From my own personal observation and experience, I have noticed that there are many people and business within Windsor-Essex that just aren’t ready to explore the endless opportunities that social media has to offer them. I’m debating whether they fear the unknown, hold preconceived notions or just haven’t discovered the worthwhile benefits yet. The top reasons people/businesses repel social media are:

• “It’s too time consuming”
• “I have no use for it” or “it’s not for me”
• “I don’t know how to use it”
• “It doesn’t benefit me (no ROI)”
• “I don’t know what it is”

I have come to realize that many still don’t understand what social media is or the extent of its abilities; it much deeper than most people are aware of. It goes far beyond simply having a Facebook account to ‘creep’ friends or viewing Youtube videos of a giggling baby; social media is a tool that can unleash endless personal and business opportunities. Non-users need to stop being so resistant to the unknown and instead, open up their minds to this valuable and easily accessible resource.

Businesses especially, put themselves at a severe disadvantage when they do not use social media because they aren’t accessing the resources and tools that other businesses are taking advantage of. The top reasons that businesses are currently using social media are:

• To keep up with industry trends
• To monitor what is being said about their business
• To improve customer experience
• For recruitment research
• To gain competitive intelligence
• For marketing and promotional purposes

What business wouldn’t want to tap into these valuable resources? Many in fact! Roughly 65% of Canadian businesses are currently not using any form of social media. The main reason why businesses are not taking advantage of social media is a lack of education. Education is the key to helping non-users, non-believers and avoiders discover the extensive and beneficial functions that social media has to offer them. As we can see above, the top reasons why people do not take part in social media are mainly the result of a misconception or lack of knowledge.

If more people and businesses in our community were educated about what social media is, how to effectively use it and what its benefits are, we would all be able to mutually benefit from the abundance of new and diverse material and activity available. We, as users, need to recruit and educate others to discover the wonderful world of social media. Its sharing, educating and networking abilities, to name a few, should not be kept secret…let’s work together to spread the word in Windsor-Essex!