Hey guys, welcome to Shama.tv. I had the most interesting conversation earlier this afternoon that I wanted to tell you guys about. So I get this call from a gentleman and he says he wants to start doing some social media marketing, start, you know, building communities online and build his own community online. And I thought, “Well, that’s excellent. I’m happy to help.” And we’re getting into the details of it, and I say, “Hey, do you think you could drop me an Email because I’m about to run out for lunch. It’s my husband’s birthday. We’re going to go celebrate, so if you could drop me an Email that would be great.” And the thing he said right after it is what shocked me. He goes, “Well, I’m actually so low-tech that I don’t do my own Email. I have someone else handle my Email for me.”

Okay, guys. If you do not know how to Email, if you don’t have a web site, if you don’t know what you’re doing online, social media is going to be a waste of time and money for you! I mean, I’m shocked at the amount of people I see in the social media sphere who are out there and marketing, and sometimes doing a really, you know, hackney job at it, and it makes me kind of flinch because I’m thinking, “God, where are your basics? Where are your, you know, where is your foundation?”

So they’re really building these houses or castles, if you will, on air, and this is my advice to all of you guys. I know social media is exciting. I know a lot of you guys want to get into it. But really, before you even get into this vast world, think about it. Do you know what your brand is? Do you know what you offer? Do you know what makes you different than everybody else in the field? And do you have these basics in place? Do you have a web site in place? Do you have a, you know, a mechanism to capture Email addresses? And do you have a blog? I mean, what do you have that is your basic foundation to capture people’s interest when they come to it. And so social media should be the last thing on your list.

But anyways, I thought that was an interesting story and I wanted to share that little tidbit for those of you wondering, “Should I be doing social media?” and the answer is “No” if you don’t have the basics and “Absolutely!” if you have a very good understanding of your basics and you have a platform to build on.