I was way ahead of my time.   You can be too.

Social Media is still exploding.  Like huge.  The FaceBooks, the Twitters, the Blogs and a dozen other tools are top of mind for consumers and businesses these days.  

Businesses are scrambling to figure out these tools fast because haven’t you heard?  People like you and me who use social media are supposed to have new thinking, new desires, new buying motives and if you happen to be about 20ish, perhaps you may be a new species of human known as a “millennial”.  

Nope, I don’t think so.   It’s not the people that are different so much; it’s the tools.

It’s the tools like Facebook, Twitter and Blogs that the media, the marketers and the businesses are getting caught up in.   But don’t be fooled.    It’s not enough to just embrace and use these tools.  If you are in sales, teaching or marketing; it’s important to think hard about why people are using and loving these tools; what comfort and value they bring; enhance your strategy and then act accordingly.     

You see, I was on FaceBook in the 80’s.  I needed to be if I was going to have a life.  I was actually on Twitter in the 70’s cuz’ I found it cool and informative and I was a heck of a Blogger as far back as the early 90’s.  

It’s true.  I was.

In the 80’s I had my little black book with Judy Lelievre (I was totally in love with her), Stephanie Bond (out of my league), Paula Kelly (we went on a date once) and a dozen other girls’ names in there.  I loved that black book (even without any faces) and every time their phone numbers, or addresses or my opinion rating of them changed, (yep,  I ranked them from a measly one star up to four “wicked awesome” stars), I updated that thing religiously.  I needed to be connected and in the know.

In the 70’s the Twitter feeds were always on the back of the stall door in he boys’ bathroom at St. Catherine’s School.    There I learned the latest thoughts (and some new words) about Sister Mary’s lightning quick back hand and about Sister John’s weight challenges.  Always something new on those doors and like the Library of Congress that now holds millions of Twitter posts; I bet that 70’s Twitter is still etched in metal in the second floor bathroom at St. Catherine’s school likely for eternity.

In the 90’s, I wrote a page every night, printed it on dot matrix paper and copied it for the hundreds of call center sales people so in the morning; my wisdom, guidance (and at that time a lot of capital letters), were placed squarely front and center on the chairs of my people.  Some read it, some chucked it, but just like today; it better be interesting/ helpful or people don’t care.

Here is the point.  Get to know the new tools.  Get to know them really well so you can better fill the desires that have been around for ages.  People always want to have relationships and always want to share an opinion.  They want to know the latest going on and they want a community of trusted friends and colleagues. 

Whether they find some of that on Twitter or they find it on the back of a bathroom stall door; it doesn’t much matter.  What matters is that you help your customers, friends and even strangers fill their desires really really well.

The tools may change but the innate desires of folks rarely do.  Know this and you’ll be ahead of your time too.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark