Time to be Social?

One of the great things about working at the NC IDEA Foundation is our collaboration with so many accomplished entrepreneurs that generously give of their time and shared experiences, to the benefit of aspiring entrepreneurs.

In a recent discussion, someone asked: what is the appropriate use of social media for a company founder? In what would best be described as well-intended tough love, the answers that ensued were hard for some to hear; yet spot on.

So … at the risk of offending a few whilst hopefully helping more, I humbly submit a paraphrased list of observations.

“I don’t know any successful entrepreneurs using twitter and Facebook for anything other than selling products.”

“If you are posting articles, videos, ‘deep thoughts’ and other stuff, you are likely wasting time curating some narcissistic view of yourself, instead of working on your company.”

And my favorite of the list …

“Judging by your FB posts, you are great at giving advice you don’t follow.”

The concerns expressed can best be summarized as a lack of focus. Interaction on social media can give an illusion of activity and validation. Unless that interaction is with actual customers or has some genuine sales and marketing value (for which social media is great), you are likely wasting precious time and not doing more vital activities.

So here is my challenge for any aspiring entrepreneur with the courage to try it. Review your FB, twitter, LI, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. postings of the last 1-2 years. Then ask yourself the following: how much time did you invest? How much ‘advice’ did you dispense, but not follow yourself? Are you spending more time with social media than with clients?

Then reflect on the biggest challenges in your business. Do you have adequate sales? How is your product development schedule – on time? Are your clients thrilled with your product and customer service?  If you can’t honestly say a hearty YES to every one of these, then you might consider turning off FB and getting back to work.