There’s too much ME-ME-ME in social MEdia.

I’m clearly in the wrong field.

See, though some may say I’m rather outgoing, the truth is I’m an introvert. Meaning, while being out and around people is nice and all, I can only take so much. I prefer to be by myself (always have), and usually I’m lost in a deep cloud of my own thoughts. I’m highly analytical and have an uncanny ability to remain objective in most situations & not get too caught up in the thick of things.

In other words, I have a very finely tuned bullshit meter.

So when I say “I’m clearly in the wrong field,” I mean that from my observations, I’m not nearly as social as I should be, nor am I able to sit and be spoon fed the latest ideas, buzzwords, and thoughts du jour without throwing up in my mouth. I just can’t surround myself with people beating dead horses, talking more about the tools they beat them with than the strategies they have to do so.

Unlike the majority of the people I see in this “field” of “social media” online and off, I do not want to be in the spotlight. I understand that to some extent I have to be sometimes, but I don’t go out of my way to win contests, speak at conferences, get my mugshot in the pages of Fast Company, the local newspaper, or what have you to talk about my field or what I do.

Why?

Because I understand it’s not about me.

I got into PR initially because I enjoyed shining the light on others. I don’t need to be on center stage; I’m very happy being a “behind the scenes” person. Enter what we now know as “social media,” the ethos of which is to be social online through various media (plural of “medium” — in case you forgot). Then businesses caught wind.

Suddenly everybody’s a “social media consultant/expert/strategist/ninja/guru/swami/etc.,” thinking they can cash in and help businesses navigate the SM waters, experience and track record notwithstanding.

And suddenly, everybody’s clamoring and practically bashing each other in the knees for the spotlight, because hey, everyone wants to be “famous,” right?

It reminds me of the lyrics in that old Counting Crows song, “Mr. Jones”:

We all want to be big big stars, but we got different reasons for that…

The recent “Influencer Project” experiment/stunt by Fast Company has done wonders for vetting the attention whores from those who are are able to call a spade a spade. If anything, this has become loud and clear:

The majority of this field is more social ME-ME-ME-dia than it is about marketing, than it is about PR, than it is about community, than it is about, well, being social for the sake of getting to know other people and helping them.

What ever happened to that?!

I’m not the only person to notice and point certain aspects of the social ME-ME-MEdia phenomenon out. I certainly won’t be the last.

However, it’s enough to make me want to duck out of it all, keep my head down, mouth shut, and nose to the grindstone and just do my job to the best of my ability. Many valuable people in the “scene”/field have done this rather quietly, and I’ve tried to, but I can’t stay silent on this any longer.

Maybe I’m stating the obvious here, maybe I’m not, but it should be pointed out that in everything in life, those who make the most noise are rarely doing much of the real work.

Social media is not about you, your agenda, or your ego, and likewise, it’s not about me. It can live without me. But if you take “me” out,  as the Latin words will tell you, it becomes “social dia,” which translates loosely to “social day,” which I’m not sure makes much sense. Maybe it would mean that hopefully there will be a day people realize that it’s about connecting with people in genuine, meaningful ways, whether that’s as a person or assisting a brand making that connection to create brand loyalists.

Maybe I’m not in the wrong field. Maybe I’ve just kept myself at a far enough distance from the “social” to recognize the ME-ME-MEdia and finally say something.  Either way, we all need to get back to our roots and figure out what exactly it is we’re doing here and why, else more valuable contributors to the space will be lost.

Image by Anyaka.

FastTrac Entrepreneurs: It’s not a question of whether you have a website, it’s what comes next.

A week ago today I “graduated” from an entrepreneurship course called FastTrac® New Venture™, which is sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation (yes, the one that underwrites NPR & PBS). It was administered by the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center (MISBTDC) in Flint.

It seems like a great program, and true to its name, it does move very quickly.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until after I enrolled that I’d rather not work for myself. (Shameless plug: Professional Redheaded Geek Girl for hire!) I’m much happier going somewhere every day and dressing like a grownup, working around people in an office environment. At least I know that about myself–I know that I’m more creative, focused and motivated when I’m around others.

Even though I didn’t have a particular business idea to be perusing in this class, I did get a lot out of it. But I also saw some areas that definitely need improvement, mainly with the lack of emphasis on the importance of marketing, PR, and leveraging new media to build their new business’ brands–the very stuff I immerse myself in constantly. (“Personal branding” wasn’t even mentioned in this course.)

There was a day dedicated to marketing (these were 5 hour sessions), and they did briefly upon the differences between marketing, advertising, and PR, as well as talk about what a brand is and is not, but the tactics and strategies mentioned were outdated, interruption-marketing style that would make Seth Godin cry like a little girl. As far as using the web, there was talk about “having a website,” banner ads, and pay-per-click (PPC), but nothing about actually finding where your prospective customers are, listening, or (God forbid) engaging with your prospective customers/community/whateveryouwannacallthem.

To be fair, there is a lot to cover in this 6-week course, so I turned to the book to see what, if anything, was said about leveraging digital.

Sadly, if all you did regarding your online efforts was what they tell you between pages 222-224 (the extent of it), you’ll have a nice, shiny, outdated Web 1.0 “brochure-ware” site.

And that’s just not going to cut it.

I thought maybe the class would recognize that the suggestions were outdated. After all, the book is copyright 2005, and a lot has changed on the web and the world of marketing since then. But in the last class, those who wanted to give a presentation about their businesses-to-be could do so, and explain how they were going to market their business. Almost every person said “oh, and I’m going to have a website” as if it were some kind of afterthought.

I can’t believe I even have to point this out, but:

Having a website should not be an afterthought–without one your business might as well not exist.

A couple of my classmates seemed to emphasize that they were going to sell their products on their websites. Not once did they really say how they were going to do that or where they were going find people to buy their stuff.

And therein lies the rub.

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