Clever Thinking

I saw this video again this morning.  Brilliantly done, it captures the power of social media and to me, puts to bed all of the notions that social media will not last.  It does seem to promote another myth however…that social networking is a young people thing.  I disagree.

It is true that I meet lots of Baby Boomers who see no relevance to Facebook in business…or think it is just a fad that will cool in time, but that statistic about 100 million users added in less than 9 months is not hard to see in action…especially among Boomers and people even older.  In fact, many of the same people who don’t believe social networking is not a business tool, are using it to stay in touch–without ever getting the connection.

It’s what the video says.  Success isn’t about advertising anymore, it’s about being part of the conversation…a vital member of the community.  If, as a business or even just a business person, you have value, then people will see that, not just in what you advertise, but in dealing with you on lots of different levels, and personal conversations are…or at least can be…part of what makes you valuable as a business person.

Social networking allows you to be involved in lots of different ways, and to reach large numbers of people all at once, upping the chances that you’ll be seen and recognized as someone with value.

I think the secret of success with social networking isn’t about age or technical savvy so much as it is about just being interested and involved…like so much of life.  A big part of success is just showing up and social networking…and Facebook specifically…are all about that.

What makes that hard to see and accept is that it isn’t cause and effect like advertising.  You don’t show up on Facebook or even LinkedIn and then get a call a week later with that big job offer or some lucrative contract.  Rather, it’s like being a starlet at the soda shop.  You show up…you’re part of the fabric of the place…and eventually you may be in the right place at the right time.  Beyond that though, for every starlet who is discovered, there are lots of people who develop lucrative careers because being there put them in touch with the shop owner who took them under their wing and convinced them to become a pharmacist, or even a soda jerk who wanted to start a food stylist business and needed a partner and knew you had skills that might complement hers.

Things happen all the time.  Being there makes it so much more likely that you’ll be a part of it that why wouldn’t you show up?

Why outsource when you can do it yourself?

All the tools are there for you to do your own marketing, for example.  Social networking, analytics, word processing, web design packages.  There are even logo generators that let you buy a logo for cheap, cheap, cheap.  With all that computer intelligence, who needs to pay?  And yet, just last month, I heard a woman talk about growing her own marketing firm from a one-person operation, to a fully formed company that was ultimately acquired by another, larger company.  Her secret?  She said she got serious, first by getting out of her basement and renting office space, and second by hiring a marketing firm to do her PR and communications for her.  I asked how she could justify that since that was her business.  She said her business was building her business first, and that bringing in another firm to do her PR especially was important to helping her identify her real strengths and promote those.

 So is knowing how enough of a reason to stop you from hiring someone to do your marketing and communications for you?

Pros:

It’s cheap

It’s easy…or so you might think

You know your business best

It’s a great diversion from your regular work

Cons

It’s not free (your time is money)

It’s not efficient

It’s not as effective as having a pro do it

You may never get it done because it is for “fun”

You may never get your real work done because you’re messing around with stuff that is not your work

 So, what do you think?  When do you bring in an expert for marketing or anything else?  And when do you do it yourself?

Jenny Spadafora is a cool human being.  She takes pictures, writes, thinks a whole bunch…I mean even her job is cool…her title is Web Evangelist at Intuit Software.  I met Jenny a couple of months ago at a networking meeting…(where else?!)  Being a web evangelist, she is all about networking…especially online networking through all those social media sites.

Jenny wrote a slide presentation called, “Should I be on Facebook?”  There’s a link to it here…   http://tinyurl.com/ygz5ton .  It’s worth watching because it is so so simple and so personal and it really gives you a sense of why you probably do want to consider Facebook, or if not Facebook, then one of the many other social networking sites out there.  Lots of people feel that Facebook in particular is not a place where they want to be.  They feel it is risky, will give people too much access to their personal stuff, and might work against them in business.  Like Jenny, I feel Facebook, and all other social networking tools, are really what you make of them.  She talks about a continuum that involves the private, personal, work and public realms.  If you think about your presence in these ways, Jenny says you can choose how, whether, and where you see certain social networking tools fitting in your life.

So, why would you want to fit it in?  Well, Jenny points out that social networking online is actually good for introverts.  It can put you on a level playing field with others in your office, too, even if you work in a remote location.  I would go a bit further.  I think Facebook and all social networking is important, because in a way, it helps you compress time.  Consider all you have to do in a day.  It is really hard to keep up.  That bit Jenny says about helping to put you on a level playing field with others even if you don’t show up in the office…that works in lots of different ways.  Suppose for example you don’t have an office you go to, but are a freelance writer like me, or a consultant or contract worker.  Part of my job is really letting people know I exist, working to keep them aware of me, but also the things I do.  I suppose that’s always helpful whether you are inside a company or out.  You want people…busy people…to know you exist, that you are interested in what goes on, and that you are part of the conversation.  Social networking sites help keep your face in front of people, even if you never set foot in their physical space.

