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Social media is not a way to spread your people thinner. Your people are
already spread so thin I bet they're not getting all they need
done.

It's not a low-budget sales force, or a way one person can do the job
of three. In other words, it's not the answer to all your prayers. If
you're at the point of praying, then the business model is the one
needing help.

Social media is a tool, just like the telephone is. It's not even marketing — in the traditional sense, marketing is dead.

What social media does is simply allow you to do one thing: communicate. That's it.

Social media is not the conversation. It's the room in which you hold the conversation.

It still comes down to saying, doing, or producing something valuable for your customer.
Companies which forget this will simply throw money down the social
media hole. Companies that get it will find social media a valuable tool
— if they they are prepared to stick it out and learn how it works.

Who says business has changed? It has not. Fundamentally, business is still all about people, products and services.

The reason why conversation is a fundamental part of commerce is that:

(a) meaning must be negotiated

(b) we need feedback to know how to be appropriate 

Building is about getting your hands dirty this very moment. How you
handle today becomes your yesterday. The more forward you're
projecting, the more empty yesterdays you're going to have.

Humanism is the active agent in increasing the options, choices, and possibilities of commerce.

It's worth repeating: will the real conversation agents step up?

 

[updated from archives]

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Valeria is an experienced listener. She is also frequent speaker at
conferences and companies on a variety of topics. To book her for a
speaking engagement click here.