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Posts Tagged: Digital Immigrants

Social Media for Business: Is Any Business Exempt?

social media for business, b2b social media, Facebook for business, Twitter for business, Gina Schreck, Social Media Management

LIKE Our Coffins

I am in gorgeous Naples, Florida speaking to a group of funeral home directors and owners about social media and the new world of marketing. I didnt exactly have 100% buy-in and a couple of them got their cables in a knot when I said, “If done RIGHT, every business can benefit from the use of social media….even the funeral industry.”

This is an industry that in the past has been run primarily by Mom and Pop, who inherited the business from their parents, who inherited it from their parents and for generations these folks have been involved in their communities. They visit the senior centers, play BINGO with the neighbors and volunteer at the annual health fair. They advertise in the Yellow Pages and personal referrals are their main source of new business. A good marketing strategy, unless your future customers are not going to the Senior centers or joining you at BINGO nights, and they thought the Yellow Pages were just for helping short dinner guests reach the table.

Now there is something a bit odd about a funeral home asking you to LIKE their Facebook Page, or discovering the Undertaker is following you on Twitter. But IF DONE RIGHT any business can benefit and build a successful online community to AUGMENT the physical or face-to-face relationships. Here are my 3 tips for DOING SOCIAL RIGHT:

Keep your ideal community in mind and provide content they would find helpful and interesting. In the case of a funeral home, going beyond the obituaries and providing hospice or elder care resources and guidelines for writing a will or moving your parents home with you would be great engaging content. Join hospice care groups on LinkedIn and source great content from twitter. If you are pet sitter or a karate school owner, what content or resources would your community be looking for? Keep them in mind as you post content on your social sites.
Blend the old with the new. You do not throw out the relationship-building activities that have been working for you, and you don’t ignore the new members who are busy connecting online. Be sure to add your social contact information on all traditional marketing pieces (brochures, business cards, presentation slides, stationary, thank you gifts and cards). Perhaps funeral homes can sponsor a SENIORS CONNECT class to have someone teach the seniors how to create a Facebook profile, so they can share recipes, oogle at grandbaby photos and write embarassing things on their kids’ walls. If you own an adventure vacation or promotional products company, what old marketing efforts can you apply a new social sheen to?
Lastly, don’t take on too much too fast. Many businesses new to social media, think they must do it all and they create a blog, open an Twitter account, start inviting people to join their Facebook page, load an eight-year-old video clip onto YouTube, and jump into 25 groups on LinkedIn…the first week. After spending 22 hours a day trying to keep up with it all, they start considering life as an Alpaca Rancher in the outer skirts of Montana. Perhaps the first week, you create a Twitter account and find 10-20 people to connect with. The second week you start searching on Twitter to find keywords being used on Twitter. Afte a month, you might feel ready to take on setting up a Facebook Page or joining ONE LinkedIn Group and exploring how to contribute to this knowledge group. Plan on 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. As your online community grows, you can shift more and more time from one group to the other.

So whether your current customers are using social media to stay connected or Mabels BINGO nights, you would be wise to start embracing this new world, before your business ends up in the casket.

What business have you been most surprised to find on Twitter, Facebook, other social sites?

@GinaSchreck

Gina and her team of Alpaca ranchers can help you take on those dreaded daily tasks of managing your social platforms…Just give us a shout! 303-978-0887 or Gina@Synapse3di.com

Gina Schreck
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di

@GinaSchreck

March 21, 2011 | Filed Under Facebook, Facebook for Business, Facebook PAGES, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media for Business, Twitter | 2 Comments

LEFT BEHIND: The Painful Price of Not Keeping Up With Technology

My 75-year-old in-laws came to visit for Thanksgiving and by the end of the weekend, I was feeling, both guilty for not helping them immigrate into the foreign land of technology earlier, and inspired to learn even more about technology trends and new tech tools as I…. get older.

Technology Social Media Expert, Gina Schreck, Technology Trends

Seniors and Technology

My mother-in-law was complaining about the fact her bank was starting to charge her $8 a month for not using their online banking features. Online banking was both scary for her to consider doing and sad for her to think of not being able to go in and visit Kim and Diane, her favorite tellers. She doesn’t like talking to the tellers through the drive through window and would never consider trusting the ATM to deposit checks or withdraw money. How would she be sure it posted to her account correctly? Who would answer her questions she might have on her statement?

