I’m eight days into my new role with RMM, but after five years in my previous job, friends and family were keen to hear what new adventure I’d embarked upon. After trying a somewhat detailed explanation and receiving some vacant looks, I settled on “helping organisations make (better) use of social media tools for marketing, customer service and the like” … the blank faces remained. “Ok, so you’re doing some stuff with Twitter?” was a standard summation.
Now, I’d consider most of my friends reasonably web savvy (the majority are active Facebookers), and yet I noticed a clear missing link of consciousness between their consumption of social media and its recognition as a genuine business enabler. The fact that an agency would be applying some measurement, some analysis – some science if you like – to the use of LinkedIn, YouTube etc simply hadn’t landed with the majority. Eventually the penny has started to drop, and with it some genuine interest and curiosity of what exactly I’m doing in this cutting edge, emerging industry. And those faces – well perhaps their showing just a hint of envy!
