social media technologies, it is very much like television or radio — a spray and pray approach, hoping someone heard the message. However, with some social media technologies, your messaging can be razor-sharp, and targeted. So in my opinion, social media is the art of crafting a message, and using the services and technologies available to get the message out there.
Social Media is not about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube. These services are simply the technology of the day, and they will change, the same way word processing software went from WordPerfect to Microsoft Word, and now to Google Apps (for some). These rapid changes in technology are the reason why you still need the computer fix-it guy. Although we will continue to write letters and emails and use a lot of what we learned some 10 years ago, some people have learned new tricks, while some have not.
When TV changed from rabbit ears to cable, it didn’t make an immediate change to the message. However, as the technologies became more advanced, bringing satellite and online TV into the spotlight, the way broadcasters targeted their audience improved. Today, even though the beer commercials are essentially the same, and the the funeral home commercials are essentially the same, new technologies have allowed them to pin-point their target audience more accurately.
Stay tuned for more…
