It’s incredible that there are still business people out there that consider Facebook and social media to be nothing more than “distractions”… It’s down-right scary that those people are telling the same thing to OTHER business owners as “experts”

Great post. My husband used to say to me, “On the computer again?” until I said to him one day, “On the calculator again?” (He’s an accountant.) Then he realized what an important part of my business it is.

Peter this is dead solid perfect. The FIRST thing to do is see what else is going on in the world…via email and Facebook. Opportunity doesn’t exist in my office, it exists out in the world.

Great advice – for all of us. Old school thinking BE GONE!

Before I have coffee, I check Facebook, email and Twitter. While I have my coffee, I read and comment on about six or seven blogs. I do this everyday. As a result, I have already had the chance to meet in person one of the business bloggers that I read on a daily basis.

He offered to meet me for lunch one day last week because he wanted to meet me in person. That was the result of me just being myself, and always being on Twitter, Facebook and email. When he sent me the request on Twitter for my email I replied in five minutes. When he emailed me inviting me to lunch I got back to him within that hour. I do not make people wait, because that is not how I do things.

There is never an excuse for not answering emails. Nothings says “unproductive” quite like a full inbox.

Thanks for the great post today Peter.

Spot on, as usual, especially about hiding Farmville and other games. They are the junk mail of Facebook.

Perhaps the business Ms. Morgenstern was advocating we attend to sells brushes door-to-door.

Fantastic post, Peter…

let me disagree on one point though. I’m not so sure that you two disagree on this!

People in the “social media world” or any business that uses social media for interaction, should definitely be on facebook (and yes, there ARE many of us that spend many hours on social media and yet have never even used farmville or any other facebook game.)

It seems to me that Mrs. Morgenstern is talking about the people that ONLY have facebook to see pictures of the cousins, keep up with Aunt Millie, and so on…

So, in fact, let me suggest what the people listening to 1010 might want to do:

1) sign up for HARO. Like Help a Reporter and Peter Shankman on Facebook and twitter, as well as those places where your client base hangs out. (local page. industry page. affinity page.)

2) make a list of 10 people (to start) that are “above you” in your industry, the media, or wherever else and engage with them in social media. (try fan pages. see their linkedin profile, which might have an easy link to their twitter feed. look for it on their website or in the bylines of their articles.)

3) Ignore the feed of Aunt Millie. you can go look at her page on facebook when you want to see what she’s up to. (Hey- someone needs to design a facebook app that hides/unhides different facebook pages/profiles in your feed during specific hours!)

4) respond intelligently to what the folks are talking about. be helpful, and do your best to share your experiences and opinions in a way that others will find valuable.

5) do it in a memorable fashion. be consistent in your responses, not just a one post wonder.

6) Don’t get carried away when you start out with all the different tools. depending on where you are and whom you are targeting, a mixture of facebook, linkedin, and twitter works well…

7) Learn the basics of social media services you might not use yet, like foursquare and QR codes… be on the ball so you can utilize these services when you have learned the ropes of using social media profitably.

the most important thing is to realize that if you are using social media for play, then duh, of course use it during playtime. but “don’t use social media during work time” is like telling a pizza shop owner “you should only be in the pizza shop during lunchtime…”

Social media is VERY powerful… but the great big yonder of people that don’t understand what most of the readers of this blog do is so far removed from us “in the room” that we might forget that they exist, are out there, and are a large part of Mrs. Morgenstern’s clientele/audience I assume.

I recently dealt with a high net worth client (via referral from someone who heard me speak at an event…no social media involved at all) who caught me at a loss for words for a moment when he asked me “what is linkedin?”

it’s so easy to forget how many social media clueless there are out there… even if they have blackberries, businesses, and big bank accounts.

Hey, Peter- Perhaps you two folk should spend some “networking” time over Passover together?

The Matzo is on me! :)

“Never mind. I’ll do it.”
I love NY :)

Spot on, inspired post. I agree – social media is another communication method, just like talking, except at super-high speed. You need to be part of the conversation.

By younger, I mean not old enough to be your or my aunt, since the average social gamer age is mid-40s (and true, female).

I like the fire in this post, the move on if not responded to by ten, the ranch house in the valley, I like hearing how it is from your experience. That is why I read your posts, and don’t even know that windbag.

Thanks.

Great post! Many people are so afraid of Social Media/Facebook because they just see it as another thing that takes way too much time. But it is such a needed tool now, you need to make time! And as you show, you can easily make the time!

There are no universal answers – it depends on the business and context. Where I live, there’s a small coffee and bagel shop. All of their business is local people who come in, mostly on their way to or from the grocery store. Social media is utterly irrelevant to them. Is that the norm? Probably not – but your answer is every bit as incorrect as Julia’s is. The correct answer is that it depends on context.

I love that you have defined how life does not have to be difficult when sifting through stacks of resumes/applicants. How nice it would be if we had the time to let them know their mistakes, enabling them to learn (if they choose). It allows us all to ‘be be smarter.” Thanks for your views views.

This is the perfect example of the machinery not being broken, but the user. Her intentions are right – don’t spend all day on emails or Facebook, but the solution isn’t to stop using them. The correct is advice is to use them CORRECTLY. You make great points, and I’ll continue by saying that if you’re not concerned about what your customers want, think and need, then abandon ALL customer service efforts – cancel your phone, demand your staff to not speak with anyone and in fact, just cut out all personal transactions whatsoever. Just set up an online store, take orders & fill orders blindly.

James – If you honestly believe that no customers either a) never gripe about an experience at a small business via social media b) never ask questions about a business via social media or that c) new potential customers exist on social media that could be made aware of said business via special promotion, twitpic of the product or a Facebook event — well, then you’re living in fantasy land. I’m sorry, but the day’s of tossing a listing in the yellow pages and calling it a day are over. You would never tell a business to not answer the phone when it rings – well, social media is the 21st Century version of a phone call. Ignoring the technology doesn’t make it go away.

