This morning I attended a great event put on by Market Connections on winning government business. The panel was comprised of 4 market professionals and the Editor of Washington Technology (this is not to imply the editor is not a market pro, but he is a journalist, the others are front line folks). Lisa Dezzutti presented findings of the recent Market Connection studies on how contractors are marketing - great stuff and now my weekend reading! It was a great event for networking and the info was top notch.
I got to ask a couple questions near the end - so I asked how many people in the room were on LinkedIn. Of the 75 or so B2G market pros, and nearly all raised their hands. Then I asked how many heard about the event on LinkedIn. About half had their hands up.
Several times over the past month or so I have run across those who think LinkedIn is
- a joke
- a job site
- a time waster
- full of people living in the parental basement
And if they think this way about LinkedIn, what do they think of Facebook and Twitter?
And yes, despite my rant last month, I am still on Facebook, and using it a little. I am also now on Twitter and have about 260 followers. I also use www.FederalContractor.us, www.GovLoop.com, www.BeltwayNetworker.com and a few others.
But LinkedIn remains my social networking focus.
I am not here to convert those who remain convinced of the above myths about whether or no social networks are useful ("Maybe they are for some, Mark, but not in my area...." is the typical whiny remark.)
I do not care if you do not wish to migrate where the world is moving.
I do not care if you want your business to operate under marketing rules that were dying in the 1990s.
I do not care if you are brainstorming in a closet with a like-minded sycophant.
The market, and marketing, moves with or without us.
I prefer being on the bus before it leaves the station.
If you prefer otherwise, do not whine to me about it.
And if you are not on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twiter, GovLoop, FederalContracting or BeltwayNetworking, you may not be hearing about to many events in the future.
Not that I have an opinion.
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As usual, a pithy observation from the Godfather of Government Marketing hits nail on the head. I have found slight differences in the 'demographic' of my networks on each of the technologies/websites yet there is an overlap. All on some, some on all. As such, I have once again disconnected my Twitter stream from my Facebook status. I had many Facebook folks who are not Twit-savvy constantly asking about "RT" and other Twiterverse nuances which appeared in my Facebook status updates.
ReplyDeleteThe end of the day, Mark lays it out succinctly. Either you're on the train, or lucky to arrive at the next station a day late with sore feet ;-)