Reality Check

In the INSEAD world of incredibly talented, intellectual, awesome people who know everything about everything, I thought I might offer a comforting reality check, so here it is:

Most people don't know how to use social media.

It's true especially in the business world. Most businesspeople are older than us - a fact easy to forget on campus, but easy to remember once you see an office again. Some are still learning how to use justify margins in word, or worse, use a mouse properly. The message they're hearing regarding social media is simply, "You have to be on Facebook and Twitter. If you're not on there, sign up now." The majority of these people respond by signing up for Facebook, posting a couple of comments, adding a profile picture, and waiting for something magic to happen. Then they become confused, get frustrated, and give up when their sales don't automatically increase exponentially.

Much of the older generation thinks of social media as a print ad on the computer. They paste something on a website and wait for people to see it and start buying. These people don't understand the fundamental change that is happening in the way our world interacts, consumes, and seeks information. They are stuck in the old mindset of one-way information dumping, which we all know is not an effective use of social media.

I witnessed this lack of understanding countless times in my time selling Manhattan real estate. Because I possessed what in an INSEAD context would be a fundamental understanding of social media marketing, I was called upon to lead seminars for the 400+ other salespeople in my company. Time and time again I would hear some version of this:

Jake, I AM using social media. Every day I put my listings on my Facebook page with really nice pictures and a beautiful description. I've even connected it to Twitter so it automatically gets tweeted! EVERY DAY I'm doing this. Why aren't I getting more clients?


Same symptom over and over again. They see Facebook as the classifieds section of a newspaper rather than a social space for sharing and interacting. In response to such a comment, I usually give some version of the following:

Martha, imagine seeing a client on the street and saying to her "Hey, I have a great townhouse for sale on Thompson Street. There's an open house this Sunday! Here are some photos!" Now imagine doing this every day. Your client is going to get very annoyed with you and start walking a different route just to avoid you.


This usually breaks one barrier to understanding, and they start to realize that social media is all about interaction and relationships, EVEN IN BUSINESS!

Yet, the truth remains: when we re-enter the business world, our superiors will be turning to us for advice on what to do with this entirely new form of communication. While this should give us a boost of confidence, we should remember that we grew up in the internet age - they didn't. We are therefore, I would argue, generally more equipped to navigate and utilize social media. We will therefore need to constructively bridge the gap between our e-genes and their business experience to execute effective strategies through this new social medium.