Needed: An Open Mind to Use Social Media to Promote Your Business

Posted on 22. Aug, 2010 by Natalie in Entrepreneurs, Featured, Social Media

This is a guest post by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, a female entrepreneur who hopes her story will inspire others who may feel that they are too old to learn social media.

Firstly, why do I think entrepreneurs should learn social media no matter at what age? Because social media – if done effectively – is an extremely powerful way to connect with very targeted markets.

And if you are clear on your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) you can zero in on connecting with your target audience wherever they hang out on the Internet.

Never too old to learn

Now let’s bring up the age question.  People frequently say to me: “I’m too old to learn how to use social media.”

To which I say: “That’s ridiculous.”  And then I tell people that at age 60 I threw myself into learning everything I could about Internet marketing and specifically social media marketing.

Here’s what happened:

For my 60^th birthday I decided to self-publish my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT, based on my experiences as a new Mrs. Lieutenant in May of 1970 right after the Kent State shootings during the Vietnam War.  At the same time that I was going through this process with Aamzon’s BookSurge (now folded into CreateSpace) I submitted the manuscript to Amazon’s first Breakthrough Novel Award competition.

MRS. LIEUTENANT was chosen as a semi-finalist – and Amazon gave each of us semi-finalists a page to promote our book.  One semi-finalist had something I didn’t have – a blog.

Now here’s the interesting part of the story.  Although I had been an early adopter of computers for word processing and email, I didn’t know what a blog was.  But that didn’t stop me.

With my background in marketing (I have an M.B.A. from Wharton), I instantly realized that free online promotional opportunities such as blogs were amazing. These leveled the playing field with companies and people who have huge advertising budgets.

I jumped in with both feet to learn as much as possible about Internet marketing and I never looked back.  In fact, when I became frustrated that I couldn’t instantly add pages to my websites myself, I formed a company with my younger daughter Yael K. Miller.

We learned how to create effective WordPress websites and then made these for ourselves and clients. Then once we had learned how to use social media effectively, Yael and I started teaching clients so that they didn’t have to jump through as many hoops as we had done.

The truth is that, in retrospect, I had one secret weapon which I can only thank my genes for (and the example of my father Albert Zimbler, for whom at age 84 we built the site www.alzimcomedy.com).  I have an open mind towards learning new things.

Although every day I may wrestle with learning new things (social media marketing changes at the speed of light), I am willing to feel “stupid” in order to press onward.

A friend tipped me off to the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, which I immediately read.  I then realized that I inherited an open mindset – the willingness to feel stupid in order to move forward.

Without trying to squeeze the essence of this brilliant (and easy-to-read book) into a half sentence, I’ll just say that the author talks about smart people who aren’t willing to try new things because they are uncomfortable if they don’t always feel smart.

If you have an open mind, then jump on the social media marketing wagon.  And if you don’t have an open mind, get Dweck’s book right now (I have no financial interest in it), read it, and change your mindset.

Then join all the other open-mindset entrepreneurs online who use the power of social media to connect with their target markets.  And connect with me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ZimblerMiller

Phyllis Zimber Miller

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing, which coaches clients in effectively using social media to attract more business.  Get 70 tips from 14 contributors, including Miller Mosaic, in the free tips booklet HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO INCREASE YOUR BUSINESS at www.millermosaicllc.com/tips-booklet

Also if you’re in LA Phyllis has asked me to mention the following event, I always like to support women in business so here’s the details (and no I have no financial incentives to do so)

SPECIAL EVENT IN LOS ANGELES ON AUGUST 25: Free Social Media Seminar — Register Now

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• Can You Crush It Using Social Media For Your Business?
• Web 2.0 Exposed – The Future Of Your Business Is Open
• The Entrepreneurs Social Media Workout 1: Back to Basics
• Entrepreneurs Social Media Workout 7: Website Weightlifting
• Web 2.0 Defining Open Leadership And The Latest Innovations

Tags: How to use Social Media to increase your business, Never too old to learn Social Media, Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Social Media success for small business, Social Media Workout for Entrepreneurs, Unique Selling Proposition