I had a thought that the irrational fears people hold stop them from using social networking for business. This seems to be a terrible crime. Therefore, we must promise to let no fear, no excuse, no lame brained idea pass before we stop the irrational fears of the social networking non-users.
Now for a better question. How do we do this?
Well, my inside sources tell me that we must define these irrational fears first. Just like Harry Potter calling Voldemort by his name instead of He Who Must Not Be Named, we must name the irrational fears people have about social networking. That way we can strike down the death eaters of social networking with a simple Expelliarmus spell! Note: It is Friday, and I am pumped about the upcoming Harry Potter movie!
After that, people can more rationally evaluate the pros and cons of social networking to use it in their business.
Top Ten Irrational Fears
- Money-People have this fear that you need to go onto social networks and spend a lot of money in order to be successful. The fact is the majority of successful people did this without spending too much. It is more affordable then you think.
- Time-The excuses for this one would take up more time than we have time. If you do not have time to do social networking, please stop reading this article and just email me at andy At andynathan.net so I can help you overcome that challenge!
- Waste of time- I separated this, because business professionals feel social networking will just fill up their day. When you have a plan you will be fine!
- Privacy-I have said this a lot, but here it goes again. Stop worrying about security. If you do not want something shown, then do not show it. Donations for the Andy Nathan Social Networking Security fund can be sent via paypal!
- Can meet people other ways. Yes, you are absolutely right. You can and should meet people through a variety of methods. The fact is that I mix social networking with networking. It doubles my impact!
- This is a fad. This might be more of an excuse from the irrational fear than an actual fear, but the people who call it a fad and wait 10 years for the next fad to come along can then say they are right. Congrats on losing a decade of your life!
- What if people talk negatively about me? We are all social animals who live and die on others thoughts as well as our own. No one wants their ego in tatters. Please realize that I have been torn asunder and bounced back. You can too!
- What about the stalkers and freaks? Fortunately, I have not found the need for a full time body guard after all my social networking activity. There are as many stalkers in real life as there are online. Did you still go outside this week?
- Learning is just not right at my ripe old age of (fill in the blank)! You are only too old if you believe it. Otherwise, get that old age …stuff out of this conversation.
- “I remember when….” The Fifties are gone, and so are the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties. I heard some late breaking news that the first decade of this century just came to a close as well. Now for an update from the here and now!
There will always be irrational fears that prevent you from doing something. The time was not right. You just need to finish xyz first? Social networking for business is becoming a way of life. There is always a reason to stay in your cave. Now figure out your reason to be greater than your irrational fears.
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Hello Andy
I looked up the dictionary definition of irrational and found this: Not endowed with reason. All the fears that you have listed definitely have no reason to be a fear. For people who might think #9 has a reason, yes it does the reason why one should learning and using social networking.
Thanks
Perry A Davis Jr
Music City
Perry,
I love how you researched this in the dictionary! Awesome!
Andy
Great list Andy. The one that I hung on to for way too long was the amount of time I’d need to invest in doing it right because I didn’t want to fall into the trap of automating everything and losing my own voice. I finally picked out 3 specific areas to focus on first, worked on developing a system, then began expanding – that’s really made a difference and helped me to expand my social media reach while avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Marquita,
Thanks!
That is great that you found a great way to balance your need to control social media and still get what you need done in the least amount of time.
Andy
Hey Andy,
Love it ….great list, you have to send that in to the Letterman show.
If there is anyone who doubts the POWER and POTENTIAL of social networking and social media, all they have to do is watch the YouTube video Social Media Revolution 2, which is an updated version of the original video.
Everyone should check it out now on the blog of our friend Raena Lynn…has great new social media stats..
http://raenalynn.com/social-media-explosion/
For those who have those irrational fears, they should do their research, analyze the pros and cons and they can start small and just get their feet wet before they dive in.
But, it is NOT a fad and more and more individuals and businesses are realizing that every day..
Keep schmoozing,
Marc
Marc,
I appreciate your comment about Letterman! Something to keep in mind.
I had a similar post to Raena’s last year as well.
https://andynathan.net/2010/10/social-networking-statistics/
I should be doing an updated version of this by the end of the year.
Thanks!
Hi Andy,
Thumb up for this excellent post and the great list ! 🙂
I definitely find that anyone who is doing an offline business, should put their business online. Many feedback I received from those traditional networkers (especially in my country) is that they don’t have much time and it is not easy to get them to start doing business on social networking sites especially building relationship and slowly take the time to get some business. I came a crossed many traditional networker who still don’t believe in investing their time on social media although these people owns Facebook, twitter and skype account.
This is very strange but I do not know if they fear of spending too much time online and will gt themselves not having enough time socialising with others offline or other reasons behind this.
I sincerely hope more of my friends can read this post and they can realize they need to find a little bit more hours a day only to see them preparing themselves in online business and reap the more reward from another channel of promoting themselves and their business.
Thanks Andy for this great post.
Cheers
Pearly
Pearly,
That is definitely true! I have met very few offline businesses that could not succeed online. It is weird, how networking events and other time consuming business building techniques are acceptable, and how social networking is a time consuming endeavor not worthy of their time. Dismissed before it is useful.
Whatever their fears are from spending too much time on the internet to socializing instead of working that can be fixed be being more disciplined.
Thanks!
Andy
Great post Andy.
I lived in fear 1,2,3,4 and 7 for quite a while, but now that I after I dipped my toes in the water for a short while, I jumped right in.
Now my biggest problem is staying in touch with all the new people I meet.
Looking forward to your next post
Ben
Ben,
That is great that you overcame your fear! Have the same challenge keeping up with people!
Andy