Comments on: Owning a hammer doesn’t make you a carpenter!

By: James Smith

James Smith — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:13:27 +0000

Thanks for the great information Jim.

The blog is excellent and gives some real practical advice that can help improve your marketing.

We will definately be following it (and your advice) from now on!

By: Stefanie Hartman

Stefanie Hartman — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:52:56 +0000

Great post. Too often people think social media is easy and are disappointed if they don’t get great results right away. They need to realize you can get great results, but the time and effort to learn the craft must be put forth as well.

By: Consumer Mailing Lists

Consumer Mailing Lists — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:27:32 +0000

Great post, I totally agree. Would you rather have something done, or something done right? Putting a marketing campaign on Facebook, etc. may get a lot of eyes to see it, however you will have to use a detailed marketing plan to achieve your desired results.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:34:24 +0000

Hi Jim,

Great post!

Having just recently begun using social media, I now understand the importance of seeing it as part of your overall marketing mix.

I aggree with Majorie- alot of the skills you need with SM are the same as with traditional marketing and PR, however, I see your point about hiring a professional who understands the medium fully.

Fab blog will be subscribing from now on.

By: Links for May 10 2009 | Eric D. Brown - Technology, Strategy, People & Projects

Sun, 10 May 2009 13:17:54 +0000

[...] Owning a hammer doesn’t make you a carpenter! by Jim Connolly on Jim’s Marketing Blog [...]

By: Marketing Specialist - Jim Connolly

Marketing Specialist - Jim Connolly — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:53:52 +0000

Marjorie,

Thanks for the comment. You make a number of very good points. Social media is not a replacement for marketing, it’s just a tool. We still need to speak with people, look after them and then (shock horror) do some ‘real’ business!!

By: Marjorie Bicknell

Marjorie Bicknell — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:27:30 +0000

Everybody’s hopping on the social media bandwagon, but it seems to me that for most people it’s just a way to avoid the “hard work” of marketing. That is getting out their meeting people and selling your products or services. Sure I’ve got lots of friends on Facebook and colleagues on LinkedIn, but until I connect with them one-to-one in a real dialogue, I’m never going to make a single sale. Also the skills that make you a good user of social media marketing are pretty much the same skills that made you a good networker before there was web 2.0

By: Marketing Specialist - Jim Connolly

Marketing Specialist - Jim Connolly — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:30:39 +0000

Sean,

Thanks for the comment Sean. It’s sad to see so many people invest so much time in social media, for such a poor return.

This is not helped by the thousands of people, now calling themselves ’social media gurus’ – who seem to know very little about community building (and even less about marketing.)

By: MTD Sales Blog

MTD Sales Blog — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:06:30 +0000

A very apt posting.

A lot of my clients say that “they should get on Twitter” or that they need “to build their community on facebook” etc but they do not have a plan around it at all!

They do it for the sake of doing it which is madness!

I use lots of social media to build my network but then I actually talk to the ones I need to!

I don’t just leave the relationship in cyberspace!

So use social media by all means but:

1. Have a strategy and know exactly why you are using it and what you are using it for

2. Use it is a tool for building relationships but use it to open doors and then actually SPEAK to the contacts you need to!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Training

By: Marketing Specialist - Jim Connolly

Marketing Specialist - Jim Connolly — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:35:55 +0000

Jeremy,

Thanks for the comment. There’s a lot to learn, but the rewards can be huge.