Okay, I know that usually I am your cheerleader. Usually, I try to slowly but surely get you to see the future and your place there. But today, dear company, I am tired. Today, I want you to grow a pair. The fact of the matter is, you are quickly losing your relevance. And it’s not for any good reason at all! It’s because you think social media is too:
trivial
cheap
easy
young
faddish
to get involved. Frankly, that’s ridiculous. And your dogged desire to hang on to what used to work is going to get you in a heap of trouble. What used to work isn’t working anymore. And as Mr. Vaynerchuck is so fond of saying “Every dollar that goes to a television station, a radio show or a billboard is in play.”. IT IS. Why? Because these media are IRRELEVANT. Guess what? That makes your message IRRELEVANT. Delivery matters. The experience matters. Where you find your employees, engage your customers, locate your clients and service your public is CHANGING.
Content is not king anymore. Conversation is. And your refusal to participate will not change that. This conversation is happening with or without you, so my advice, as a PROFESSIONAL, is to get on freaking BOARD! You are not powerful enough to fight the onslaught that is coming your way. You will not shout loud enough to be heard in a stadium where no one sits. Your company can not make a widget grand enough to sell from the pages of a newspaper no one is reading. Your job descriptions will not be written well enough to jump off the pages of a job board that no one visits (except spammers).
I know this sounds mean and I am sorry. But it’s your stubborn attitude that has gotten you here. Your refusal to slowly adapt and look ahead instead of futzing over what you’re leaving behind. So now all that’s really left is for you to close your eyes, walk to edge of the diving board and jump. I promise if you work hard enough, if you engage long enough, if you listen to your customers carefully enough and you present your story powerfully enough, there will be water in this pool.
Love,
Maren
Great discussion. Most important point hit “Content is not king. Conversation is.”
I think if you get a panel together, that may be split 50/50 on opinions of that. I for one, agree. I think if you were to ask Vaynerchuk, he probably would not.
I suppose in the broadest sense, conversation *is* content. Interactive content.
Maren – Great post a call to action “get busy living or get busy dying” for folks who are undergoing paraysis by analysis when it comes to this space. Keep up the great work!
Dan
Someone just asked me why I twitter and suggested that it was a HUGE watse of time. I told him that I thought is was the best environmental scan I have ever encountered. It is so interesting that people seem unable to see the possibilities of social media. One of the things I like best about it is the ability to reach out and learn from and connect to people I would NEVER otherwise have met. How can that be anything but cool??
Chkd ur photos…has anyone told u that u do look like Julia Roberts????
Take Care
Rishi
I love this post, it’s unfortunate that companies that aren’t on Twitter and that need to read this will never see it because, obviously, they’re not on Twitter.
Still is a must read for any company exec.
thanks for this post, maren! folks need a swift kick in the pants and hopefully this will motivate them to start rolling with the times. keep up the great work!
kelly alice.
BC Career Center
I’m glad I stumbled on this post and this blog. I’ll check in frequently.
Great post! I am honored to be in such great link company.
Spot on, as always.
Very well put. If your in business and not getting in on the conversation, you may not be in business in the next 5 years.
As a Librarian I fully understand the importance of ‘the conversation’ and the interactivity of information, but while ” Content is not King anymore” is true, “Truth” does not automatically equal “good.” I worry about a world where Conversation and Content are in Competition rather than Cooperating; Conversation needs to be the Conduit to Content. People/companies/entities still need to Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk (and, yes, Tweet the Tweet). Content always has to be the end; Conversation, the means.
(and yes, Mr. McCluhan, I know the “Medium _is_ the Message”…)
Wow! Great post!