When you buy a new car, there’s just something about that new car smell. You just enjoy opening up the door and settling into your plush seat and breathing in that odor. After a few years, you don’t really want to take too many whiffs of your old “new” car. And at that point you’re more concerned about your car getting you from Point A to Point B and keeping the repair costs down. It’s about the driving, not the smelling.
When you’re just starting to realize what you can do with Social Media, you enjoy turning on your computer, BlackBerry, iPhone, whatever, and checking into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and whatever other Social Media sites you participate on. It’s the equivalent of the Social Media new car smell. After you’ve learned some about Social Media, the new car smell wears off a bit. Not completely, because they’re always creating new sites and new apps, but a bit.
And, I’m predicting that if you haven’t figured it out already, you will eventually figure out that it’s all about relationships. How to build and enhance relationships. It always has been and it always will be. Relationships with your prospects, clients, friends, family, whoever. Only if you want to succeed and have satisfaction in life. I’m aware that that sounds very idealistic. It’s not. It’s as true as gravity. People do business with and refer business to people they know, like, and trust. Effectively using Social Media gives you the ability to create “Know, Like, Trust” relationships on a level that we couldn’t even have dreamed of not too many years ago.
So, are you breathing in deeply that new car smell, or are you smelling it in the background while you drive like a pro? And by drive like a pro, I mean are you building and enhancing your relationships with all those Friends on Facebook, Connections on LinkedIn and Followers on Twitter? Enjoy the smell for a little while when you get the car, but after that it’s all about driving well.