Entrepreneurialism; Social Media and Blogging
by William Jackson, M.Edu. williamdjackson.com/
The ability to communicate as entrepreneurials is important
because many variables come into play during the business
day. Sharing information is now vital, understanding business
resources and interpretation of data from various resources.
Using technology has changed from an occasional use to an
absolute necessity in the Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 environments
of digital information sharing and content creation. The down-
side to the use technology is the inappropriate relationships
that develop and unprofessional content using electronic
messaging like blogs and with other technologies.
Entrepreneurials have implemented the use of online social
media resources (Social Media/Social Networks) that allow
for connections outside of the traditional business hours.
An article in The Wall Street Journal recently analyzed if
entrepreneurship could be taught or if it must be learned.
Just as with any profession hands on learning and educational
opportunities do apply to successful outcomes.
Resources are Blogging, Twitter (microblogging) and
Facebook: A blog is defined as an online presence or website,
updated by an individual with regular entries of commentary,
descriptions of events, opinions, and discussions on various
topics. There is an interactive component that can be imple-
mented in Blogs; graphics, video and audio can be shared
on blogs to provide interactivity. Facebook is a social
network platform for connecting with multiple people.
The key component is the ability to share content effectively
and bring value and relevance to sharing information and
content creation.
Blogging for entrepreneurials allows for the use of web based
resources to be shared. The expectations, guidelines and key
elements that consumers follow so they know what is going
on in the business world. There are professional aspects of
information sharing and just as with any type of technology
business sense is imperative. Caution is seen in examples
of unprofessional Blogging, Tweets and FB entries, evident
when business owners discuss potentially unprofessional
business practices. Questions arise about business peers and
clients, why have a blog when questions are posed about
business information. Business owners are measured with
standards, people in other professions judge because of direct
interaction with the consumer. This is why professional
behavior should be exhibited at all times; care should be
taken in the "content' of writing and what comes in question
when there is reference to the business ability to perform.
Entrepreneurials should understand that content online is a
matter of interpretation and what is posted never goes away;
content posted and shared is a permanent fixture online. The
availability of technology extends a digital reach should always
be respected, just as in the early 50's the immersion of the
television created a paradigm in the access to entertainment,
worldwide information and business information. The Internet
has created major changes in the availability of information,
the speed of exchange of information and a paradigm shift in
digital content sharing and advertising. When entrepreneurials
put themselves on display by writing content and posting online
they are responsible and held accountable for content.
Education is a key component to growing with technology
and changes in business practices. Educational opportunities
can be found with such groups as E3 Business Group in the
developing business center. It is growing into a high tech
business center where technology will be available to hold
meetings, trainings, workshops, seminars and other business
related opportunities. Unique workshops such as “So You
Want To Be An Entrepreneur?†(Anthony Butler, Sr),
Social Media and Branding, (Tiffany Duhart), Social Media
and Tweens, Teens and Young Adults; Blogging for Your
Life and Work (William Jackson) and others will be offered.
Stated in the article, Teaching Entrepreneurism†research in the
field of entrepreneurship has improved by leaps and bounds
in recent years, so educators can do much more to help
entrepreneurs avoid common problems.â€
Education should not be overlooked or thought
of as a waste of time. Just as professional educators participate
in Professional Development, Doctors attend conferences
and other professionals have seminars, Entrepreneurs
should take advantage of educational opportunities.
Entrepreneurials must be reminded that when blogging about
any business venture they should take into account the fairness
of information posted, privacy issues and accuracy. Education of
laws written and unwritten are important.
Dr. Noam Wasserman, of the Harvard Business School; “many of
the base skills (of business) can be taught, but they (entrepreneurs)
must be complimented with real-world work to prepare them for
the industry. By education pitfalls may be avoided and an increase
their success rates in business.â€
“Technology in business and social media allows and encourages
opportunities for collaboration, open content sharing and personal
branding†(Tiffany Duhart 2012, http://mosaic lifestyles.com).
Many businesses have a policy on Blogging and accessing Social
Media platforms. From my experiences as a higher education and
public school educator, business owner, Social Media presenter;
my experiences as a Blogger over 8 years and user/developer of
Social Media/Social Networks, if you put something out on the
Internet someone will see it, if it is misunderstood or seen as
inappropriate eventually someone will report it. Technology can
help entrepreneurials expand from the development of content
creation. Be smart, be professional, be involved in professional
development opportunities and always be business minded.
