Social Media

We all know about the push for social media.  Consumers today have no reason to watch or read formal advertisements unless they are incapable of using YouTube, Netflix, or any of the other millions of entertainment and news resources that are available.  Unfortunately for businesses, that population of internet-incompetent people is shrinking faster than they can say buy one get one free.  So, what do they do?   Most businesses fling out their fingers in a desperate doggy-paddle through the ocean of social media.  They hire someone directly off of the clean-swept university sidewalk that showed to the interview in jeans, hoping that this youngster will save their advertising campaign.  When said youngster shows up at his very own cubicle and asked what he should do, they answer, "um...make us a facebook."  The youngster grins, realizing that he can pay off his college loans without doing anything more than his typical afternoon cyber-surf as long as he can stall the old fuddy-duddies while they believe that he is actually working.  And they will.  They don't really even know what to expect.  Four months after youngster's hire, he brings in a report showing that 52 people like the facebook page.  They frown at the number, but they don't actually know what it means.  Therefore, they send the youngster on a new mission; chirping.  "No," he corrects them, "but I'll start tweeting right away."  By the way, I'd like to pause for a quick thank you to all businesses who provide this charity work for anyone with a marketing degree under 25.

Not all businesses react to social media in this way.  There are a lucky few entrepreneurs who have a completely different reaction.  Instead of getting pushed off the boat into that ocean and panicking that their phones are smarter than they are, they pull out their goggles of creativity and dive in headfirst.  What is the difference?  Yes, the creativity goggles help.  However, the main difference is that they know the secret.  They might not need a facebook.  Or a Twitter account.  Blasphemy? I think not.  They have kept their cool in the frenzy with the knowledge that Facebook and Twitter will not help them unless is actually has something to offer them.  They recognized that crucial fact that you don't need a ladder or a plumbing snake to change a tire.  If they do use the previously mentioned social media tools, it is because there is a specific purpose for them.  They can walk out of their office at the end of the quarter with actual measures of the difference that social media made in their company. That's right, numbers.

Do I have a point? Not really.  You can all watch the latest Socialnomics video on YouTube (which is brilliant by the way) and get a much more thorough, condensed, and accurate picture.  I'm really just tired of my parents' generation complaining about all this stuff.  However, if you want to get social media for your business, find out how to use the tools! That is all they are, I promise.  Also, don't forget this one thing about social media; you need to get excited about it.  You, alone on your computer at home, are capable of reaching people in a completely new way.  Curious? Ask any marketing major under 25 about it.  In fact, you might as well give them a job!

The first one.

I debated about the title of this blog for a while.  I finally landed on contradictions because they are one of my favorite things and, as Julie Andrews says, it's good to remember those.  People, yes the nameless arbitrary group, may think of contradictions as a bad thing.  I agree when contradictions lead to lying or other detrimental behaviors, but I think contradictions often get a bad rap.  They are wonderful when incorporated into fashion (picture flowy chiffon top under structured military jacket), get attention when used in color, and they allow for an ambiguous type of freedom in our lives.  In essence, I believe that people are inherently contradictory and it's healthy to embrace that fact.

You may be confused on my point (if indeed there is anyone reading this...) so I will provide some little examples of the beauty in contradictions.  Right now, I am lying in bed, drooling a little with my very swollen mouth hanging open because I just had jaw surgery a few days ago.  My face looks more like a greenish balloon than a face and I am on a liquid diet.  My surgeon gave me percocet for the pain, but I chose to start a blog instead as it causes me much less nausea.  I'm supposed to be feeling crappy, and physically I do, but I have to admit it's kind of great.  This is the first time in so long that I have had nothing to do in so long and I don't know the last time I let myself take a true emotional vacation.  Now, the most strenuous thing I'm allowed to do is drink anything that my mom brings me and take ibuprofen every four hours.  On top of the obvious relaxation, I have been showered in love...and yes, I mean showered.  I think I'm actually still dripping a little from the flowers, cards, calls, texts, and constant facebook messages of encouragement. I don't know what I did to deserve friends like these, but they stand by me when I'm at my worst.  I know that in a few days, I'll get stir crazy and sick of the swelling, and then I'll start back to work very soon, but I am so grateful for this gift of peace and apple-carrot juice that my mom made for me.

So, let's try to glean something meaningful from these mindless (and most likely pain-induced) rambles.  I never want to forget how good my friends were to me and I really want to be a better friend to them in the future, I never ever want to try taking narcotics again, and someday I'd like to bring myself back to this place of absolute relaxation.  I sincerely hope that next time it will not require breaking my jaw and screwing them back together in new places. For now, go pick up a great structured jacket (preferably with an asymmetrical zipper) and try it on with your girliest top.  Unless you are male, in which case you should probably go with a normal vertical zipper.  (Please tell me you laughed just a little)

Cioa (because it is the coolest spelling of a word in history)