Forums

[Karen Gray Company: 5LINX Contribution Level: 1]

I attended recent business meetings and one of the committees is Communications and PR, I was totally surprised at the lack of savvy and understanding of the impact of social media on business globally. Colleagues are telling me Gen X and Y is buying more print magazines???? Did I miss something here? The whole business model has changed for print media and many are in transition and a quandary wondering what to do as they were and are not prepared for this change. Now even Journalism is impacted, one journalist can write so many articles online where in print it could take more than one.

With the introduction of electronic/digital readers like the Nook, Kindle, Neo, etc plus online sites ad revenues for print are down as it has moved to these formats. Who wants to cart around paper in our travels and how about the trees? With the greening awareness, less recycling and destruction is more. Take a look at the impact on the future of publishing at http://thefutureofpublishing.com/indust ... magazines/ .

Now back to women in business resisting technology, I am a member of http://www.napw.com/xxxxIndex.cfm and my chapter is struggling with this, I am fierce about nudging them forward and feel incensed to do so as I am appalled. To that end I am giving an introduction to technology presentation next month at our next meeting and will show the impact of social media on expanding one’s business and building one’s brand. I was reading a book on blogging during a break at the conference and some of the men had such quizzical looks and then the questions came, oh wow. Keep in mind, there are really no borders, no visas or airfare needed on the internet and social media to get a customer or business partner 24/7.

Women, whether you work outside the home or not get with the program, there is no room to escape technology and change in this global economy. If you drive, your car is computerized, so is the gas pump, cash machine, airline ticket check in, traffic signal, scanner in the supermarket, your shopping habits and more, get updated. When you shop for anything where is the first place we all search, even for Real Estate? Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Flickr, etc, even politicians and government are involved.

You can use video and social media to market and grow your business; text marketing is also growing as they are more likely to be read than emails. Let’s grow and change with the times so that you do not lose your competitive edge. If you feel overwhelmed get your kids, hire an intern to help or take an online class, the biggest thing is to remain coachable with an open mind and play like a child so you can discover. Take a look at http://www.entrepreneur.com/tag/1992, listen to these videos and grow your mindset.

One of my dreams is to see more women around the world enter business and have a source of income even if they are a stay at home moms, recently unemployed, disabled, etc; it’s empowering. Now let’s do it. Ask me for more information.

[Jim Ticehurst Contribution Level: 4]

Hi Karen, wow that is quite an observation that you made there! But first I have to admit that I don't really understand it...there again I am only a man of course?

Had a man written that article I should imagine that he just might be accused of being 'sexist'? ...maybe not.

I think that generally speaking women are as proficent as men in any field of endevaour that they choose to be in...and quite often they are not only as good as men but very often better. But of course this forum is not really about a particular sex's technolocical abilitys but more about their spirt and their endevaours plus of course their willingness and desire to help themselves and others.... especially in these challenging times.

Some of the greatest success's on here are women, women like Diane Hochman and Melanie Milletics are two very obvious examples, they may not be technological genius's but boy they sure know their stuff.

I personally think that the Internet is greatly over rated, sure it is good, but it ain't perfect. One of the greatest internet marketeers known (Mark Yarnell) quite recently phoned me up at home and said to me that if anybody wants to succeed in this business that they have to go out and talk to people face to face ......(and he has made millions)... in a very short period of time.

Even facebook that gets such a great press is in my opinion over rated, if you don't believe me then just go to the bottom of the articles written on this site and look at the 'comments' box...nobody ever comments on them because they simply do not want to use facebook ...personally I think that actually the womens articles are much better written than most of the mens.

Succeeding in Networking does not require a technological genius ...just somebody with the desire to help both themselves and others...and now it looks like I have gone full circle.... thank you for this topic...

regards Jim T.

[Karen Gray Company: 5LINX Contribution Level: 1]

Great comments. I have 2 businesses and I have truly observerved what I mentioned. Since marketing is global, tools like the internet are important to business and success as we can't walk out and talk to someone in Thailand or Brazil. I am also a Realtor and the current buyers are mostly foreign in most US markets and they find the assets and realtor via the internet as that is the first place people search.
Note: Technology and social media are not meant to replace human interaction.

"A youthful attitude is open-minded and you need to grab, embrace and adopt new trends and then follow them." - David Perry