Not Another Social Media is Awesome Article

Why don't you make it remarkable?  Why don't you make it meaningful?  Whether your vision is for marketing or for actually building relationships, those questions lead to characteristics that will help your social media efforts be more visible and appreciated.  Just a hunch here, but I bet those questions could help in the real world too.  I'm not an early adopter by computer geek standards, but I do qualify when compared to the general population.  However,  I was not an early adopter to social media - Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Nevertheless, we started dipping our toe into the social media pool last year.  Wow, just like many other environments in life, there is noise, spam, and junk mail that have taken on new faces.  I understand why.  Social media is a low cost way of advertising.  Now, I love innovation - especially disruptive innovation!  Can you guess my favorite innovative tool of late?  The Facebook Filtering tools!  I am very grateful for all the relationships I have in life (and in my virtual social media life).   However, I never put all my friends on one giant conference call, and expect them to all talk at the same time.  Think about that phone call in reverse.  I am speaking to all my friends from all areas of life at once.  What subject matter interests them all simultaneously?  I could not provide value to all of them for very long.    I am thankful for filtering tools in email, in spam, in the form of Caller ID, but I digress.   My brief and humble words for you today, have a plan for your social media efforts.  The plan should be to provide value to your potential followers, friends, and customers.  Remember, the filter exists, and your audience will tune you out if your message is too loud, too often, or meaningless.  Before you post, run your own mental filter first and decide if the post is meaningful.  Value is ESPECIALLY important if you choose to interconnect and redistribute your content and comments across several mediums.  Proceed with caution when using Feedburner, Twitterfeed, and other tools that redistribute your posts everywhere instantly.  Think about the users that are following you or that you want following you.  If they are devoted long time followers, most likely they subscribe to all your feeds.  If you choose to interconnect all feeds and post the same material across all platforms - they will stop listening.  Too loud or too often is not an initial problem on startup efforts, however it is a rule of thumb that you shouldn't forget as time passes by.    Social media is awesome, but only if you choose to make it awesome.   Once a follower filters you out for being too loud or boring, odds are you will never get them back.

Stay Alert: Facebook Dangers

While it is very common for your friends to write on your wall, "You've got to see this!” - be aware that not all Facebook content is safe for your PC.  We have seen an increase in virus activity on Facebook in recent months.  Most of the viruses have similar characteristics including a pop up window that won't go away, advertising for pc repair, and locking up altogether.  

Here are a couple of items to watch for to try to prevent an infection:

• If you see: 
  
  • An external web address or link that you do not recognize...
    
    • What should you do?   
      
      • Don't Click!
      • Especially a very long cryptic looking web address (a.k.a URL)
• If you see: 
  
  • Not so tech savvy Great Aunt Myrtle has sent you some "awesome web cam shots"
    
    • What should you do? 
      
      • Do I have to say it? 
        
        • Don't Click!
        • Even if it is not a virus, Myrtle and a web cam does not sound like a good idea.

A cautious eye, always suspicious for malice and fraud, will save you from wasting time and money on PC repairs. 

Did you know...SIP Trunks?

A SIP trunk is a phone call routed over Internet Protocol using VoIP technology.  A SIP trunk can be thought of as a traditional phone line replacement.  However, it can be much more.  Only recently has the flexibility of SIP trunks started to gain momentum with small and medium size businesses.  The delivery of the call is the key to the quality of the call; see our previous article to learn more.  The flexibility inherently presents its own set of challenges as you, the business owner, set out to purchase a SIP trunk.  Why would you buy?  What would you buy?  A multifaceted buying process is required to take full advantage of all the features.  I utilize a checklist to view it from the following perspectives:

The central question is - How will the ___________ see, use, and benefit from this technology change?

• And then I fill in the blank:
• End User: receptionist, salesperson, call center, my customer...
• I.T. Staff
• Business Owner & CFO

As I view and listen to the different perspectives and wishes of each person(s) affected, a clear picture of the product and its feature set is provided.  If the vendor and the customer have the same vision for product design, the benefits typically are:

• Efficient Use of product, therefore moving towards a cost savings
• Overbuying is eliminated
• Features that aid in higher productivity are put in place
• Evaluations & Metrics are available to enable constant evaluation of needs and new requirements.
• Costly Forklift Upgrades are avoided 

 Of all the items you could have read today, I sincerely thank you for reading our blog.  We hope this adds value to your technology life and experiences.