I couldn't agree more!

I just wrote an article for the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) that touches on this very point. I intentionally did not give the article a sexy title, because that is the point - It's not all about the technology. Those older dudes have a thing or two to teach the young techies, like the street smarts that come from operating a successful business for 20 or 30 years.

Here's a beginning excerpt:

"While the technology that drives social media marketing, also known as Web 2.0 or new media marketing, is what gets all of the glory, it is the human interaction that gets results. It is the human or social quality of new media marketing that makes it uniquely effective.

Would you like to hold your own with the technology crowd that is gaga over social media? Not a problem. If you are successful in your business now, then you probably have more skills than most others for taking advantage of social media. It is just a matter of learning how to use them in new ways. Here is a step-by-step process for accomplishing that."

What was my plan? Simple:

1. Listen
2. Personalize
3. Engage

And when I'm speaking at their Winter Management Conference in February, that is exactly what we'll be doing.

Jeff