I’ve spent the past few days listening to my usual slew of Podcasts – Across The Sound, Inside PR, For Immediate Release, Managing The Gray, Daily Source Code, American Copywriter, New Comm Road and many more. I’ve also been paying close attention to the comments that these Podcasts get.
People don’t get it.
There was an audio comment on For Immediate Release from someone giving a handful of reasons as to why you will not find them in Second Life. On Across The Sound, there was a segment on what a person thought about Podcasting, and how unimportant it truly is (in their opinion). There are always people asking me why they should Blog, as they think it’s a huge waste of time.
I’m tired of this.
I heard these exact same arguments (don’t have the time, too busy, the technology is quirky, it won’t catch on with everybody) every time something new gets introduced.
I’m really sick and tired.
I could list out all of the reasons people give as to why they don’t Blog, Podcast or try out Second Life, and we can compare it to the reasons people gave years ago when they first tried stuff like a web browser (“who has time to surf through all this?”), instant messenger (“why would anyone want to communicate like this?”) and email (“it makes no sense when you can just fax them.”).
As Marketers, we have a duty to understand every channel of communication that people are using. When we make statements like “my schedule is too busy to add another appointment, like meeting in Second Life,” what you’re actually saying is, “I’m closed minded.” Our roles are to help our clients understand the world of new marketing and social media. Like it or not, it is greatly impacting how consumers live with brands and there’s no stopping it.
So go ahead, ignore Second Life. Assume that Blogs are all about lonely people talking about their cats. Podcasting is just some wannabe blabbing into a microphone. For every person that continues to think like that, more and more marketing opportunities open up for those that are not taking their eyes off the ball and want to have a real conversation about their brand to the consumers who care the most.