Social marketing - I am starting to get it

I resisted. I fought it. I wanted to make Google Adwords work for me. I wanted to take the easy route to fame and riches.

Social networking seemed to be such a long, drawn out process with little received in return. I just did not see it to be worth while.

I am not exactly an Evangelist for social networking yet, like Chris Brogan whom I highly regard, or like Problogger Darren Rowse who I need to get to know better by reading more of his stuff, too.

No, I'm not entirely convinced enough to throw my whole self into the Web 2.0 arena, but I am getting close to doing just that. Frankly, it just feels right.

I have a running "discussion" with a good friend. We are at opposite political poles. He is the "clear thinker" and I am the blurry "from the heart" responder. I guess you can easily figure out which side of the aisle we walk on. But we are still good friends even though there are occasional flareups and temper tantrums.

Social marketing agrees with my heart if not my brain. I think that is because I've been brainwashed for so many years. I used to be an insurance guy. Woody Allen had a great line in one of his movies. It went, "I sentence you to three days and three nights with an insurance salesman."

Last year I listened to a wise marketer, Kim Klaver, try to tell us that the direct sales market and its techniques had it all wrong. At least that is how I heard it. They were pounding "build a team" into the people who signed up with companies that sell candles, diet plans, vitamins, you-name-it.

In the last 5 years I was placing ads for regular folks who were persuaded to sell mortgages to anyone and everyone. No real training needed. Nope. Just put it out there. Get in their faces. Tell them whatever you think they would agree with to close the sale. You can even do it online!

We are now feeling the consequences of that product pushing technique. My heart says it time to change.

Something inside me says "get on social train ride and see where it takes you."

This morning I watched Chris Brogan talk about "Don't be that guy" in a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kX4oUmm3GA&feature=related It hit home run for me.

I don't want to be the guy Chris is talking about. I don't want to be that guy who only knows how to talk about what he sells. Sure, I want people to pay me for services I can provide, but, darn it, I don't want to clear out a room in 5 minutes talking about me and what I do and what I bring to the table.

If you know some teen agers take a listen to their conversations. How often do they talk about themselves? How many times does the word "I" pop up in their talk? The average teen I knew and know talk about themselves a lot. A very wise man once told us to "put away the things of a child" when the time came to be an adult.

Social marketing is an adult activity, folks. You need to be mature, in my opinion, to make it work. You can't be a fooler. My grandfather, God loves him, used to say, "You can't fool a fooler." That makes sense when you realize that foolers are playing games. Their mantra is often "he who has the most toys, wins."

If that is your mantra, please don't try to initiate a conversation with me. I am beyond that thinking. I am an adult now.

greg cryns