Great idea! Now Shut the HELL up!
Great Ideas, by Brett Loebel
When is it a good idea to post your ideas? I guess a better question would be when is it not a good idea to post your ideas and thoughts?
Most people I speak to come up with their brilliant ideas and thoughts either while lying in bed at night or while showering. I guess this is the time people have to themselves to just think – as they are in their own head with no other distractions. Great time to think about all those brilliant moves, business ideas, money making tricks etc.
But – before you rush to your computer and jot down your ideas in your blog, you may want to understand your audience.
Sure – mom will be so proud when she reads your new thoughts and ideas on your Facebook page. However, there are other eyes on your social media that you’re not aware of? Are your competitors spying on you? If they’re not, they should be. I know that my competitors are spying on me. Quite frankly, I am spying on them also. I am not just reading their business blogs – I am analyzing and reading the “personal” Facebook pages of every executive with whom I consider a competitor. What do I stand to learn or gain from this? I don’t know yet.
I am not a voyeur. Frankly, I’m not really interested in seeing pictures of my competitors’ kids. No interest whatsoever. however, spying on my competitors’ private social media can help me gain an insight to the mood of the competition. How are they doing financially? Losing money? Making money? Is the boss going to Spain for the third time this year? Why? Is it business? What does she know that I don’t know?
As I was recently reviewing the comings and goings of the executives working for my competitors, I had some thoughts about my own social media postings. And I posting anything that I wouldn’t want my competitor to read?
Keep in mind – everything you post on your social media is the same thing as calling your competitors and telling them what a great idea you just had.
Keep this in mind also when it comes to your personal social media. Something as innocent as posting something on Facebook stating that you’re going to be in Disney World for the next two weeks may seem completely innocuous to you. But what can this mean to your competitors? What about your clients? Are their decisions that you typically make – that now another employee is going to make? Are people waiting for you to leave to take advantage of the situation in one way or another?
If you want your aunt and uncle to see what a great time you had a Disney World, wait until you get back. Only then is it a good idea to post the fun time you already had. Don’t announce you will be absent. The only people that should know are the people that absolutely must know.
Have a great idea? Great! Write it down in your own personal private Journal. Then implement it. Then tell the world you’ve just implemented your great product or idea.
Brett Loebel 