Everyone is buzzing about social media these days. Is it a waste of time? Is it helpful from a business standpoint? Can other industries besides the PR/marketing folks, the political talking heads, and the tech geeks benefit from being involved? Or is it just a major time suck?
I would venture to guess that your personal feelings on any of these questions are directly tied to the level of involvement you currently have in social media. Those of you who have put time and effort — TRUE time and effort — into understanding how social media tools work, are seeing the positive results.
And those of you who have merely dabbled in it here and there aren’t seeing what you thought you would.
Keep in mind — social media is, quite simply, social. You get out of it what you put in. And you have to contribute first before you can expect to get anything in return.
This may not be the answer you were looking for, but truly, there are some things in life that you can’t shortcut and be truly successful at. Diets, marriage, and building fulfilling and lasting relationships all take time and lots of effort to find true success. Just ask anyone who’s had to shed a few pounds or who has been happily married for a long time.
I am looking forward to addressing some of these items during my discussion at The Fordyce Forum coming up this June.
It is important to first understand what social media is, because understanding is the first and most important step of mastering anything in life. I’ve been having conversations with some folks in the HR and recruiting world who have embraced social media tools and have seen some great results in their recruitment efforts, so I’ll discuss that as well.
And I’m looking forward to some lively crowd interaction as well as a few surprises I’ve got planned. Even if you can’t attend, make sure to check out my hashtag, #VegasRG, to keep up with — and maybe participate in — what’s going on in the training session.
For those of you who will be attending, I want you to start thinking about what social media tools you’ve already begun using, and what you’ve learned from those experiences. Have you had positive or negative results? What have you observed others doing? Have you engaged a professional consultant or have you been learning on your own?
My only request? Come with an open mind and a clean slate. Proper thought process about the use of social media tools, in my opinion, is more important than understanding all of the technical “ins and outs” of them. I am excited to see you in Vegas in just a few short weeks!