A Go-To Geek: It's the new must-have accessory!

Apparently I give off a vibe of approachability. Folks are always calling, texting, emailing, Tweeting, and Facebooking me about random geekery. As an extrovert, I’m more than happy to chat! But it’s not just my desire for near-constant conversation that benefits from this relationship.

Be it me or someone else, having a geek in your corner will increase your confidence and teach you a thing or two. If you don’t have someone to turn to for your slightly-intimidating social media and technology issues, find one. Among other things, your go-to-geek will:

• Keep you in the loop
If you had a geek, you’d know that there soon will be a massive, high-profile “social media for business” conference happening in our very own backyard. The Big South Social Media Summit is slated for Friday, August 13 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Confirmed speakers include social media pros from Southwest Airlines, SAP, Comcast, and Domino’s Pizza. The Summit also promises “social media-loving celebrities,” including Nashville’s own Tweeting TV talent, Christine Maddela (@christnemaddela).

• Teach you tech talk
If the letters S-E-O (search engine optimization) mean nothing to you, there’s a whole world of opportunities you’re missing — especially if you are a small business owner. As you seek out a Web guy or gal to design your online presence, you should also consider seeking the counsel of third-party geek to decipher the acronyms and provide an explanation of what you’re being charged for and what questions you should be asking.

• Encourage you to be your own guinea pig
Avoid the geeks that call themselves “gurus.” You don’t need a spiritual leader; you need the guidance of a tech-savvy person who encourages you to try your hand at social media, blogging, and good email etiquette. Through your relationship with this geek, you should begin to see in yourself increased confidence when talking about and using new media, not a gal who is rendered dependent on some secret geek sauce.

• Prevent you from breaking the law
Speaking of email etiquette, your go-to geek will not hesitate to read you the riot act when it comes to spammy, mass-email campaigns. It’s not only because they hate unsolicited email; when you commit this stunningly horrific faux pas, you’re actually violating federal law via the Federal Trade Commission’s CAN-SPAM Act. Worse, people will view you as an amateur.

• Talk sense into you
There’s no such thing as a dumb question, but there IS a dumb belief-so-strong-I’ll-never-let-it-go-even-though-it’s-so-not-true. If you had a geek, you’d already have learned the following: 1) your customers really don’t like to arrive at your homepage only to have loud music blaring out of their speakers; 2) the Internet doesn’t work like TV; 3) you cannot embed video in an email; 4) making your logo bigger on your Web site doesn’t make it look any better; and finally, 5) having a business Twitter account is pointless — and certainly has no merit on your Web site — if you only talk about working out, eating, or the Titans game.

No doubt, we could all use a good geek in our corner. If you don’t feel comfortable just grabbing one out of a coffee shop, you can always stop by the Nashville Geek Breakfast and pick one out there. The group meets for breakfast and geek-speak monthly, just as they have since 2007, at Noshville on Broadway. So be proactive. Get yourself a geek, and expand your techno-savvy.