She said the other day the clerk at the department store where she regularly shops, asked her if she downloaded the coupon that was offered on their Facebook Page. I can just imagine the blank stare my mother-in-law gave that 16-year-old, who probably could not fathom anyone NOT being on Facebook. My father-in-law chimed in with his disdain for the word “apps.” ”I’m tired of hearing about this app and that app. Everyone acts like we understand what that means!”

Imagine waking up one morning in a foreign country. You do not speak the language and cannot read the signs posted around town. You have currency that no one accepts and you own tools that don’t seem to work any longer. This is the feeling many seniors have today. They are digital immigrants. They may have immigrated voluntarily or perhaps they were sent over kicking and screaming, but they are foreigners in a foreign land. Although a Nielson study showed that those 65 years and older pick Facebook as one of their top internet destinations, I believe it is because they are trying desperately to access their family that left them in this foreign land so they can slap them!

With one boomer turning 65 every 8 seconds starting this January 2011, there are some things we can do to ensure we are not leaving anyone behind feeling isolated and lost. As a business owner, I also want to make sure I am not throwing around lingo and techno-jargon that makes digital-immigrants more confused and isolated.

Here are 4 steps we can all take to help others and stay relevant ourselves so we are not LEFT BEHIND:

1. Commit to learning one new technology tool this month. Whether it is sending text messages to your family or taking a class (even via YouTube) on a new video editing software or starting your own blog.

2. Commit to teaching someone one new technology tool this month. Show your parents how to download a photo from an email or better yet how to sign onto FLICKR and browse your family albums. Download a sudoku or crossword puzzle app on their phone or iPad (you might not want to call it an app!)

3. Browse through the TECHNOLOGY category in the iTunes library or on YouTube to find a podcast you enjoy that discusses technology trends, and subscribe to it. Commit to listening to one podcast per week to stay up on the latest lingo and tech terms…like APP or CLOUD COMPUTING! (Some of my favorites are from the TWIT Network-This Week In Technology- just search for TWIT in iTunes Podcasts)

4. Find and subscribe to one technology blog. Go to Technorati and browse a category that interests you and then send that particular blog to your eReader or receive it as an email (if you wouldn’t get overwhelmed by one more email). I like getting them sent to my Google Reader which ends up being a customized newspaper for me. If you own an iPad, download the free and OH-SO-AMAZING app, FLIPBOARD and “flip” through the pages of your favorite blog posts and magazine sources each day.

Share some of your tips to stay relevant and keep that GREY MATTER from getting too GRAY!

If you are working with seniors or want more resources, info, and products with senior-friendly features, check out this great site: ElderGadget

If your organization needs help bringing folks across that digital divide, give me a hollar, I am your Digital Immigration Officer! @GinaSchreck

Gina Schreck

Gina Schreck
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di

@GinaSchreck

November 30, 2010 | Filed Under Education, Facebook, Future, Gettin Geeky, iPad, Technology | 4 Comments

The Controversy Around the Digital Divide

I grew up with 3 TV channels (not including the mysterious UHF channels which never had anything of value to a kid), I was the remote control. I played records not MP3 files, on my Fisher Price record player. The only phone we had was one with a very long cord that could be pulled into our bedrooms for privacy. I am a digital immigrant.

I hear many people complain about the labels, “Digital Natives” and “Digital Immigrants.” I’m assuming what they really don’t agree with is some of the stereotypes that tend to go along with those labels. Some will say ALL digital natives LOVE technology and ALL digital immigrants RESIST it. Obviously that is not true, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are those born into a landscape of digital technology and those of us who have had to make that mental shift and MOVE.

I am a native to the United States, but that doesn’t mean that I know everything about our great country. There are those who have immigrated over from other countries and I am amazed at those who know more about our history and landmarks than I.

Regardless of which side of the digital divide you were born on, it doesn’t change the fact that we must find ways to continue learning to use the tools of today. My old record player won’t allow me to do all that my iPad will, I watch more videos on YouTube than shows on my television (unless it is in 3D -then our 3D TV delivers the goods!) and my Google Nexus One phone can do just about everything from helping me review restaurants online, making dinner reservations without having to call and be placed on hold. My phone can hail a taxi or talk me through directions to get there all without having to drag my phone into a room for privacy…wait…PRIVACY…what’s PRIVACY? Perhaps that’s yet another thing digital immigrants are struggling with understanding!

@GinaSchreck