Seth Godin's response to Social Media and why he's thankful it is not so easy:
QuoteThe trap of social media noise
If we put a number on it, people will try to make the number go up.
Now that everyone is a marketer, many people are looking for a louder megaphone, a chance to talk about their work, their career, their product... and social media looks like the ideal soapbox, a free opportunity to shout to the masses.
But first, we're told to make that number go up. Increase the number of fans, friends and followers, so your shouts will be heard. The problem of course is that more noise is not better noise.
In Corey's words, the conventional, broken wisdom is:
Follow a ton of people to get people to follow back
Focus on the # of followers, not the interests of followers or your relationship with them.
Pump links through the social platform (take your pick, or do them all!)
Offer nothing of value, and no context. This is a megaphone, not a telephone.
Think you're winning, because you're playing video games (highest follower count wins!)
This looks like winning (the numbers are going up!), but it's actually a double-edged form of losing. First, you're polluting a powerful space, turning signals into noise and bringing down the level of discourse for everyone. And second, you're wasting your time when you could be building a tribe instead, could be earning permission, could be creating a channel where your voice is actually welcomed.
Leadership (even idea leadership) scares many people, because it requires you to own your words, to do work that matters. The alternative is to be a junk dealer.
The game theory pushes us into one of two directions: either be better at pump and dump than anyone else, get your numbers into the millions, outmass those that choose to use mass and always dance at the edge of spam (in which the number of those you offend or turn off forever keep increasing), or
Relentlessly focus. Prune your message and your list and build a reputation that's worth owning and an audience that cares.
Only one of these strategies builds an asset of value.
Just want to point out as a friendly reminder that 'entrepreneur' and 'technology entrepreneur' are not the same thing. There are still brick-and-mortar business entrepreneurs out there that are integrating technology into existing markets and models without being a "technology company".
It's just a pet peeve of mine that I can't introduce myself as an entrepreneur without the automatic assumption that I'm a programmer that has come up with the next Facebook (although the money certainly would be nice).
QuoteJust want to point out as a friendly reminder that 'entrepreneur' and 'technology entrepreneur' are not the same thing. There are still brick-and-mortar business entrepreneurs out there that are integrating technology into existing markets and models without being a "technology company".
Are there new brick and mortar businesses that do not use a computer? Not generate computer data? I am sure there are, but for every back office process, albeit payroll, taxes, health insurance, bill payment, a computer is used. So even though you are not a technology company, you still use technology in your business. I do not believe you can be technology ignorant completely in business today. After all, you are communicating with me on a computer or other electronic device (ie smartphone).
I agree that there are businesses an entrepreneur can open without becoming a technology entrepreneur. Someone who opens a flower shop to me is an entrepreneur, but I do not view them as starting the next spin off of FTD though either. Odds are this new flower shop will expand with a social media presence to let others know of its existence, or a Yellow Page ad or some sort of communication via Google, so people can find them and so the entrepreneur can build a base of business with a consistent message.
I think we're saying the same thing, although you appear to have misread the part of my post that you quoted. I didn't at all say that brick-and-mortar business are, or should be, technically ignorant. My intention was to draw a more nuanced distinction between the entrepreneur of the storefront that uses technology and the entrepreneur that is creating the technology that the business owner uses.
To use your flower shop example, I am just drawing the distinction between the flower shop owner and the programmer that coded his POS system, or database system, or Twitter, or Facebook. Too often, the flower shop owner can introduce himself as an entrepreneur and the assumption is that he is the "technology system creator"
rather than a "technology user".
Further, I think it is also important to prospective entrepreneurs in any field to make sure they are aware that social media, as powerful and paradigm-changing as it is, is still just a tool. If it is underutilized, or improperly/ineffectively used, it can be at best counterproductive and at worst damaging to your business. There seems to be a kind of manic promotion of social media just for the sake of "having a presence", especially in b-schools, without adequately impressing that social media is not a panacea for bad service, inferior revenue models, or other marketing woes, and is in no way a substitution for hard work. I think the OP touched on that point.