Social Desire

Written on January 16, 2008 – 9:54 pm | by Shana Albert |

Photo by KoAn

I wrote a post on Collective-Thoughts yesterday, "What if Social Media were a Disorder?" And, even though it was meant to be a humorous post playing on the fact that many, myself included, are obsessed with Social Media. I got to thinking that maybe for some it actually might be thought of as a disease that they are afraid to catch. It was not that long ago that I felt that Social Media was “The Leper”.

I remember a couple of years ago before I had accepted Social Media I was a stubborn Webmaster. I enjoyed my silent World. I enjoyed having total control over my Websites….. control over my business. I felt that keeping out other opinions would be the best thing for me. After all, nothing good could come from opening up the doors to communication between the world and me. I am a control freak when it comes to my business. I think that I have been successful in part because of my need for control. But, what I didn’t realize was that much of my fear of Social Media was keeping me from more success.

There were two Big things I hated….. two things standing in the way between me and Social Media.

1. Change - I hate change. Adding a Blog to my websites meant a lot of change. Change is very frightening for me because it makes me feel a loss of Control…. which brings me to my next big problem with accepting Social Media.
2. Loss of Control - I am a total control feak. I felt that adding conversations to my business was going to ruin everything I worked so hard to achieve. I had a huge fear of negative feedback from customers, negative comments from competitors and spam.

There were other fears (as Rachel of BehindTheBuzz points out in her post), but these two were the biggies for me. And, these two fears were not only holding me back from Social Media, but from bigger success. I never imagined all I was missing until I took a good look back on how far I’ve come since I entered its world. But, once I added a blog to my Preschool Curriculum eCommerce site (my 1st taste of social media) good things began to happen. Good things like:

1. Increased traffic
2. Increase in incoming Links
3. Moving up the Serps
4. Branding of my Business name & Products
5. Wonderful Conversations with People in my Niche.
6. Increase in Friendships
7. I enjoy what I do so much more

As a Webmaster I felt that as long as I didn’t allow Social Media in to my Business then I could keep all other opinions (other than my own) out of my business. But, the fact is that whether I liked it or not my readers, customers and potential customers would be talking online about my products. These people would be discussing my products online in Message Boards, Social Networks, Blogs, etc…. whether I was participating or not. At least if I participated I could respond to their comments whether good or bad. And, if I received Spam as comments I would have a chance to monitor the comments before they went live. So, at least I felt that ultimately I was still in control. And, this sense of control put me at ease.

I am not that great at taking constructive criticism, so the thought of negative comments on the Preschool Products that I designed and created myself makes me a bit nauseated. But, I’m dealing with it…. quite well actually. All comments on my eCommerce site have of all been pretty positive and proactive. I have actually enjoyed the interaction with my customers. I had forgotten how much I had missed social interaction. I think that communication between myself and customers have made my company more approachable and human. And, when the time comes that I have to deal with a truly negative comment in the public eye I will respond the best way I know how…. with honesty and sincerity.

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