Over the weekend, I was prepping for my presentation tomorrow on Social Media and I took a break to attend a dinner. I was seated next to a wonderful person from England who requested to sit next to me. Her first question was “So, what’s this social media thing?” I paused for a minute and mulled over where do I begin. Should I be glib and say: “I’ve been trying to figure out that for the last two years.” or should I lunge in to my finely crafted corporate response honed from years of knowledge in new media, or option three: Ask her a question – ” I would love to explain it, what do you do?”
I went with the latter and for the next hour we talked about her business, my business and the amazing landscape of social media. She confessed that she used no social media whatsoever – no blogging, no twittering, no witty fan page on Facebook. She didn’t even have her “face up on LinkedIn.” So, slowly I explained how it can all come together and how, with very little time and money, she can integrate social media into her marketing plan. I would be lying if I said by the tiramisu she was all on board, but I did see a glimmer of hope! We were about to leave and she came up to say goodbye, “Good luck, BJ, with that social media thing!” Made me smile.
Tomorrow, I get to present with Rich Gee, owner of the Rich Gee Group. He is a consummate speaker and his use of social media is just the best. We will speak briefly about how we use social media but mostly we’ll ask the question: “What do you do?” and tailor our talk to their specific businesses. This will be more of a conversation, just like social media! The most important take away will be: “Just do it. Just jump in and begin communicating.” It will be a great talk!
