Please have a seat. This is an intervention. We’re here because we love you and would like to say a few things about your social media use.
First, you signed up for LinkedIn. Hey, we did it too. We see nothing wrong with that. And if that was were you stopped, we wouldn’t be here.
When you created your firm Facebook page and uploaded some pictures, we didn’t think much of it. We realized all your peers were doing it and you needed to fit in. We didn’t know where it would lead and we hoped for the best.
But then you started tweeting. We noticed this took you away from traditional marketing activities that have served your firm for years. “Don’t worry, the work will start pouring in any minute,” you said. “We don’t want to get left behind,” you said.
We trusted that you had it under control. We thought you’d see the error of your ways when we heard you checked into Foursquare. But that didn’t last long, did it?
We started reading about this epidemic in Engineering News Record. It was almost as if they were promoting this behavior.
Then it was Google+. “Google+ will change everything,” you said. Well, look at your Google + now. Your friends know to stay away from that stuff, but you keep using and it breaks our heart.
Now we learn you are on Pinterest. Pinterest, really? Do you expect us to believe that’s getting you anywhere? Many of us have lost our wives, grandmothers, and sisters to Pinterest. Don’t you see what that stuff does to you?
How do you have time for all this? Look at yourself! Is this really who you want to be?
And what about the little ones, those professionals who rely on you to put food on the table? What about them? They have been waiting for what, five years now, for you to end this futile quest and come to your senses? And they have not seen a dime of revenue. Not a dime.
And don’t you dare say, “It’s coming” or “what about the great interns we got!” It has been five years…five years. The revenue is not coming and those interns aren’t putting food on the table.
We cried when we learned you even got some of them hooked. Shame on you.
Don’t you see what your “SoMe” use is doing? You could be much more. We want you back!
So, here we are. You need to realize what this social media use is doing to you and its devastating effects on your firm. We want you to stop. Go back to the networking events, the phone calls, the direct mail, and the proposals you once loved.
What do you say? Are you ready to enter rehab? Leave a comment.
I can certainly see the point. What is the return? Not sure, but do know that the connections through blogging and SoMe has garnered some cool business opportunities and speaking engagements. I found a guy through a Facebook group called “People who used to work for Blount”. I haven’t talked to him in 30 years. He was a co-op on one of my first projects as a Project Engineer. He is now president of Batson Cook and we are discussing the details for a year long leadership development program. He also attended my Total Leadership Program last year. So I think the answer is that you have to do it all. But who has the time?
I think the major issue is that everybody has lumped together everything including blogging, email newsletters, Facebook, twitter, and Pinterest into a category and called it social media.
These are distinctly different tactics that deserve to be evaluated separately. Creating and nurturing a blog is very different from having a twitter account.
Pick the one tactic you think will provide you the best return on investment, then run with it. Keep track of its success. If you can’t track back any revenue from this activity after a few years, abandon it and try something else.
What is mission accomplished? That’s what you have to ask yourself. I don’t think people are doing that. I think they get into it because they are following a trend, not thinking rationally.