Just want to share a couple of things about social media

[vangogh]

I think the original maxim still applies. I don't think it means you automatically choose a friend or relative over someone you think more competent. I think preferring to work with people you know, like, and trust always has been and always will be true. The maxim isn't meant to be taken in isolation, but more in a all other things being equal sort of way.

I don't currently have a lawyer that handles all my legal needs. If I need one I would first get in touch with people I know who are lawyers to see if they can help me. I know David here and I have some cousins who are lawyers. I wouldn't automatically hire any just because I know them, but I would certainly start my search for a lawyer with them. Say though that I didn't like or trust one of my lawyer cousins. I would exclude that person from search.

Also none of my cousins or David lives and works in Colorado so if my legal issues were specific to the state of Colorado I would think they might not be best to help me. I'd probably still contact one of them to ask questions about how to hire a lawyer here, what questions to ask, etc.

There are also many, many cases of people who continue to work with family and friends even though they know there are others who can do a better job.

In the end though I think all the maxim is really saying is most people will sooner contact someone they know to some degree before calling a complete stranger, unless of course they don't like or trust the person they know.

[mhilliarda]

I'm just starting out in the social media sphere, so thanks for posting this thread. From the small amount that I've learned so far I would have to agree with Aaron and vangogh, it is slow progress that takes patience to develop a following. Also, as Aaron mentioned it isn't always about selling, and as vangogh said it isn't always about what is in it for us.

Thanks for contributing! As I learn, I hope to contribute more.

[vangogh]

Patience is important in a lot of things.

Social sites are really just another way to reach people. Each has its own community and its own written and unwritten rules. Each ends up having different ways of using them for business. Some communities will likely be anti business and marketing. Others will embrace it. In the end a social site is a community of real people and the same things you would do to reach real people in a physical setting apply to social sites online. Naturally there are differences, but at the core there are a lot of similarities.

You probably wouldn't show up at a friend's wedding and start passing around business cards and posting fliers on the while. However you may strike up a conversation with someone about some random topic that ends up moving toward what you each do for a living. That conversation could lead to an exchange of business cards.


This forum is social media. So is any blog. Social media is really any community of people who congregate somewhere online. People tend to complicate social media. Social sites are groups of people, hence the words social. The reason it can be useful as a marketing tool is because information can spread much quicker online than offline. The guy you gave your card to at the wedding can only speak to so many people in person and he only has the one card. Online someone can say something to hundreds or thousands of people at once and only one card is necessary for everyone to have the information.