What conversation you ask?  Well, it doesn’t matter.  That’s where your private, personal, work, and public realms come into play.  If your interest is photography (like Jenny), then you get involved in websites and blogs that talk photography…you read, you learn, and you comment as you are comfortable.  If you don’t have time to devote to doing that, then maybe being part of that conversation is not something you really care about.  Maybe what matters to you is smart growth, or town politics, or schooling your children.  Whatever it is, there are social networking sites and groups and connections that will put you in touch with people who have similar interests but maybe very different thoughts.  Sharing thoughts is what it is all about.  Even if you don’t feel comfortable adding your ideas to the mix, you can learn a lot.  Still, getting involved is best because it does help you form connections and have a presence that matters…that shows you matter.

No time you say?  Well, Jenny addresses that, too.  She has a routine she follows everyday that takes her to each of the sites where she participates.  In her case, social networking is a specialty and so something she has to do as part of her job. She budgets time for visiting her sites and does it first thing every morning. But even if you’re not Jenny and consider social networking a luxury or leisure-time activity, think again.  A social networking habit of even 15 minutes a day can allow you to go to a site or two, scan updates and inputs, and make your presence known somehow.  This is where I think Facebook is great because even clicking a “like” icon shows you’re noticing what goes on…you are there and like so much of life, it is showing up that matters most.  Depending on the site you choose and how you set things up, you can have access to industry experts, thoughtleaders, customers, and constituents.  And what’s amazing about it, is that they can see you there, too, showing interest and eventually getting in on the conversation in ways that make sense for you.

Last week, I published an article about the Middlesex Turnpike Transportation Improvement Project.  You can find it at  http://www.wickedlocal.com/bedford/news/x896788805/Towns-gear-up-for-new-projects. 

Although I am no expert, I have been giving a lot of thought and attention lately to the ideas of smart growth, housing, economic development, and living in a small town in Massachusetts that often seems in danger of being obliterated by the ambitions of Massport, corporations, and people who think golf courses are prettier than primeval forests.  I am not one of those people.  I am someone who can ignore the bugs and muck and actually enjoy the woods and weather of New England…even if it is not always convenient.

Having said that, I am in favor of this particular project, which I believe will give people a path of less resistance through the towns of Bedford, Burlington, and Billerica, MA.  If there are more options and an easier, faster way onto the highways, or just generally through an area, traffic will tend to move there.  People have to get to Route 95, and from 95 to the North– and Route 3 is not a great alternative because it ends at US95 and clogs.  The way it stands, going down The Great Road in Bedford is shorter, if not easier to get through…and way more interesting than trying to go down Middlesex Turnpike…and so people do it, which has caused traffic to swell to over 20,000 cars a day in a town where the total population is only 13,000…including many children and others who don’t drive.

Second, regarding development.  I would love to live in the woods of Maine or New Hampshire.  Of course, I don’t because there isn’t work there…which is why populations are so low in Maine and Northern New Hampshire and they are so high here.  I’m not in favor of unrestrained growth, but I think it is unrealistic to think that you can live near major infrastructure like Rte 95 and Hanscom Air Field, and big cities like Boston and Cambridge and Waltham and not have any type of economic development.  Even saying, “okay we’ve got lots of economic development and now enough is enough” is a bit of problem. People want to live in the area because it has a country feel yet is very close to industry and commercial development…very close to the cities. If you prevent development, you create communities like Wellesley…but not everyone can afford to live in Wellesley.  We already have a problem of affordable housing in the area.  Prices keep going up, which has the effect of forcing young people out of the state and old people out of their homes.  Massachusetts is rapidly heading toward a crisis because of our loss of young people due to the cost of living and housing.  And those 40B developments, while helpful, are not all that affordable for the average person.  Still, you do want to preserve a good quality of life in towns like Bedford, which is why you want to practice smart growth.

The project on Middlesex Turnpike, to me, seems an example of the kind of growth that is good for this area.  It’s three towns working together to try to reduce traffic in their town centers and residential neighborhoods.  It is a means of helping to contain industry in an industrial area.  And although it will require the removal of trees, it has an environmental upside in that it will make improvements that actually enhance our water and wetland resources, while providing sidewalks that could encourage walking and biking to work.  Also, in the story I wrote for the Minuteman you’ll notice that there are 178 replacement trees at a minimum that will be planted.  Although 178 isn’t close to the number of trees that will be removed, replanting on a one-for-one base would not be in the best interest of the new trees since the woods that are being removed are wild grown, and naturally place so close that you can expect the majority of trees that begin to take root to die or grow in an unhealthy way.  The fact that so many stay are testament to the resiliency of nature, but also enormous numbers of seeds that get spread.  Think of all those little helicopters you’re always cleaning out of the gutters on your house.  This is not to say that I would ever want to see all natural woods removed and replaced with cultivated trees, of course.  I just believe that if you have to grow and develop an area…which you do in the case of Bedford…you have to consider ways to do it that make sense economically, ecologically, and practically and on a global as well as a personal level.