Why Am I So Intimidated By Social Media? Options

[AbleReach]

But for whom? Every single business? I am sure you don't believe that, but yet there seems to be an unwillingness to entertain the possibility, or even discuss when you think that might be. So have a go. Try thinking of one, just one, business that would be better of doing something other than SMM.

Huh?
Isn't that like asking us to think of a business that would be better off without word of mouth?
And, what does that have to do with the topic "Why am I so intimidated by social media?"

[projectphp]

Isn't that like asking us to think of a business that would be better off without word of mouth?

Yes, if we asked "what business would be better off not spending time trying to generate word of mouth". Word of mouth is something that is VERY hard to force, and not something you can participate in actively. In fact, attempts to do so are usually very insincere (does anyone know aht the marketing was called where pretty girls went to bars and started up conversations and got pople to buy a bottle of some product?), and create a backlash in many cases.

Some things in life are good to have, but either impossible to create, or impossible to predict the outcome of. Word of mouth is a good example. Some things really are a lottery, with variable results, and whether to participate in a lottery or something more concrete is the question.

As Bright Eyes put it:
"I'd rather be working for a pay check,
Than Waiting to win the lottery."

YMMV, but social media, IMHO, is a tough gig for many businesses to benefit from. So you have to ask, if you are intimidated by Social Media and don't have the time or resources to do it well, are in an industry unsuited to it, or have other activities that need attention, is social media for you and/or your business?

Lets put it another way: would you hire a PR (Public Relations) person or a SMM first?

[Ruud]

I find social media very intimidating - like a chore that needs to get done but I don't want to do it

Said RisaBB with 297 posts on this forum.... Mmmm.... Maybe we're not as intimidated as we imagine?

[storyspinner]

Good point Ruud!

As I've said before Forums and Message boards are the "grand daddy" of all social media. Social media by concept isn't new... at all, the buzz term "social media" is.

Social media isn't limited to just things like twitter or digg. There's a whoooooooole word of places to share and communicate with an audience. It's really amazing! Forums just like Cre8 are perfect examples of very very powerful social media sites.

I was on the Social Media panel at SES London, and we were very hard pressed to find an industry or business where you couldn't find at least one area of social media you could use to communicate your information. From wikis, to message board, to social news ... it's all about finding where you fit in.

[SEOigloo]

That's a really good point, Ruud.

Maybe there is something too weighty or ominous about SM, taken as a whole.

I think if you find yourself amongst a bunch of folks who share an interest, you'll find you have something to say, Risa.
Miriam

[DianeV]

So, that begs the question: just what do people mean by "Social Media"?

Of course, we've all been able to share via newsgroups, forums, wikis, etc. for years. But is the term "social media" understood by the general populace to mean only sites like Digg and Sphinn -- sites where you submit a post with a link to another post and then people vote on it?

[bwelford]

Hopefully it's places where people can be sociable.

By that standard, Digg is not and Sphinn is trying hard. I think you have to have something like a forum to be truly sociable. I gather Facebook does pretty well too.

[projectphp]

If we define social media too broadly, we should rename it "Tim's Media", after Berners-Lee. After all, that was kinda the vision when this all started.

Intimidation comes in many forms as well. Not being intimidated by a forum like cre8 is different to being intimidated by the sort of social media where one can market a product or business. And that is different to social media as customer care / supprt. Which is different again to social media as a tool to grow a business (think user reviews).

And top of all of that, there is the intimidation that come with over-choice. Trying to decide which of the multitude of social media options to bother with is a daunting task in itself, especially for overworked people (which is most everyone).