Have You Replaced Your Wipers for #SocialMedia?
Have you ever drove in a heavy downpour with a faulty wiper? Not so much of it being broken, but not able to give your windscreen a clean wipe – especially at night. If you haven’t, it looks something like this:
Without going further, let me tell you that I’ve been driving in this condition for quite sometime. I know I can easily change the wiper blades but somehow it is always not worth the hassle and it didn’t seem like it would rain! When it does, I find me telling myself that I can handle it since I’m experienced.
How often do we have the same thought? We choose to stick to our current condition just because it is a hassle or inconvenient to change. In fact, we may think that we’re good at it – because we’ve ‘trained’ under the same situation for numerous times.
Change your social media wiper blades!
Why should you?
#1: Your vision is greatly limited
It never is a good thing when your vision is limited – especially when you’re driving. The same goes to managing your social media presence. You may be aware that you need a social media strategy for your business and it is true; but it takes more than just strategy for you to make social media work for you. You must be able to see what lies ahead of you and adapt to change and requirements because social media is about people, and people change. They can pull their brakes causing you to crash right into them because you just couldn’t see it coming.
What can you do: Always be on a look out for signs. Know what your competitors are doing. Know what you target audience are looking for. Be aware of the latest happenings especially when it comes to marketing. You do not want to be last on board the next Facebook.
#2: You drive a LOT slower
The heavier the rain, the slower you get. Many times businesses fail to integrate social media into their marketing strategy because they are stubborn. They are determined to drive forward relentlessly despite the heavy rain – which is not necessarily a good thing. Sure, it can be rewarding when you get to your destination but you may have taken much more time and exhausted much more energy than usual.
What can you do: Sometimes it is better to stop by the road to re-plan your journey with a clearer vision. Maybe you’re using the wrong route or the wrong tools to begin with. Could it be that your prospects aren’t even on Twitter?
#3: You max out your level of concentration
It takes great effort and strength to remain focused over a long period of time. Imagine driving in that condition for an hour or more – it’ll suck your life dry because you’re simply trying to make vision out of no vision. Don’t get me wrong, concentration is great and your determination is plausible but don’t you want to use that for the right purpose? You may be putting all your effort into the wrong area – whether by trying too hard to keep up with trends, emulating A-list bloggers or even digging deep for followers.
What can you do: Concentrate where it matters the most for you. It can be producing quality content, engaging with fellow bloggers from the industry, participating in tweet chats to build your networks or listening to what your customers have to say – social media isn’t social anymore if you’re too focused on the numbers.
Imagine…
Driving down the road with 100% clear vision with a perfect set of wiper blades. You now can drive normally, yet enjoy the journey by perhaps turning up the music and humming away to your next destination.
It’s time to replace that wiper blades of yours for a new one.
p.s. I’ve finally replaced my car’s wiper blades!
I agree with you. Most Malaysian companies still using the old wipers. Their vision is limited. Because of their vision limited, so are their sales.
Always great hearing your thoughts, Kent :) I think shortsightedness is definitely one of the main things Malaysian companies are having especially when it comes to social media. Is there another cause for a broken wiper among them you have in your mind?
The mindset. I have to say especially SME. I don’t blame them for not able to see the importance of social media. Sometimes, we need to open our mindset to accept a new thing. And in order to do that, we need to read a lot. I believe you have read a lot regardless of books or blogs.
The second thing is SME too busy with their current job. 8 out of 10 my customers will tell me they are too busy to blog, too busy on Facebook, etc. Allocate time for social media is a must when the world has changed.
I highly agree on you with that one. I also come across many that are too busy to care about social media, not understanding how it will be able to benefit them in return.
Ah, the topics sound great! I’ll come up with something and email it over to you? I already have an idea in mind :)
By the way, Jan. I found some of your blog posts really suitable for my readers. Would you mind to be my blog guest blogger? You either choose to blog a new topic or I will pick one of the topic from your blog. My readers would like to read your post! :) Is that all right with you? I can be contacted at [email protected]
I’ll be more than happy to do that, Kent. Thanks for the opportunity and all the kind words :) Is there a specific theme / topic for your blog? I see that you’ve two sites with different focus areas – one more technical (web development) and another which is more marketing oriented where I last read all about the Groupon series :)
Thanks Jan. I am looking for guest blogger for human website. Our topic is about SEO, SEM or social media marketing from building human relationship perspective. Is that all right with you?
If you are ok with it, your article will be schedule for next Tuesday. And I will put your bio with whatever anchor text you want to link to your blog. :)
What a great way to use automotive to describe about social media! LOL! I’m still learning the ropes in SM and hopefully will hit jackpot with it. Keep up the good work!
Hi Andy, glad you liked the article! One great thing about social media is that it can be applied to almost every situation. I’m sure you’ll do great! Thanks for the kind words and do keep in touch :)