When it comes to my professional life, I’m a stickler for being on time or better yet early. On the flip side, trying to get out the door with a toddler in tow means I’m late to almost everything in my personal life.
But, I’ve found there are times both personally and professionally when being late has advantages.
Personally, I like to be fashionably late to a party. Your entrance has more impact. You don’t get stuck setting out food, icing down drinks (no offense to you hosts out there, but if I wanted to do this I’d throw my own party). Plus, you don’t have to wait for the fun to start. You show up and it’s all happening.
Professionally, it’s social media. If you think you’re too late for social media, think again. Being tardy to this party is perfectly acceptable and here’s why:
1. You’ve taken the time to listen. We always tell our business-to-business clients, the first step to engaging in social media is to LISTEN. This step never ends. You must always listen. Too many companies make the mistake of jumping into a blog, Twitter, Facebook and the list goes on because “everyone else is doing it.” Wrong reason. Listen first, determine where you can add value and have meaningful conversations, understand the correct use of each tool, and then make your entree to the party.
2. The tools now exist to make social networking effective. For Twitter alone there are hundreds of Twitter tools now available. Many of these tools can help to streamline your social media efforts. A couple of my favorites include Tweetbeep, which is like Google Alerts and sends you an alert whenever one of your set keywords is mentioned, and Twitterfeed, which posts your blogs automatically to Twitter.
3. Social media is accepted and influences decisions. Your customers are online, yes even for b2b. They read blogs, use Google and tweet. Check out the stats from Forrester Research that show 69% of technology decision-makers are using social media for business purposes. The fact is your customers turn online to research best practices and products in their industry; and they actively seek out their peers for advice. Your content needs to be where these conversations are happening, and this means in places beyond your website.
4. You’re in a position to add value to the conversation. About 19% of users are creating content. The rest are just watching, commenting, posting links and retweets. This is your opportunity to bring new content.
You’re friends, fans and followers are awaiting your fashionable entrance. Just because you’re late, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show up.
What do you think? Are there other advantages? Is there an instance where it is too late? I welcome your comments.
