It’s still happening, I am sitting in front of a prospect or even a current client and I hear that statement: “I don’t have time for social media.”  

I have struggled with the answer to that question for some time.  I have struggled with whether or not I should even have that conversation.  To better arm myself, I spent some time researching – talking to the experts; searching online and reading a great deal on the topic on Twitter and other locations in the hopes of finding something – something enlightening – some revelation that will speak to those nay-sayers and move them to understanding.

The following list is not by any stretch exhaustive – but it does contain those nuggets that I have found most useful:

Should You Always Participate in Conversations About You?

Recently I was perusing my LinkedIn Groups for interesting conversations – I cheat, I automatically click on “most comments” letting other’s level of interest influence which ones I’ll actually read.

I came across one that asked a simple question about which Social Media Aggregator(s) might be the best.  The first comment back to this individual was one sentence, "Personally I like Hootsuite as it encompasses several of the big social sites.” No analysis, no extensive list of features and benefits, no concrete evidence – just a personal opinion.

That set the tone.  

Many comments followed, 91 to be exact, with additional information on other aggregators but a resounding, overall love-fest for the free professional Twitter client from Invoke Media Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia. 

I spend a great deal of time in the land of “New Marketing” aka, social media – both for my own personal brand identity and on behalf of my clients.  How I allocate my marketing effort today looks nothing like it did even a mere nine months ago.  What’s amazing is that I have a hard time remembering what in the world I did to spread my clients’ messages before drinking the social media Kool-Aid. 

However, does that mean we should throw-out our time-tested marketing ways?  Absolutely not.

It seems that the majority of vehicles available to marketers in the “Old – pre Social Media Days” were primarily “Push” – direct mail, email campaigns, advertising.  Of course we had “Pull” options – thought leadership strategies, but without the array of social media vehicles available today it was a long and arduous process filled with speaking engagements, customer user groups, and complicated and time consuming customer-reference programs.  Not that the advent of social media ‘expedites’ the process much – actually my contention is that it takes longer, but I think the results are much more powerful.

Social media, by default, polices our commitment to our brands and holds our feet to the fire to remain in integrity.  If you don’t – OUCH - it doesn’t take much to FaceBook, Twitter, Blog, GoogleWave or Buzz your reputation – permanently down the drain.  Companies can no longer hide behind the curtain.  There are way too many vehicles at our fingertips to catch the perpetrators.  The brands that will survive will be the ones who actually DO have the better product and service AND spend the time cultivating a respectful, mutually beneficial, relationship with its customers.

“Does your positioning statement pass muster?”

Last month I wrote about the importance of creating a personal brand – that branding isn’t just for the mainstream consumer product companies.  If you buy into that concept – the idea that you are a brand and you either [i] let the market define what that is for you or [ii] take an active role in constructing something you take pride in representing; then you need a positioning statement.

Traditionally, companies use positioning statements to tell the market place what it is they provide, to whom, the benefit, and the difference between them and their competitors.  Geoffrey Moore’s positioning template is very straightforward. 

“Today’s World of Social Media Provides a First-Mover Opportunity”

Most of us think that only big packaged consumer goods companies the likes of Nike, Coke, BMW, et al need worry about branding.  Some of us go as far as including celebrities – politicians (yes, they count as celebrities), musicians, movie and sports stars.  The reality is that in today’s social media rich environment that is just not true.  Add the double-digit unemployment rate to the mix and the importance of creating, maintaining and propagating one’s personal brand takes a giant leap up in the priority scale.

The Internet is lousy with sites.  Everyone can have a site so everyone does.  What makes someone come to your site, stay on your site and more importantly return to your site?  It is the BRAND – The brand is a promise of the value you'll receive.

“The problem with marketing is that it’s all crap.”

Marketers: Say that line and I guarantee you’ll have your listener’s attention.

Why? In part because, well, it’s partly true. While certainly, not all marketing is crap, so much of marketing is crap that some audiences perceive all marketing as unworthy unless it throttles our attention.