I’M SICK OF HEARING ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA PRIVACY

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I will gag if I see another media story about protecting your privacy on Social Media.  The media is always screaming, “Be careful of your connections on the Internet.”

About a hundred people a day get killed in automobile accidents in the U.S.  However, I don’t hear the media suggesting you shouldn’t travel by car.

Here’s an e-mail I received from a Facebook friend who before hooking up on Facebook I had never met.  “We’ve recently been asked to handle social media training/coaching for a few clients & we are so busy with  our brand marketing and website development work that I’m looking into outsourcing this — and potentially building a relationship with a company such as yours. I’ve been following you guys online, and you’ve carved out a great niche in the market space!”

As mentioned above, we never met in person.  We never talked by phone.  We connected on Facebook.  And yet she is interested in doing business with Phyllis & me. 

I’m not sure I can think of all the people we do business with currently who we’ve met through Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.  The first person I hired when I became interested in social media was Steve Leung, a high tech savvy entrepreneur, from San Francisco who I met on LinkedIn.  If he & I had not been open to undiscovered relationships, we never would have had out first conversation.

Now you don’t want to be stupid about your social media connections, just like you don’t want to put on a blind fold & drive 100 miles per hour.  But I have personal friends who won’t sign up for Facebook because they are afraid of compromising their privacy. But look at the friendship & business possibilities they’re giving up in return.

The myth is not that you will lose your privacy with social media. The myth is you currently have any privacy at all.  If you don’t believe me, just Google yourself.

This is David Sher, your Buzz12 Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

FACEBOOK IS NOT LINKEDIN IS NOT TWITTER

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I will create some disagreement on this post, but I feel strongly about it and since this is my space, I get to have an opinion.

Whoever came up with the idea of being able to post your social media updates onto one site and then have it populate on all of them at once basically screwed up.  Okay, it’s not the aggregator’s fault; it’s the user. 

Let’s talk about Facebook, LinkedIn, & Twitter.  It’s true all three have an area to post updates.  However, Facebook is a social site; LinkedIn is a business site; & Twitter is totally different from the other two.

Facebook is a conversation.  And when you have a conversation with others, you want to be sensitive to them.  You want to listen to what they say & make comments.  Sometimes the conversation is about you, but often it is about them.  You might discuss business, politics, or the weather, but if you discuss too much business you will run your friends away.  If you are a good conversationalist, you will be good on Facebook.

LinkedIn is all business.  It is generally not a conversation, but LinkedIn has made it easy to comment on other posts.  But it’s not okay to indulge in a bunch of personal jibber jabber. I use LinkedIn to help create first of mind awareness for business & to give others an opportunity to research me & our company.

People are on Twitter to follow others who provide information or value.  Sometimes this is personal, but often it’s for business.  Twitter posts are full of links to Internet Sites, pictures, videos or anything else that can provide information.

I was horrified & I still am when LinkedIn tied itself to Twitter.  Now most LinkedIn updates are a mishmash of tweets that add no value to help me evaluate a person or a company.

There are exceptions.  Sometimes it’s okay to post to all three at once, but not usually. 

I’d love to hear your comments. This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whoo you know.

SHOULD YOU CONFIRM A LUNCH DATE?

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On Thursday I got an e-mail at 10am titled, “Lunch.”  In the body of the e-mail, it said “Are we still on for today?  The e-mail was inquiring about our 11:30 lunch appointment.  I e-mailed back that I would be there & he responded, “Okay, I’m leaving now.  This of course means he wouldn’t have come if I hadn’t replied.

On Friday, I got a call on my cell from a woman who identified herself as John Doe’s assistant.  She said John had asked her to call to confirm we were still on for lunch.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit I have missed lunch dates & I have had others not show up at lunch dates.  But when I have someone call or e-mail to remind me to show up, I have a tendency to get insulted.

What do they think of me?  They either think I’m incompetent or don’t care enough to let them know that I’m not going to come.

I strongly believe you do more harm than good when you call or e-mail someone to remind them of an appointment.

None of these lunch dates were tentative.  They were both confirmed in advance of the meeting.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but you sometimes come out better when your lunch date doesn’t show .  Most normal people are embarrassed & humiliated if they miss a meeting & will do whatever it takes to make it up to you. 

Many of my lunches are with prospective clients.  If they don’t show up to a planned, confirmed meeting, the sales process is sometimes moved forward because the prospect wants to prove they are not a bad person.

Many of you might disagree with me.  And I promise when someone doesn’t show up, I get pretty aggravated.  But I’m still not going to call & remind them to come to a meeting.

This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

DON’T USE MY FACEBOOK WALL AS YOUR BILLBOARD

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My business partner, Phyllis Neill, & I agree on just about everything relating to social media.  But I think we’ve finally found something to disagree about.

This is election week.  Beginning the early part of last week I got a post on my wall from a Facebook friend which said the following, “John Doe asks:  Will you join me in committing to vote?  Join the Commit to Vote Challenge & inspire your friends to vote.” 