I run a business account, and have alerts set up to monitor when our company is mentioned. I check emails early in the morning – just to organize what I have and determine if anything is urgent. If nothing needs immediate attention, the emails are ignored and I move on. Just like an answering machine, your email box deserves your attention, even just to become aware of what’s in there. What if a supplier emailed with a late delivery notice, or to write that an item has been discontinued – or are those messages not important enough to worry about?

Some great points. While Julie is one of my organizing heroes, I too feel she misses the boat about email and social media. Everyone needs to make it work for rather than against them. The trick to all effort is weighing it’s worth to you. I always do the quick troll through my email first thing – deleting and prioritizing as I go because sometimes the email is the most important thing to work on for the day. Then again sometimes not.

Peter’s parents never dismissed the Beatles as a fad. As musicians they knew the potential power of this group and followed their carreers very closely.

Peters Dad

Oh, Peter. I think I love you.

Too funny and Too True! What great advice both for Ms. Morgenstern (who has a pretty active Facebook presence) and to the rest of the world particularly those who may be paying attention to Julie.

Thanks so much, I’ve bookmarked. As Arnold so famously said, I’ll be back.

Best,

James, I agree with Peter, if that small bagel shop had a Facebook Fan Page set up and had a sign encouraging every single person to just check in on Facebook when they were in the store, the traffic and promotion to local consumers would be invaluable. I worked with a pizza place in Virginia that saw a 200% increase in business over a 3 month period and their sales are still climbing as a direct result of facebook and twitter alone.

We still have a long way to go until social media is fully accepted as a legit way to interact with professional peers and customers. While her views are outdated to us here, many in the business world hold those ideas close due to lack of understanding. We need to continue to provide value of social media through measurement and results.

I am looking for a job and I can honestly say my prospects have improved dramatically because of networking and social networking. I have found Twitter to be a fabulous business tool.

I not only answer e-mails, I try to respond with very positive comments and help out anyone I can. It’s amazing how positive responses grab people’s attention.

I can’t imagine a business working without these tools.

Besides helping me with my job search, networking has dramatically improved my life. I met some incredible people and gotten involved in some fabulous areas. Life is so much fun right now and so interesting that I can’t wait for the next day. And all because I pushed away the job boards, got up, and got involved.

And here’s today’s tip: occasionaly send some written notes. You wouldn’t believe how sending Holiday (Christmas) cards has impacted my success!

Remember: always be positive and helpful.

great post. you gotta be where the eyes are. and setting aside time to interact just never works in the end.

I was just at a Chamber board meeting this morning, and they’d brought in someone to talk about social media because so many of the board members weren’t yet embracing it. Could hardly believe how many I saw furiously scribbling down notes about the most basic of social media practices, things I’ve been doing for years! Yes, many of these people have built successful businesses in the past without it, but the game has changed. Future customers aren’t found in traditional media, at least not without a tremendous outlay of cash. Woeful (and poor) be the business owner who doesn’t realize that and change with the times!

Right on, Peter.

Wow, this is SO dead on, Peter!! To me, interacting with my circle of clients, prospects, influencers and referrers is one of the top priorities of each day. I tend to spread it out over the course of the day. If I need to focus on a “thinking” project, sure, I’ll turn off the email and notifications and block out the time, but I check back in when I take a break.

If interacting with your audience is a “chore” to be minimized, you need to rethink your marketing strategy.

Oh, and in defense of “Aunt Millie,” I have gotten leads and great contacts from relatives and old high school friends who are paying attention to what I’m saying and toss me referrals. So, three cheers to Aunt Millie! (I just hide her farmville posts, not her.)

Amen, Brother Peter!

I find it interesting that most of the people who ‘diss’ social networking are those who don’t even do it and don’t even have a a clue what it’s all about. It’s a GREAT marketing tool AND a great way to stay connected with family and friends! Like you said – you’ve gotta be where your audience is – and people do business with people they know and trust. Why wouldn’t you spend time building relationships?
And thanks for the tip about help with email using Follow Up Then – I’ll check it out!

Absolutely! Really, any tool or other object in your room could be a distraction. The reality is that your customer base is on Facebook, so that’s where you need to be too. I have gotten over 60% of my recent business from online contacts, and most of those from Facebook.

Just commenting to give this post a big, old HIGH FIVE.

Hi Peter,
I love it when you call people on giving out old advice that doesn’t fit with the new speed of business.

A lot of people are stuck in the old paradigm of wasting time on social media and aren’t aware of the amazing ROI it can provide. I think you have to have a marketing plan that includes social media and work your plan.

Here is a great article I had reposted on my Facebook Page this week with facts about following up with leads quickly is so important in this new fast digital age when we expect immediate response.

In Chasing Leads, an Hour Matters a Lot – The Daily Stat – April 13, 2011 – Harvard Business Review http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/dailystat.php

~Stacey

Outstanding post. Can’t agree more that email, facebook, twitter etc are not distractions when used correctly and are in fact absolute necessities in today’s business environment.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Email are becoming part of our everyday lives. There are very few people in the world today who don’t use technology as a source of networking and connecting to others. I agree with the fact that businesses that don’t adapt to the new digital technology that we are being bombarded with are going to die out. Running a business is about being where the customers are because without the customers you have no business. It’s also true that the customers are on Facebook and other social media networks. There is no way that you, as a business owner, will be able to make any kind of progress if you don’t use these means of communication. Skype, Facebook, and especially Email are sometimes the only ways to get in touch with clients, competitors, and other professionals who are not right at our doorstep. It’s about bridging the distance and space.