This has been burning in the back of my mind since I dove into the deep end of the twitter pool earlier this year, ...or should I say, tried to learn to drink from a fire hose?!?
I've been a Rush fan since I was in high school, (The band, not the fat, conservative, radio talk show host... though my dad listens to him a lot). One song in particular has been playing in the back of my mind as I'm learning about #socialmedia and marketing. The song is Limelight. Its lyrics are so fitting to the times today that it makes me wonder if Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, and Alex Lifeson were actually seeing into the future when they wrote the song in 1981.
Here's the lyrics in their entirety:
************************************
Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage.
Cast in this unlikely role,
Ill-equipped to act,
With insufficient tact,
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact.
Living in the Limelight,
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem.
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation,
Get on with the fascination,
The real relation,
The underlying theme.
Living in a fisheye lens,
Caught in the camera eye.
I have no heart to lie,
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend.
All the world's indeed a stage,
And we are merely players,
Performers and portrayers,
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage.
*********************************
Here they are with my commentary:
Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage.
Cast in this unlikely role,
Ill-equipped to act,
With insufficient tact,
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact.
This is how I felt as I 'decided' to learn 'social media and marketing'. At first I began blindly following back everyone that followed me (including spammers). I notice that a lot of people do have 'insufficient tact' especially on EmpireAveue with the "BUY ME" posts and on twitter with the "Buy my product" tweets, but its prevalent on facebook and LinkedIn as well .
Living in the Limelight,
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem.
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation,
Get on with the fascination,
The real relation,
The underlying theme.
'The universal dream'of having; a high Klout score, a high stock price on EmpireAvenue, people reading your blog, people following you back, ...people actually LISTENING to what you have to say. And it appears that 'Those who wish to be' really must get on with 'The real relation'. You must actually listen to those you follow, relate, engage, and add value. You must engage in a way to develop actual friendships. It isn't enough to 'seem' the part, to truly learn social media and marketing, you must 'be' that which you are attempting to study. You must actually listen to your customers, and attempt to listen to the world.
Living in a fisheye lens,
Caught in the camera eye.
I have no heart to lie,
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend.
This lyric makes me think of the LinkedIn LION (LinkedIn Open Networker), those who will connect with anyone whether they know them or not. On twitter it seems more acceptable to follow, and have followers who you don't really know, but to me, LinkedIn and facebook, are reserved for those who I've actually had real interaction with prior to the social networking site. Facebook is like my living room in my home. LinkedIn is like my office at work. I don't have the general public walking through them. 'I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend.' As Jeffrey Gitomer says "All things being equal, people like to buy from friends." ...and "All things being not-so-equal, ...people STILL like to buy from friends." I have made some real friends by beginning this learning experiment. I hope to make more. When I am caught in the camera eye, I have no heart to lie, I truly want to meet more people and help those I can, and make genuine friends.
All the world's indeed a stage,
And we are merely players,
Performers and portrayers,
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage.
Ok, Shakespeare started this... but Rush finished it. It seems very apropos. I cannot possibly have enough thoughts everyday to keep an audience engaged (even if I did, I wouldn’t have time to blog about them and still do my job). I have to promote those new 'friends' who have good ideas as well. I have to rely on friends. Each another's audience... I share my audience and their content, and some of my audience members are those on stage. We each take a moment in the limelight from time to time, and together, we gain understanding, we make each other better (likes, follow Friday, shares, etc.) @bradyjosephson has this down
Thank you in advance for making me better. I'm still listening.
No comments:
Post a Comment