Some of us are old-fashioned. Not by choice, necessarily. Mostly because it’s easier to romanticize the simplicity of the past than it is to always keep up on the newest developments here in the present. In other words, it’s tiring trying to stay current when you just figured out how to send a proper fax. So when it comes to keeping a business blog or setting up a fan page on Facebook, it’s difficult to see the reason or benefit.
Here are some old ways of thinking about new things …
Mailers, Newsletters & Blogs: Used to be that businesses would send out mailers or newsletters hoping to attract prospective clients. Printed mailers sent through the postal service were meant to inform, educate, and entertain, as well as announce new services and promotions. In other words, your business blog is just an ongoing version of the same thing. In fact, keeping a blog updated with information aimed at attracting and interesting potential customers also makes it easy to produce an old-fashioned monthly or weekly newsletter. After all, you now have the content. All you’ll need to decide is whether to print and mail it or copy-and-paste it into an email.
Social-Media & The Town Crier: All the way back to the beginnings of civilized society, people found ways to inform their neighbors of important news and announce happenings, deals, and developments. There’s little difference between what’s happening on social-media sites and what used to happen in the town square. In other words, today’s town square is online. Go where the people are. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, based purely on membership numbers, are where people are spending their time. Setting up an account is the virtual equivalent of having a platform in the center of town. Now you’ve got a space, make some noise.
Fliers, Email & Announcements: Email is about delivery. It’s the post office online. In fact, it’s so much like the post office people regularly discount it’s usefulness and say it’s obsolete. Sending emails is a way of getting your information, links, and offers to their appropriate destination. It’s like putting a flier up on a telephone pole. Say you’ve recently started a business blog. Send out an email to your contact list inviting them to have a look. In other words, it’s an easier, and more directed, way of getting your information and announcements into the right hands without having to buy a staple gun and walk 10 miles a day.
Ignoring e-mail and social media would be foolish. As hard as it is to believe for those of us who spend our days in front of an LCD there are still people that do not own a computer. And… others that either don’t understand it, don’t like it, or both. As time passes the numbers of these people will diminish, but they are still of significant numbers and should not be ignored.
Thanks, Leo. There certainly are people out there that don’t use social media and even those without computers. But those numbers will diminish as the years go by. That’s why getting a head start is so important.