You want to learn about social media and why it is so important to how you do business online. I was curious myself, so I searched high and low to find out the bottom line. I was amazed at my findings.

The Disconnect: Employees vs. Machines

If you work in the “brick and mortar” world you might notice that many business owners adapted and structured their business around the “Industrial Age” mentality. The mindset says:

• Employees are paid to work hard and fast! “
• Employees are created to produce.
• Employees should never complain about long hard hours. The machine doesn’t complain, so why should they?

Business owners for some reason stuck it in the back of their mind that this process works. The plan backfired: turnover rates rose, sales declined, training seminars increased, etc. Upper level management was spending more to keep a staff than to serve the customer. Many people revolted against this structure, but few actually left Corporate America to find a new income stream.

What does this have to do with Social Media? Everything! Companies and individuals doing business online cultivated an unspoken “each one teach one” culture. Community is always first.

Social Media Encourages Community

If you look up any social media guru, Rohit Bhargava, Chris Brogan or Ron McDaniel for example, you will find that the cornerstone of social media is learning how to look beyond your needs by helping someone else. When was the last time you walked up to one of your co-workers, a friend or a family member and said, “You did a wonderful job on your project and I want to share this news with everyone I know.” A compliment like that makes you feel good for saying it and the other person feel even greater for being acknowledged for it. This attitude is carried throughout the social media culture, so it has no choice but to rub off on you too.

Social Media Encourages Mentorship

Having a mentor is one of the most effective ways to be successful in any business. When you have a mentor who takes time to sit down and explain how the program works, shares his/her mistakes and connects you with other gurus — the likelihood of your online business being successful is higher. If you are serious about learning — industry leaders will show up to teach you what they know. Ron McDaniel even crafted a certification and mentoring program for people who are really interested in helping business owners to adapt to Social Media. From what I here, people are lining up by the droves to be in his program.

Social Media Threads Connections

Learning creative ways to keep your name buzzing in the ears of your customers, friends and associates is always a big challenge. With the invention of Web 2.0 we are learning how to “thread our connections.” Facebook links with Linkedin –links to Myspace — links to YouTube and so on. Keywords count and Tags connect us. You can find and bookmark any blog, article, subject etc., with one click of a button by using del.icio.us . You are now working smart and not hard!

There is much more to be said about social media than what is written here. I encourage you to and reach out and learn more. Connect with the community. Get  a mentor. Thread your connections. You might be asking yourself why didn’t I start earlier.