The Gift of Social is in the Doing

By Mike Lawson

A few weeks ago, I started writing my monthly “Inside Marketing” column for CU Management on Vine, the latest cool social media app that lets you add six-second looping videos to your tweets. This tool offers many video marketing opportunities credit unions can leverage and, eventually, I did  write the column. But in the process, I realized I’m almost burned out on talking about the new, whiz-bang, wow-ness of the latest social media tools. I mean, does it ever stop? This social media stuff can be exhausting. I’m sure many of you feel the same way.

Don’t get me wrong; I think social media as a whole is fantastic in sparking a two-way conversation with your members. It’s revolutionary in this respect. And I will always be a champion for this message. But the tools, tools and more tools piling up have become overwhelming. One can be mired for months on what to use.

Look at this infographic from marketing expert Brian Solis (“The Conversation Prism”) on the many, many, many tools social media presents.

If social media were a highway, its ever-growing collection of tools would clog every lane beyond rush hour-–along with the endless on ramp of new apps inching forward into the slow lane. There’s so much incoming activity, it’s almost stifling.

You’re on Facebook, you’re on Twitter, you’re blogging, you’re on LinkedIn, and you’re checking out how fun it is to have a YouTube channel. How can one possibly fit anything more into their day? Oh yeah, you have to keep up with the traditional marketing practices that still actually work, too.

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