The true meaning of social media

Though we visited many beautiful beaches on our recent family vacation, I didn’t take any mind-candy beach books with me. I was on a mission to finish The Social Media Bible, an 819-page (including indexes) how-to book that came highly recommended by a consultant I’ve hired to help me wrap my head around the new realm of social media.

I am fasicinated by all the new high-tech tools that have become available in the last year. I see tremendous potential in harnessing them to enhance our efforts to build a community of thoughtful parents who appreciate and contribute to the content we’ve always provided through Raising Arizona Kids magazine.

But it’s easy to become completely overwhelmed by it all. Which tools are right for my business (and my own personal boundaries?) How do I participate in this next level of collaboration and information-sharing and still get my day-to-day work done? One webinar I listened to recommended that businesses owners spend six hours a day nurturing social media efforts. Are they kidding?

So I opened The Social Media Bible hoping for clarity. I got that–and more. I highly recommend the book for anyone who wants to short-cut the learning curve and start developing a meaningful strategy for themselves.

During my trip, I had the book with me at an airport when I was approached by a business traveler. He asked me several questions about it and then asked if he could use his iPhone to photograph the cover so he could remember the title and buy a copy for himself.

On a hunch, and because I like to hear stories from others about my own company, I wrote to author Lon Safko and told him that story. I was astonished when, only a few hours later, I got a personal reply.

“That short story really made me emotional,” he wrote. “When you work as hard as I did on that project, it really does my heart good to hear that it is helping people. My biggest motivation is to help others. May I use this? I think it’s a great social media story in itself. A book on social media, causing perfect strangers to meet and become social, while using the iPhone social media technology to capture the image of the seed of the conversation. Wow…”

One of the themes Lon and co-author David K. Brake hammer on throughout the book is that social media campaigns only work when they are authentic. Talk about practicing what you preach! I was pretty wowed myself when I saw his name in my in-box.

I heard that Lon is speaking at 6pm this Friday at the Barnes and Noble store at 1758 S. Val Vista Dr. in Mesa. I plan to be in the audience.