Fear Of Progress?

I was sitting with my friend and blog coach Mike Sansone the other day and asked him this question, "Tell me what is it that keeps people away from social media?"  His answer:

"Fear."

I suspect that response took me by surprise.  Always willing to look at all sorts of ways to increase business we took to blogging and social media quickly.  Mike contends that the same fear that kept people from creating websites, using the Internet now keeps them from embracing new technology to communicate with their customers and clients.

I didn't much believe him...until this morning.  On my own I went to my local Chamber of Commerce here in Urbandale to get them excited about social media.  I like these folks.  They are dedicated, busy, active and love this city.

They are also fearful...  Or at least some are.  It seems the chamber executive was tapped by the local newspaper The Des Moines Register to do a blog.  She did and the only measurable response she got was from some nut cases.  (dates, and lewd comments)  But, then again you know my issue about newspapers and anonymity. They thrive in it.  Remember there is a segment of the media that loves the bizzare.  It sells.

We think they will overcome the fear and join us in reaching out to their members and customers.

So, you know of any Chamber Types using blogs, Twitter, etc?  And, doing it well????

Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications

 

 

Comments

[Janet]

Michael, I/we are trying to do this at the East Des Moines Chamber. Our website is blog-based, but it needs to become truly interactive and more widely used by our members. When I took this job in May (Exec. Director of the EDMC), I wanted to make social media a priority in terms of making connections among members. Alas, with the way my personal summer went (flooding, yada yaha) and the loss of our President in June, the year got thrown off track. So for now, we are using a blog-based website and I hope to be making better use of social media very soon! ~ Janet Green, East Des Moines Chamber and dmweblife.com

[Michael Libbie]

Janet: Good for you and thanks so much for getting back to me. I'm headed to check out your site! Do you Twitter yet? You can find us there as well. Thanks for reading & the comment. Mpl

[Janet]

Speaking of "very soon," I just thought you'd like to know that your gentle nudge to fix our RSS feed got me moving. This week I sent out an email reminding members to use our website more frequently, inviting them to comment on posts and to subscribe to our feed. I also launched a LinkedIn Group and a Twitter feed for the Chamber. (Look us up - We are EDMchamber on both!) Coming soon, shared Webshots account and BlogTalk Radio.

[Michael Libbie]

There you go again...getting things done! You are going to give me a bad name...The Pusher Man... Glad to have helped. Now pass it on to your fellow Chamber types... Thanks for reading and for the nice comment! MPL