Isn’t Social Media Just Shameless Self-Promotion – YES IT IS – That’s Why You Need to Be Using It to Shamelessly Self-Promote Your Business

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We live in a very anti-social, social media world.

No, that’s not a typo – social media is anything BUT social.

Think about it – how many “friends” do you have on Twitter that you actually know? And by know, I’m not talking about sharing tweets.

Let’s put it this way, how many “friends” do you have on Twitter that you’d invite into your home for dinner? Not a coffee shop, not some sleazy bar, or worse – street corner – your own private residence.

Asking myself that same question, I currently have 4,376 followers on Twitter. Of those amazingly awesome folks following me, I’d guess I probably really only know a couple hundred, when you consider friends, family and business associates.

Of those 200 people, I really only know about 50 that I know well enough to invite into my own, personal, private, living space.

So, out of over 4,000 “friends” on Twitter, I really know about 50 of them. Do the math – I only really know 1.25 percent of my Twitter followers.

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According to statistics, that’s about right. Studies show the average Twitter user only really knows between one to two percent of those who follow them.

One to two percent – that means, on average, 98 to 99 percent of those happy smiling faces that follow you on Twitter are complete strangers.

Doesn’t sound all that social at all.

Twitter is just like walking down a busy street, yelling: “look at me.”

BINGO!

Social media is just shameless self-promotion, that’s why you need to be using it to shamelessly self-promote your business.

If everyone is using Twitter, facebook, YouTube, Google Plus, Vimeo, Pinterest, Instagram, even Linkedin to shamelessly promote themselves – then you need to be doing that too.

I know – that’s not very social. Walking down a busy street, yelling: “look at me” is hardly the behavior that’ll win you long lasting friends you can count on when you really need them.

But that’s the new world order, thanks to smart phones, tablets, free WiFi, and coffee shops filled with people, none of whom talk to each other -- even at the same table!

Talking?

That’s old school.

Besides, no one cares about you.

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They are too busy taking selfies to show off their new hat, tweeting about what they had for lunch, or posting a really nasty review about the waiter that kept putting his finger in everything he brought to the table.

No one cares about you.

They are busy shamelessly self-promoting their own self interest.

However, the smart social media entrepreneur knows that social media isn’t about making friends, fans and followers.

No.

It’s about doing something that gets you noticed by the most self-absorbed generation since – well okay – there never has been another generation so interested in themselves, that they will walk into on-coming traffic, because they were eyes-down, self-absorbed into their mobile device.

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You have to use social media as a business person to get into the eyeballs of your customers, so in their own self-interest, they share your posts with their friends. And their friends share it with their friends, and so on, and . . .

That’s the real power of social media in business.

Despite it being wrongly named “social” – it really should be called “self interested media” or “anti social media” or anything but social.

Social media is just shameless self-promotion, but that’s why you need to be using it to shamelessly self-promote your business.

How to Get Everything on Your To Do List Done

I'm a big time planner. I even schedule lunches and breaks, otherwise I get so busy with work, I simply forget to eat and rest.

Using my iPhone, I tried out Apple's Reminder's app that comes built-in to my mobile device. I didn't find it all that practical, or useful.

It wasn't very configurable, and it's kind of bland. Which is surprising coming from a company where design is usually so well thought out.

Then I stumbled upon Wunderlist -- an amazing -- repeat -- amazing -- task managing app, available for most mobile devices, and it has a web interface for using on a PC or a Mac.

With Wunderlist, I can create different lists, from everything for daily to-do's, to specific one-off tasks.

Wunderlist On the Desktop

And within each primary task, I can create sub-tasks, so those of you -- like me -- that feel a sense of accomplishment from checking off numerous items will get your reward.

The best thing about Wunderlist, aside from it being a FREE app, is it's simplicity.

Simply open the sliding panel if it isn't already expanded, to display your lists, and those the program creates for you by default -- called "Smart Lists." These Smart Lists automatically populate with the tasks you set by type, for example "Today" shows you all the items you've created that are due today.

You can create your own lists, add tasks to these lists, prioritize them, create due dates, even set reminder alarms via push, email or desktop notification.

My favorite feature is that Wunderlist syncs my lists across all my devices using the cloud, so it doesn't matter if I'm in front of my work or home PC, on the road with my iPhone, or anywhere for that matter -- I'll still get reminded of my to do's and be able to check them off as I complete them.

Wunderlist Mobile App

Wunderlist is clean and very easy to use -- the learning curve for me was less than the time it takes to order a pizza.

You can customize the background, the notifications and the names of the lists, as well, to make it fit your own personal preferences.

If you're like me, and get satisfaction from checking off items from a to do list, Wunderlist is worth a try.

Follow this link to get a FREE month of their Pro version: https://wunderli.st/1ZPL1j

Why BlackBerry Failed -- And It's Not What You Think

Last Friday BlackBerry announced the axing of 4,500 jobs and that they were taking the company private to restructure the troubled smart phone maker.

We've seen, heard and read about the ongoing problems sinking the once golden child of Canada's tech industry.

The Ottawa-based company just can't seem to get it right, every new product they release is ripped to pieces in the press.

Recently, news broke about how the company purchased a private jet, despite lagging sales and constantly falling stock prices. The story shocked us -- who goes out and spends millions on a private jet, when your company is tanking?

We shake our heads upon another sob story in the press about BlackBerry, and instantly blame that company's leadership team. It must be all their fault. 

To a degree, the leadership team is to blame. To a degree.

Whenever a company fails or succeeds, part of that failure or success can be directly attributed to the decisions at the top.

But there is more going on here than bad management -- there's a whole lot more which is actually well beyond the leaders, the managers, or even the staff.

It's public perception, driven by a media machine which is designed to kill successes.

Our news media loves a great story, and many successful stories are sexy enough to sell ad spots as they scream their successful headlines.

But those success stories aren't very common and don't have legs. Once you report on a company's success, it becomes stale news. Who wants to keep hearing about the millions Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made, or the wonders coming out of Tesla Motor's Elon Musk mind?

BORING!

But tell the world about a tech giant's fall -- that's hot! That story can be spun for weeks, months, and even years.

Think about it -- what draws more of a crowd -- a crane hauling metal up to the floors of a building being built, or a man counting down the detonation of a building about to be blown to pieces?

We like watching things blow up. Watching things go "boom" is fun. It's part of our DNA.

SO when the vulturous media gets hold of a story about a company that's about to go "boom" they drop everything and feed that destruction.

No one wants BlackBerry to fail. But because things that go "boom" are more exciting than anything else, once a company enters that slippery slope towards doom, the media will continue the push down that slope.

BlackBerry has come out with some remarkable pieces of new tech over the past few months, but not if you read the reviews of their new tech.

Every tech reviewer has biasly slashed the wrists of the once popular smartphone company, even if their new tech is pretty good, by harping on the tech's failings.

BlackBerry itself was rebranded -- it was originally known as Research in Motion or RIM -- in an attempt to distance itself from it's negative about to go "boom" image.

But once labeled a problem child, it's hard to unstick that label, and the media continued to focus on the newly minted BlackBerry's troubled past.

And so regardless of what BlackBerry does, it will fail.

It can't win.

Which is really unfortunate, because BlackBerry has been working hard to change things around.

But perception is reality.

Even it it isn't.