According to a recent issue of the New York Times, two Northwest Airlines pilots flew over 100 miles beyond their destination because they were distracted by their laptop computers. For the 90-minutes during which they were flying in the wrong direction, they did not hear more than a dozen air traffic controllers trying to get their attention. They apparently never looked at their flight navigation instruments as they used their personal laptops to (they say) train on a new computer-based company scheduling system.
They heard voices over their cockpit radios but ignored them. They did not notice that they were off course until when, five minutes before they were supposed to land, a flight attendant requested the estimated landing time. It was a disaster in the making with 144 lives at risk.
Fortunately, the plane landed safely, but their experience highlights how a person can be totally engaged in a positive computer related task, yet have absolutely no concept of the direction in which they are going.
Anyone Can Do It! (Yadda, Yadda)
It's the same way with new and social media technologies. Anyone can whip out a laptop and just start doing stuff. You can open a Twitter and YouTube account (for free) in about 30 seconds. FaceBook (also free) takes only a little bit longer. You can also set up a blog (more free), and you can have a website (almost free) in a 30 minutes.
All of this stuff is available to practically everyone, yet so many people are using all of it with absolutely no idea what direction they are going in. Human lives may not be at stake, but business lives are.
You can have all of these tools at your disposal, and still be flying blind.
My Training Changes The Game
Having a blog is not the same as using it to accomplish specific goals. A podcast is worthless unless it's successfully integrated into other media outlets that help spread your ideas.
If It Doesn't Spread, It's Dead
The Media Is Y-O-U! puts you in the driver's seat. It puts you in complete control of your message. And it gives you the tools you need to discover how you can be efficient at spreading that message, so you can focus on serving your customers and increasing your bottom line.
Like the Northwest Airlines pilots, you cannot be successful just because you have technology at your dispoasl. You need specific goals and a navigational system that will help you accomplish them.
That's what The Media is Y-O-U! is all about.
Question: Do you ever feel like you're flying blind with social media? What are your questions? What do you think you need in order to fly right?
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