There are many writers that I like and a few that I love. One of the ones that I love is Erika Napolitano; she writes her blog at Red Head Writing, has a column with Entrepreneur Magazine, and wrote the book “The Power of Unpopular.”
She is a brilliant, no-nonsense kind of gal, and that is something that is in short supply… male or female.
It has been a long time since I had a profanity-laced tirade over stupid people, and she got the engine steaming. She had a post yesterday, her “Bitch Slap” – (her words, not mine) on procrastination, and after reading it, I thought to myself… holy CRAP! This is every conference or event that does not have a social media presence. They are guilty of everything she talks about.
She (not knowing it) was talking about every event marketer that is making excuses about social media and pissing off those that are closest to them (their peers, their attendees, their coworkers). The time is now to stop whining and get to work.
Stop with the excuses. Getting a social media strategy is not complicated; it does not require a study, it is not something that you should look into, it is not something for the future, it is not something that should wait for next year, it is not untested, it is not something that is a fad, it is not something that is going away.
All of these excuses are simply bullshit. They are bullshit that you need to come to grips with and get off your ass and get this thing done and get it done now.
By avoiding it, you look behind the times, behind the eight ball, and kinda like an asshat. You are like the dipshit that bought their first fax machine in 2003.
Let me give you a little hint, Einstein….If you are waiting for the internet fairy to come and save you, he is all booked up to help keep the Wiki-leaks guy out of jail, the Google guys rolling in hundred dollar bills and working Facebook to keep Mark Zuckerberg on top.
Why is the Internet Fairy not helping you?
Because the Internet Fairy helps those who act fast, it does not help those who are waiting for the perfect moment or waiting for everything to be in place. He helps those who seize the moment; your sorry-ass excuse does not fall under his jurisdiction.
The Internet Fairy likes those that shoot for the moon and get shit done. He ain’t coming to knock on your door unless you are trying hard and working the program people.
You need to realize that the only ones you are hurting are your attendees, and God help them; they are going to kick your ass if you don’t get in gear. What is kicking your ass? It is dropping your program from their “must attend” list, it is going to the competition, or it is simply not caring to hear from someone who only speaks to them once a year.
You heard it here first, and if you want another profanity-laden dose of medicine to get you off your hump, get over to Erika’s post and have a read because she is not as gentle as I just was.
Oh, and by the way………… Have a good weekend.
This weekend, every event that has a social media program will be interacting with their fans and attendees even while the event planner is sitting on the beach sipping a freaking margarita.
