Teach a Man to Fish Social Media…

Most of us know the expression, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.”

Same principle with Social Media: Teach a company/individual how to blog, Facebook, Twitter, use forums, share links, photos, videos, documents, etc. - and that student will be reeling in leads long-term. (Vs. a quick fix - “Here are your blog posts, links delivered to you… oh, you’re hungry again? We can do it for you again!”)

I write this in sheer frustration as I witness some profit-hungry schemes to get money from businesses by playing on the Fear Factor - i.e., “I’m scared to use social media… can you do it for me?”

Yeah, sure we can. Does that mean we should?! I don’t think so.

Training and education - such as hands-on demonstrations, personal coaching by phone, email, F2F, leave-behind training materials, glossary of terms, online forums, webinars, workshops, etc. - is so important with Social Media Services.

Mack Collier of Search Engine Guide, writes in “How Do you Decide if Social Media is Right for your Business?”

“…If you decide that you do need to hire a social media consultant or agency to help you, please promise me that you insist on having them TEACH you how to use the tools that they will be implementing.  If you are going to hire someone to create a blog for you, make sure that they are also willing to train you on how to properly blog, how to build community on your blog with your readers, and how to use the blog as a tool to raise awareness and build your business…”

Two fundamentals touched on here; LEARN IT, then… USE IT - or truly, you’ll lose it (the business value of social media).

Fish on, my friends… the juicy, big customer leads are out there!

P.S. Does anyone know the source of the quote: “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime”? I Googled it, to no avail, and no one knew even at Yahoo! Answers and the like!