Today is out to get me

Today is out to get me
by: Howard Lee

“Today is Out To Get Me” Herman the Manatee
Recently I went to an alternative comic book event and came across the title of my article from a postcard. The first time I saw it I laughed because it was on target to the way I feel about the speed of technology and how it changes from day to day. Then I got to thinking that it's also the same way some of the small businesses I talk to about social media sees social media. To most of them they see social media developers as a pack of hunters out to get them trapped into a system that they don't really understand with people who only see how they can benefit from selling social media applications.

So like any animal who sees a hunter they run fast to get away from the hunter and hide until the hunter leaves. Which is what small business do when you mention social media as a way they can gain customers. That's what happen earlier that week when I was invited to a social media marketing event. Even before I was able to sit down to hear the speaker. I was approached by one of the salespeople to do a social media assessment to see where I stand when it comes to my social media presence. With smooth efficiency this salesman talked to me about social media as if I was a deer in the headlights he dazzled me with numbers telling me without their social media solution I would not achieve any of my goals of business success. You could feel the hunter laying a technology trap for his prey. Then something unexpected happened the numbers showed that I was 30 points over what I needed to pass their assessment that meant I was not prey but another hunter like him. Quietly he walked away smiling that “I know who you are now” smile while telling his fellow hunter who I was and not to bother.

But the game was not over because now it was time for the big game hunter to speak to tell how he always bag his prey with wit and guile and that no one can escape his carefully laid technology trap. He was good you could feel him coming with his often used technology bait and calls that could lure any prey. So would I get caught or was I just to old a fish to be caught with such an obvious trap. No I was too old I could not be caught I got away. But as I was walking away I saw some of my fellow prey willing following the hunter in a daze some where following because they were afraid of the hunters other just gave up and became the latest trophies for the hunter to mount. Then there were the ones who were trembling in the corner scared to move or speak for fear of getting caught.

Then from one of them I hear a familiar voice from my past a friend who was there to find out the truth about social media without hype So I coaxed him out of the corner and talked to him about his new business and what he wanted to achieve using social media. After talking he seem to calm down about being chased day after day with pie in the sky riches that will come to him if he got social media and other applications like SEO,SEM,BI Analytics, and other acronyms that confused more than helped.

I told him don't feel that bad, I am in the business and even I get confused over the day by day changes that technology brings and many times the technology only helps those who are producing it and not the end-users who really needs a simple solution to his business problems. So we talked more about his business and caught up on what we each have been doing over the last ten years. We are now talking about how I can help him in his business and he no longer feels that “Today is out to get me”

For more of the wisdom of Herman the Manatee visit www.manateepower.com