down the avenue: Ben Parr: Social Media Is About People, Not Tools: #BizTech

FAVORITE QUOTES

Only Those Who See the Invisible, Can Do The Impossible
The Age of your Heart is the Age of what you Love - Marcel Prévost
Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll understand.
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one opening before us. -Helen Keller
The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. -Leo Tolstoy
Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. -Paul Tournier
They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. -Carl W. Buechner
Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The foolish reject what they see, the wise reject what they think
Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein
When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you - Lao-tzu
The world surrenders to a quiet mind
It is a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it - Somerset Maugham
"At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you." Goethe

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October 24, 2010

Ben Parr: Social Media Is About People, Not Tools: #BizTech

Ben Parr of Mashable stressed the need to engage in the social web if you hope to succeed as a small or large brand at this weekend's BizTechDay in San Francisco. Key takeaways include:

1. Go to where your customers are....and more and more people are hanging out in social networks....on the social web.

2. Don't let someone else tell your story. The key thing to social is that YOU can tell your story directly.

3. Great ideas solve two problems: a problem that affects people - "if you think that you can just build it and they will come, it's BULL," Ben says. The second problem you can solve is distribution and social media is a distribution channel, an ultimate one.

4. Lastly, he says, "if you think of social media as tools, then you are a tool. Social media is about people. Social media is about communication. Social media is about engagement."

Bottom line, in order to build a remarkable brand, you have to build a channel first and engage that channel in interesting ways and often. A video clip of the last part of his talk below.