Ahhhhh What was that?

Insight on Business isn’t on the air Fridays….however we can’t stay away!  Today I went to a social media seminar that was attended by about 70 other folks.  I was a bit underwhelmed…  Here is the story.  Have a great weekend and hope to catch you on Monday!

This morning I attended a meeting sponsored by the Des Moines Business Record and Hanser & Associates.  I wasn’t alone.  There were about 70 people in the room who had come to review the social media survey conducted by the DMBR and Hanser.  Here is that survey story.

I want to be kind…my goal here is not to bust the chops of anybody.  I do think that the majority of business people who came were expecting more meat rather than what they got.  While the participants on the panel were clear to the fact that they were “learning” about social media I was struck at the overall lack of understanding.  Now, to be fair, that may not have been the intent of the meeting.  But, I’ll bet many in the audience thought they might be able to get a nugget or two on “how to”.

They didn’t until panel member Christian Renaud from Palisadestarted to speak.  He spoke of the difference between a business blog, Twitter and Facebook.  He told the people  to understand that Social Media is not only an advertising vehicle it is a way to engage in conversation with consumers and a way to learn more about what in the world is going on “out there”.

Clearly Christian “gets it” and both Josh Fleming from Lessing-Flynn and I gave him major props.   He was clearly the most helpful on the panel.

One other very clear thing came to me and several other professional media people in the room.  Business continues to be very fearful of Social Media.  They want to put an ROI on it, want to control it, want to keep the conversation going in one direction…out.

However, that’s not what SM is about…and it was also clear there is enough business to go around for all of us.  This is a much, much steeper learning curve for business to business and business to consumer groups than what I had already known…

Have a look at the stats…you’ll see what I mean.  And, here comes the ad, if we can help…for crying out loud call…or write or…Tweet?  Thanks for reading.