Workshops, webinars, seminars, one-on-one training, blogs, books and more. . .
The resources to learn Social Media is endless for those of us who wish to be students of the greatest thing to hit the Internet since free porn. After all, it seems that just about everyone is offering social media training in their bag of tricks, oops, I meant to say services.
While there are true veteran Social Media folks in the Phoenix Business Community, like Amanda Vega and Dave Barnhart (I know there are others but Dave and Amanda stand out in my mind) the vast majority of us have expert status with only a year or two of experience under our belt which is supported by our ability to claim fans, friends and connections while we are smack dab in the middle of a Social Media Land Rush.
The great thing is we are still in a stage of “early adapters”, there is still time to get on board.
While many of my clients are small business owners who are among the “resisters” to Social Media. The challenge is, they don’t get it, they are too busy to learn it and thus far all the webinars haven’t compelled them to actually sit down and become a student of something new. They definitely have a “should” attitude but the dots are many and the lines to connect things for them are blurred and confusing.
When you look at how you are using the Internet and the stages to effectiveness, one can see there is a model to work through. And we can identify those who never make it out of stage one. Months and months of nothing but Broadcasting . . . .
Where are you in Four Stage Model of Social Media Effectiveness?
Stage 1 - Broadcasting
You have a static website. You sometimes post new content – usually press releases & news. Your primary means of broadcasting is email and/or e-newsletters. You may have profiles on social media sites but you rarely talk business and if you do, you are going with a “buy my stuff” message.
Stage 2 - Interacting
Your website is updated and you have a blog. You have profiles on major social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and You Tube. You are active by your standards but still not sure how this is helping your business.
Stage 3 - Engaging
Your site’s blog has comments. You respond to reader questions and input via your social networks. Your supporters feel included in your efforts and & interact with you on occasion.
Stage 4 - Empowering
Your online efforts have built strong relationships. You can easily solicit ideas, openly communicate positions, and quickly mobilize passionate supporters via social media. In short, when you post others respond.
When I tell my clients to FEED this Model . . .suddenly dots are connected. The insecurity of not understanding everything at once goes away. Plus, the model allows them to identify who is leveraging Social Media and who is just making more noise (aka the chronic broadcasters).
As my Dad used to say "no matter where you go . . .there you are."
