Don’t Be A Fool When You Use A Tool

Written by Daan Jansonius on January 14th, 2008 |

Recently, my mom and dad decided they were going to get a new floor in our living room. We live in a pre 20th century house, so it’s rather old. The floor started to skew and tiles were coming lose. We needed a new floor.

This task turned into somewhat of a disaster. There were several factors at play, but one of the main ones was the fact that my father felt he could save a lot of money by doing some of the legwork himself. He seems to think that rather often, whenever something round the house needs doing, he’ll do it himself. At this point the whole family is gathered around him, waiting for him to mess up and call the expert.

Compared to me my dad is quite handy, but he isn’t exactly a Bob the Builder type a guy. He tries, bless him, but more often than not fails. Remember Tim ‘the Toolman’ Taylor?

You may wonder where I am going with this, so I’ll get to the point.

I’m a big fan of stick to what you know you are capable of and hire an expert for everything else. Leaking tap? First thing my dad looks at is the cupboard underneath it. Me? I go straight for the phone book.

Same thing applies to social media. Too often you see companies going for the ‘cheap’ solution by doing something themselves, while they barely understand. Television was easy, you created a 30 second piece of film, bought some air time et voila.

Not so much with social media, it’s far more personal. And when you get personal with your customers you need to understand them. Companies often don’t understand the people they are trying to communicate with.

If you feel the urge to get your brand involved in social media make sure you understand what you are getting into. Either become an expert, or hire one.