Don’t Be a Relic – Be Relevant

Ok. You have heard it time and time again yet you won’t jump in. Twitter this, FaceBook that. Social Beat me to death.  You can’t go anywhere these days, listen to any radio show these days or watch any television program these days without seeing or hearing some reference to social media. It’s like in high school everyone talked about sex and most of us though “Everyone’s doing it but me” only to find out that was a big lie. Well, I’m here to tell you the opposite is true with social media. If you say “Everyone’s doing it but me” regarding social media you’re most likely right.

This isn’t a fad. It’s not going away. Sticking your head in the sand waiting for it to pass is not going to make it go away. If you believe this — you’re in denial.

“How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him.” Frank Herbert

The social media movement — the evolution — is changing on an almost daily basis. How we interact with each other, how we do business with each other, how we communicate with each other; it’s all CHANGING. How we exist in this modern, information age is changing. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to integrating social media into our daily lives – there are over 60,000 Apps for the iPhone alone — at the beginning of November 2010 there were 50,000. That’s extraordinary!  That’s truly evolutionary!

What most social media holdouts don’t realize is their failure to change will make them a remnant, an artifact of businesses of yore. Don’t be a relic — be relevant. Take that plunge and help your business evolve. Social media will only help you to bring more exposure to your business and what business doesn’t want more exposure.

Don’t be a holdout.

I’m already the person who shows up before everyone else, leave after they’ve gone home, do the books, hire or fire employees, do employee scheduling, order supplies, and make deposits. Now you’re telling me my website isn’t doing anything for my business and I need to get involved in in this stuff called social media?

Well, yes.

Hell yes!

When the internet was a relatively new thing, say 15 years ago, it had a certain level of doubt associated with it much like social media does today. Then if you asked a business if it had a “web portal” or “domain name” or even a “web site,” most would say no.  The value of a specific web site for a company was underestimated, therefore, underutilized.  A few forward thinking businesses started using the web as a means of reaching existing customers, but most importantly, new prospects.  It wasn’t long before the power of the internet took hold and made believers out of everyone. There had never really been a way to drive people to your business like the internet.

The perception has changed. Now, there are still some businesses out there, even now, that are holdouts — we’ve all come across one or two were we ask for a web address and they don’t have one, What?  Absolutely scandalous in today’s economy. What about social media?

We are at that same juncture with social media that we were with the internet a decade ago. Is your business in a vacuum? Have your customers’ changed over the years? Are you doing so well that you don’t need any new business? As the dynamics of our society change so must your business change.

Take a hint from some of the most powerful and successful businesses in the world which have multi-million dollar marketing and advertising departments, R&D divisions and designated branding departments. Look at Coca Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, GMC, Nabisco and Wal-Mart, just to name a few. What do they have in common? They all have embraced the social media movement to drive customers to their websites. These companies discovered the value in social media — how about you?