A few minutes later I received another & then another.  And I continued to get them all week long.

Now I need to explain I’m very protective of my Facebook stream.  I’ve had people ask me how I get anything else done since I appear to be on Facebook all the time.  Actually, I don’t make all that many posts.  But I work very hard at creating posts that I hope are interesting & beneficial to my friends.  I see myself as having a “conversation” on my Facebook page.  I try to keep my posts entertaining, varied, & not all about me.  

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all about civic responsibility & voting.  But I’m just not that comfortable with post after post on “my” wall reminding people to vote. 

My first inclination was to delete the posts & remove some of my Facebook friends. 

Then I called Phyllis to tell her about how I felt.  She giggled at me & said that I should consider these posts a compliment.  She said you are obviously perceived by your peers as influential & so they have selected you to spread the word.

Well, that confused the heck out of me. 

I really don’t appreciate it when people on Facebook try to push their religion or politics.  But at least it usually is sent as a message & not as a public post on my wall. 

Am I wrong about this?  I really would appreciate your comments.

This is David Sher, your Buzz12 Guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

THE ONE RIGHT WAY TO DO SOCIAL MEDIA

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Okay, so there’s no one right way to do social media.  What works for one person or business won’t work for another.  That’s why it’s so important to have a goal & then match your strategy against that goal.

However, there are a lot of “experts” who tell you exactly how social media should be done & criticize you if you don’t do it their way.

Take the decision as to whether you should know everyone in your LinkedIn network.  LinkedIn recommends you have a relationship with your connections.  However, I attended a break out session at the National Speakers Association (NSA) presented by Shawn Doyle, a motivational speaker.  He said he’s built his business by accepting all LinkedIn invitations.  He then invites his new connection to join his motivational group.  He says 50% of his invitees join & he now has the largest motivational LinkedIn group.

Facebook says you should have only one profile.  But another successful NSA speaker has a personal Facebook account in her maiden name for all her close friends & relatives & another for her business connections.  That way she doesn’t mix her personal posts with her Facebook business strategy.

I invited a business connection into LinkedIn, was refused, but was told it was okay to invite her into Facebook…the opposite of what I would expect.  I invited another business connection into LinkedIn, but was again refused because he was trying to have a qualified LinkedIn universe specific to technology.  He didn’t want me to water down his connections because I’m not technology based.  By the way, LinkedIn uses fancy algorithms to give you the best search…similar to Google.  So his strategy makes sense if he’s trying to be found as a technology expert.

Social media for business should be customized.  There are thousands of social media sites.  Niche social media sites are often more important than the obvious Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.  And your use these sites should be managed according to your goals.

This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy, saying its not what you know, but Whoo you know.

DID I MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION?

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I didn’t know this fellow very well.  I met him one time at a meeting.  So I was somewhat surprised when I got an e-mail asking to meet for coffee.

I assumed he was looking for a job or wanted me to help him with some networking.  I get these types of requests all the time & I’m glad to help.  So I shot back an e-mail suggesting a time & place. He accepted & I assumed we were set.

Then the day before our meeting I received an e-mail saying he had some people coming from out of town & could we move our meeting back a couple of days.

My first thought was, “What is going on?”  I thought we were having a networking meeting & now it appears he has an agenda.  Would it be appropriate for me to ask why we are meeting?  I decided it would be insulting & I should probably go along.

When I walked into the coffee shop, I was greeted by my friend & introduced to two other men.  We had our usual small talk & then got down to business.

The two men were from Georgia & wanted to pitch me on a new product.  One of the men pulled out his laptop & made a power point presentation about the product.

Not once did anyone ask about WeMentor, our business, or try to qualify me in any way.  As it turned out, this was not a product that would have any immediate value.

Here’s my question.  Should I have asked my friend when he contacted me why he wanted to meet?  It seemed like bad manners.  Or should I have asked when I found out there were other people involved? 

I can’t figure out why he didn’t disclose the purpose of the meeting.  He obviously felt if he told me I would turn him down.

Well, who knows?  I made a couple of new friends & learned about a new product.  What do you think? This is David Sher, your WeMentor guy, saying it’s not what you know, but Whoo you know.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

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My wife & I went to see the movie, The Social Network, & it is fascinating.

The Social Network is the story of how Mark Zuckerberg builds Facebook into a wildly successful business & becomes a billionaire in his early 20s.  Roger Ebert in his movie review says Zuckerberg is tone-deaf in social situations. In order to conceive of Facebook, Zuckerberg needed to know almost nothing about relationships or human nature (& apparently he didn’t).”

Well, the whole basis of this blog is it’s whOO you know & not what you know.  And if Zuckerberg had no social skills, there goes that theory…or does it?

Zuckerberg is obviously brilliant.  He earned a perfect score on his SAT & is one of the most dazzling & creative programmers who ever lived.  Here we have one of the most successful business men the world has ever known, who really knows his stuff, but is described as “tone-deaf in social situations,” & who knows “almost nothing about relationships or human nature.”

