World of Blurt
In any general Internet coverage today, you’ll hit social media. It’s rare to find articles without Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or …
The problem for the average person isn’t identifying social media. Defining it is a poser, even for those supposedly deep in the concept.
You could fill a book in explaining social media (and several people have). Put simply, it’s the Internet as a two-way street.
Think of the usual Internet outlet – the Webpage – as a lecture. You type in a Web address (or URL) and get a presentation.
The page feeds you information and, if applicable, a sales pitch. You can click links or place an order, but your participation is limited.
Social media goes beyond this. You can send messages, chat directly with other users, play online games and other activities.
It’s more than the ability to participate – social media all but forces users to join in. The more you partake, the more you get out of it.
Facebook rules as the biggest name in social media. With 350-million-plus accounts worldwide, it’s hard to avoid out there.
Facebook resembles a personal Web page. You join up (or, in the coined verb, friend) with other like-minded people online.
You can join affinity groups. You can play interactive games. And, you can find all sorts of people you’ve lost touch with over time.
Those people also find you (and how). Suddenly, you have hundreds of friends online, all urging you to try something new.
LinkedIn, meanwhile, resembles a large Chamber of Commerce, where professionals come together without sticky “HELLO!” name tags.
You post an online resume, and can search for others in related fields. You can also provide references for fellow members.
Groups based on different professions and regions abound on LinkedIn. It’s a great way to share peer-to-peer experiences.
While LinkedIn is also Web-based, Twitter relies on text. You can post messages with Web links, but its power lies in words.
Users follow the text postings of other users. The reliance on text allows these to be sent on SMS services quickly over mobile phones.
Twitter is a service that forces economy with words. Web links are shortened, and words lose letters like vehicle vanity plates.
Twitter’s main ID is its 140-character limit per message. And that’s been the limit of the first 21 paragraphs here. We’ll stop that now.
Whew. Pardon me while I limber up here and get out of the staccato bursts of Twitterspeak, which gets plenty of ridicule as time-wasting dribble. (And, while Facebook allows for some long-form writing, there’s still a 425-character limit for you to state, as the site notes, “what’s on your mind.”) However, even at 140 characters, it’s possible to push across coherent and informative messages.
OK, maybe you can keep up with your family and school chums on Facebook, and find fellow professionals on LinkedIn (including one from Stone Business). But, combined with this Twitter thing, what’s the real benefit to someone dealing with slabs and sealers?
You’ll have a chance to go in-depth on this topic with Garen Distelhorst of the Marble Institute of America on April 28 at Coverings in Orlando, Fla., when he presents Introducing Social Media into Your Stone Company’s Marketing Plan.
However, if you’re not planning to make the Florida trip this year, let me assure you that it makes plenty of sense to jump on the wagon.
LinkedIn, with its professional bent, can help in looking for connections and advice in the management side of the business. It’s not a place for general self-help, but you may find some people and suggestions you can use.
Twitter may seem like geeky kid stuff, but join up and take an hour or so looking up some key words in materials and industry vendors. (You don’t have to connect your mobile phone to your Twitter account, in case you’re worried about the arrival of hundreds of text messages a day.) You’ll find plenty of breaking news and other information packaged in those 140-character text burps.
Used right, Facebook can act as a handy bit of Web marketing, since you can post pictures of jobs, special promotions and other handy nuggets out there. Yes, you’re wading in a sea of 350 million, but you’ll also find several stone companies snagging work by friending.
The best thing about social media is that, for the most part, it’s free to join the services. The main cost is your time in feeding your accounts, which can turn addictive. (Note to Facebook newbies: Stay away from FarmVille.)
The stone trade’s been working for years on its own social media under the radar of most of the august Internet thought leaders, with the Stone Fabricators Alliance, The Fabricator Network and Dirty Grout. All are worth a look.
And, of course, you’re going to find Stone Business out there in the social-media world, both on Facebook and Twitter.You’ll be tipped off on news and links as fast as we can find it and write it. Yo u’ll be surprised at what you won’t find in these pages; we may run out of room in the magazine every month, but our space on the Internet is practically limitless.
Social media offers more than texting in bizarre shorthand and time-wasting games. Used right, it’s good for business. Give it a try. (7 characters left)
Emerson Schwartzkopf can be reached at emerson@stonebusiness.net. You can also read his blog at Stone Business Online and stonebusinesseditor.wordpress.com. And don’t forget to keep up with Stone Business on Twitter and Facebook .
©2010 Western Business Media Inc.