With regard to the use of social media for your business, have you ever heard someone else say (or thought yourself): ”Why bother?  It probably won’t be around in a couple of years!”

The social media graveyard

To each thought, one can find positive affirmation in the past.  ”You see I told you so… Just look at all the dead ends.”  If a brand had invested heavily in MySpace or Posterous or Google Buzz — to name but a few — the long-term ROI could be seriously called into question.

The Social Media Graveyard

How to catch the wave…

The “excuse” not to go into social media or explore other digital marketing avenues because “it might disappear” is, in my opinion, wrong.  Here’s why:  What we learn yesterday will have a bearing on our choices of tomorrow.  The way I see it, in this period of disruptive transformation, where we are undergoing a veritable revolution in business via the onslaught of digital innovations, we need to learn better to decode and decipher.  {Click to tweet}  We need to make gambles as to whether the new kid on the block is the real deal or just a whimper without a credible economic model.  I like to think of the surfer waiting for his/her wave.  Some waves will form, but die out.  Some waves break, but without much force.  Then there are the big ones that take you all the way.  The way a surfer learns to gauge the waves is by assessing them and riding a few of them.  Little by little the eye starts to understand which are the best waves.  As the experiences accumulate, you learn to catch the wave and do increasingly bigger waves, and make fewer and fewer wrong selections.  You still make mistakes and you still fall over; but, you acquire a better eye, and also gain greater balance as you progress.

Not that I am a surfer, but it is marvelous that the idea of surfing can be so a propos for the world of Internet and digital marketing as well.

Riding the digital marketing wave

Similarly, in the world of digital marketing and social media marketing, we are looking at waves of new initiatives.  They have been coming fast and furiously.  Some are truly revolutionary.  Some are plain copy cats.  Many have not figured out an economic model.  The inevitable question is whether the latest social media site is worth checking out, dabbling in or investing heavily.  Betting early can provide substantial first mover advantages down the road.  The later you wait and see the success confirmed, the more expensive the participation.

Wave by Cecilia Melinescu

Developing the digital eye and digital IQ

Executives need to sharpen their digital eye, to appreciate with greater lucidity and conviction those digital initiatives that are worth the plunge.  {Click to tweet}  Of course, there will be some that peter out.  However, the learnings along the wave can be instrumental in making the next wave a better ride.  For me, this is about enhancing the executive’s digital IQ, a subject I hold dear.  Here’s to learning to catch the wave!

Your thoughts are welcome!