Social Media For Business 101 – free white paper

I’m very social and I’m into media – so I guess this is the white paper for me! Thanks Lee and Trevor forgiving me ways to articulate this space. Some times people want to make it WAY more tricky than it really is.We are venturing into this space with our job board for mature professionals – http://www.adage.com.au – and with coaching from Lee and this white paper tucked under my arm, I shall proceed with confidence.

DAMN!! You weren’t supposed to READ it, Catriona — now I have done myself out of thousands and thousands of dollars of consultancy fees! Who’s stupid idea was it to write this white paper anyway???

[author exits amidst much wailing and gnashing of teeth as he remembers that it was he who suggested it...]

Hello Lee, I love what you do on this blog, on FIR and on your Cafe podcast. But all this social media stuff is a bit scarey to me – I am a small business owner, not a PR/marketing person. Blogging and podcasting I get.

However, tonight I signed up for Second Life and visited the Cafe and Crayonville. (Why aren’t you a Crayon, by the way?) It was a lonely, soulless experience. Now I have got to p11 of your white paper, and you are raving about wikis, which I have also struggled to get much joy out of. No doubt you will talk about Second Life later on in the paper.

Of all the new media podcasters/bloggers I feel I know Lee, it’s only you I dare ask: is it OK to think Wikis and Second Life are a bit naff? Wouldn’t it be better to have our own names in Second Life? Aren’t avatars too cheesy for grown ups? How long does it take to get the hang of using wikis usefully?

I know you early adopters are all excited about social media – and I am too – but I struggle to convince my colleagues in the UK public and not-for-profit sectors that it could help them. They’re not even into blogs yet. The seemingly blind enthusiasm I hear in the podosphere doesn’t help.

I don’t want to be negative; I want to shift things forward for my field, but I’ll never be able to sell wikis and Second Life the way they are now.

Hi Libby,
Thanks for the compliment about feeling comfortable enough to ask me.

I agree with you that ‘selling’ Second Life, even ‘wikis’ is tough at the moment. For most organisations (and individuals) a blog is a big step (as you know).

However, as a communicator (anyone who has a business has perforce to be a good communicator, otherwise you go out of business very quickly) you need to be aware of this new collaborative technology, even if it does feel strange. After all, it was only a few short years ago that businesses were saying that the world wide web was a waste of time and no one would use it…

But I also totally agree with you that the avatar issue in Second Life is a block to business takeup. I have long held that a ‘Second Business Life’ needs to be developed, without silly avatars and names, before the bulk of businesses will take it seriously.

Wikis are one of those things that on the one hand are incredibly useful collaborative tools, on the the other a bit difficult to learn how to use properly; a bit like when we first sat down with Word or WordPerfect and tried to get something to look half reasonable.

The reason Trevor and I focused on blogs and podcasts is because those two are the collaborative tools most useful / easily-understandable to the majority of businesses at the moment. Once they try out wikis, get the hang of them and get their heads around them, wikis will too become staples of business technology. But like you, I feel it will be a little while yet…

Many thanks for your great comment so far — I am sure that you would not be surprised to learn that you are not alone in your thoughts and that a great many share your skepticism and doubts.

Kindests, Lee