Crafting a social media mission statement is crucial if you want to avoid mindlessly spinning your wheels. I've found that every time I speak about online communities and social media there is a large group of people in the audience who are simply overwhelmed by all of the options.
The overabundance of options is hindering their ability to focus.
I maintain that if you can't focus, you will wander. And if you wander you won't get anywhere.
For some, the fear is paralyzing.
They feel they're missing the boat but don't know how to board it. They're hearing success stories that they don't understand or know how to achieve. They've heard they need to be on Twitter but they're hesitant. They've been told that Facebook is a must but they just don't know how they will manage it all or fail to see how it can work for business. They are not empowered to choose and stick with the social media platforms that work for them and leave the others that don't.
One woman told me that she quit LinkedIn because she was getting too many emails. I explained to her that she could deactivate the constant emails and she was stunned.
There are literally people being held hostage by the concept of social media because they are focusing on the platforms. Those who don't want to acknowledge these fears write it all off with some dismissive comment about social media being stupid or for a different generation.
I spoke to someone at PowerPoint Karaoke RDU, an event I sponsored and hosted over the weekend, who said she was hiring someone to set up her blog. I informed her that she could do it herself and that there's no need to officially "launch" a blg, you just do it.
She has fallen victim to a social media scam artist and it's just sad.
Some people are making money off of this fear. Big money. They are not teaching clients how to use the tools but making them feel they don't need to learn them. I am hopeful that my words stuck with the woman about the blog and she'll try some of it out herself. I'm going to follow up with her just to offer more encouragement.
If you know someone who is being held hostage by social media, tell them that it isn't rocket science and offer a few tips. If being helpful is what the social web is really all about, why not do your part?
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