Enough Social Media Theory Already!

Lena: Companies are "run" by lawyers and communications people who are afraid of their own shadows. Some things just make sense. But unfortunately, we've learned to be afraid of instinct. We are terrified of even calculated risk. At the same time, instead of giving recommendations, speakers invariably hedge their bets (i.e. CYA) with "on the one hand, on the other hand" commentary. Same issue. No one steps up and says "this is what you ought to do." My two cents. Dave

Dave:

You are absolutely right. Fear really is ruling the day.

Thanks for your two cents! :)

-Lena

This is one of my biggest beefs with presentations that are made at most conferences and at most webcasts. It seems that all I ever hear about is how important social media is. I feel like Jerry Seinfeld in his stand-up routine when he talks about how many billions and billions of hamburgers McDonalds has sold but how they just kept telling us how many hamburgers they were selling by increasing the number on their signs. His comment in the sarcastic tone that only Jerry Seinfeld could do: "Alright already, we alllll get it, you sell lots and lots of hamburgers. Are you hoping the cows will just begin to surrender themselves?"

That's how I feel most of us corporations are now, "Alright already, we all get it, we need to implement a social media practice." I hear very little practical advice about how to begin implementing it and also how to organize internally with the many interested functional teams -- PR, marketing, sales, etc. Quite frankly, I believe that part of the reason is that most of the folks doing the talking at these conferences are generally not from the corporate side and haven't had to work through the nuts and bolts of implementing a true social media framework within the company.

Cory:

Ha! You're my brand of crazy - I like Jerry Seinfeld a lot.

I really think that everyone just wants to be liked. The difference between me and them is I'd rather be known as the expert with an opinion (and experience to back it up) than someone who sits on a fence.

I had a feeling we would get to the "enough already" stage a lot earlier than most people expected and you're right....that time has come.

Now is when we separate the real experts from the pontificators and companies that really want to use social media from those who'd rather just sit back and bump their gums about it.

Let's see how this plays out...I'm willing to be surprised.