You'd be surprised, but every day I still run into people who resist fully embracing social media for their businesses. They either think it's still a "fad" (yes, I know) or they have begrudgingly brought it into the marketing fold but still don't want to spend money to make it successful.
This post is for the naysayers. The ones who still don't "get it"... since I know they won't actually read this post, I am asking you a favor: please forward it to someone you know who still doesn't believe.
Dear Mr./Mrs. Doubtful,
So, you think no one is really using social media in their everyday lives? Let me give you an inside look on how my weekend went. As you will see, social media is not an intrusion in my life, but rather a very natural part of it.
Upon seeing all the festive decorations my friends were showing on Facebook, I headed to Pinterest for some inspiration for my own decor. I found a few good contenders and saved them to my "Fall Inspiration" board. Since I already planned on hitting Goodwill for supplies, I went to the interwebz to see if Michael's or another craft store had coupons that I could use to keep my costs down. (For what it's worth, Goodwill does a great job at social media and has an entire blog dedicated to things that have been creatively repurposed from their stores!) While we were out, I referred back to my pins using my Pinterest app no less than 10 times and also checked in on Foursquare because the few businesses that take advantage of Foursquare know that people like me check in not because I'm looking for friends, but I'm looking for check-in specials.
While I was out, I knew that I needed to get the makings for dinner, but since I had made no plans and would pass 2 different grocery stores on my way home, once again, I pulled out my iPhone to check the Harris Teeter and Food Lion apps to see who had the best deals. And since I was planning the rest of my night, I figured a movie from Redbox was only fitting so yes ... I reserved Gatsby and Iron Man 3 and proceeded to make my way home.
On Sunday, my oldest and I started operation "Fall Wreath" and (again) tapped into Pinterest to make sure we were on track, and a couple of hours later we proudly shared our creations on Instagram (which fed to Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr).
There were many other social and mobile activities that I did over the course of the weekend, but I think you see how much I use social media - just as a consumer. I realize that I am an anomaly because I live in social media pretty much 24/7, but I do try and turn off the "work mode" of social on the weekend. But I will tell you this, I am far from an anomaly when it comes to the people you and your company are trying to market to.
My point is this - if you haven't truly embraced social media into your company, you are missing out. Does social media take time and commitment to be fully effective? Yes. But is it worth it? Well, take a look at my weekend, and you tell me. And if you're just dying to know ... yes, that was our Pinterest/Goodwill/Harris Teeter-inspired weekend project in the picture!