How can someone like Zuckerberg with such poor people skills be so successful without help from others? 

Well, he does have a lot of help from others.  Ebert reminds us that Sean Parker, the fellow who founded Napster & Plaxo, “grabbed Zuckerberg by the ears & pulled him into the big time.”

Of course, I don’t know how much of this story is true.  And there were some amazing coincidences that made Facebook & Zuckerberg so successful, but Zuckerberg wouldn’t have had the same outcome if he didn’t have the help & influence of others.  

This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy still convinced, it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

I ADMIT IT–I LIKE FACEBOOK

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This is embarrassing to admit.  I actually like Facebook.  There, I’ve said it.

Almost every one of my contemporaries…particularly my male friends tell me.  “Facebook is a waste of time.  Don’t people have anything better to do?  I really don’t care that someone had a pizza for lunch or they walked their dog.”

Well, I didn’t understand Facebook at first either, but I get it now.

Actually, the first time I got on Facebook a couple of years ago & invited some friends, I got a jolt of the possibilities.  Within one day, I received an acceptance from one of my previous clients at AmSher accepting my Facebook invitation with the comment, “Oh I had forgotten about you.  I’ve got some accounts for you to collect.”  Well that got my attention. 

Just last week I got a note from an AmSher client saying they had a service issue & would I help out.  Thank goodness he contacted me for help rather than taking his business elsewhere.  Facebook made it easy & comfortable for him to do so.

But I’m making Facebook sound all about business and its way more than that.  I see pictures of my grandchildren, keep up with my children, recognize birthdays, & see what my friends are up to.  And I have a new set of friends I didn’t have before.    

And the conversations on Facebook are just plain fascinating.  I find out which movies, TV shows, & books my friends enjoy.  Ask questions to help me make better buying decisions.  In fact, I very rarely buy anything of any consequence without asking my Facebook buddies first.

I even had a dentist friend of mine suggest I breathe through my nose so I wouldn’t gag when I went to the dentist for X-Rays.  Her idea really worked.

I’m doing business, having fun, & building closer relationships.  Facebook, what’s not to like?  This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO DO ALL SOCIAL MEDIA WELL?

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I got this e-mail from a business friend & at first I was taken back.  He said, “That 164 million number you sited is HUGE.  However, I Googled Windows Live Profile ‘David Sher’, & couldn’t find you.  What’s up with that?”

Well, I just didn’t know how to respond.

To give some background, I recently published an article in the Birmingham Business Journal titled, “The Ten Things Businesses Need to Know about Social Media.”

For item number two, I stated, “Social Media is not just Facebook & Twitter.  LinkedIn has over 75 million members & Windows Live hosts 164 million profiles.”

Obviously, I wasn’t one of those profiles.  Oh, my goodness.  Here I am proclaiming I know all about social media & I’m not signed up for Windows Live.  I must be a fraud.

Then I said, “Wait a minute.”  What makes me think I’m obligated to participate in and be knowledgeable about every social media platform in the world?

In fact, when Phyllis Neill, my partner, & I work with clients, the first thing we agree upon is a social media strategy & then decide which platforms will help us accomplish that strategy.

There are literally tens of thousands of social media platforms & it’s impossible to do more than a few well.

Phyllis & I determined the best platforms for our business are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, SlideShare, YouTube, & Constant Contact.  We are fairly knowledgeable about these, but in all candor social media is changing so fast that even though we work at it full time, there’s lots we don’t know.

I guess I should feel badly not having a profile on Windows Live, but if we determine it should be part of our client’s strategy, I’m sure we will figure it out.  This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

SOCIAL MEDIA–I FINALLY GET IT

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A good business friend stopped me before the meeting.  He knows I’m heavily involved in social media & he couldn’t wait to tell me he wasn’t going to get sucked in.

He said when CB’s were the big thing and everyone had a “handle,” he cleverly avoided that nonsense because he knew it was just a fad. 

Well, he has totally underestimated social media.  Not only is social media here to stay, it is a game changer.

I contend that the creation of the computer & the Internet is right up there with the discovery of the wheel, the invention of the printing press, & the industrial revolution.

The revolution of the Internet has come in two phases.  First came the ability to gather information & second came connecting people together.  Phase two is the more significant.

There are thousands of Social Media Sites, but for illustration purposes, let’s concentrate only on Facebook.  Facebook has over 500 million members and is adding 5 million members a week.  If Facebook were a country it would be the third largest in the world after China & India & if Facebook keeps growing at the same rate, by the year 2013 everyone in the world who has Internet access will be on Facebook.  That’s two billion people. 

You and your business have two options.  You can either be connected to all your friends, prospects, or clients through the Internet or you can be isolated.  If you are alone, how are you going to survive? 

Everyone in the world connected–that is social media.  Can you think of anything more powerful? This is David Sher, your WeMentor Guy, saying it’s not what you know but whOO you know.