“The rate of internal change must be greater than external change or the company will fall behind.” – Jack Welch
Tuesday I was lucky enough to hear James Burnes of Media Sauce talk about how to use social media effectively. He started the session with this quote and video, “Did You Know 3.0″:
Obviously times are changing, faster than most of us can keep up. We are “no longer in the information age, we are in the interconnection age”. A few years ago my mom still had dial-up and I remember sending her websites to test to see if she could use them or if the connection was too slow. Those days are long gone, even despite the US’s low rank in broadband service coverage.
Today we need to design for tomorrow, not the technology of yesterday.
We need to think forward, not laterally or to the past. We need to anticipate to create, otherwise we will just recreate and lose ourselves and our business to those who are focusing on innovation. And really, that is what design is supposed to be: a tool that gives way to innovation, new ideas, and better ways of doing things. I’ll save the rest of that rant for my “What is Design?” post.
Getting back to what James said, of the many ways that people find and decide to do business with a company or buy their product, the #1 reason is because they received a recommendation from people they know. #2 is Consumer opinions posted online. Word of mouth can cross oceans in milliseconds. If your product is on Amazon or another largely trafficked site, there is great opportunity for people to make recommendations and potential customers to listen to these. But if you aren’t offering a product, or at least not one that can be offered on Amazon, how do you allow for previous clients and customers to comment on your product or service so that all the world can see? Social Media.
Another great opportunity that social media presents through the recommendations from previous clients and customers is free marketing. There is no better marketing than to have recommendations. Starbucks, Chevy, KFC, Southwest Airlines, and many other companies are creating online community websites specifically to allow the customers to collaborate and socialize. Starbucks specifically is allowing customers to make suggestions for possible products to be offered in their stores. They’ve created a virtually free (aside from the general costs of a website) and incredibly effective R&D department without actually employing anyone. This sort of technology could possibly launch a brand new product or company straight to being a household commodity or name.
7 Rules For Social Media Success
Define your personal and business brand.
Create accounts for your business and you.
And include a photo! People are just as interested in the people of the company as they are the product or service, especially if it is a large investment.
Speak to your target audience.
Commit to 15 minutes a day.
15 minutes is less than most daily tasks take. Managing connections and finding new ones is definitely worth any effort required, but this will most likely not seem like an “effort”.
Demonstrate your experience through sharing knowledge, ideas, & insight.
Though we are “no longer in the information age”, the “interconnected age” is still one of sharing information. If someone has a question, the answer is somewhere on the internet. It might take hours of searching if it is a truly unique and tough problem, but it can be found. Giving someone the answer can save them time and in return give you the appearance of one’s “knight in shining armor”. I also personally just love helping people, and it can make for a great foundation for an even better relationship.
Listen more than you speak. Respond frequently.
Why do people post on Twitter or Facebook saying “I’m getting lunch” or another seemingly useless informational tidbit? Because they want to be heard. Responding to what people say acknowledges their existence and makes them feel like they are important. It makes them feel good.
Reward your customers who connect to you.
Many corporations are now on Facebook offering coupons to their fans. Marsh is a great example, simply because they bring up another great point: only offer rewards that you can stand behind. Never renig on a reward, its bad for business. Its just making a promise you can’t keep, and that reminds people of their childhood disappointments and can cost them hours of therapy in wondering why the entire world is like their insufficient parental figure. Okay, that’s a joke. But you get the point.
How I’ve Started Using Social Media Effectively
I’ve actually started going to LinkedIn on a daily basis. I usually just read through the updates from the groups I’m a part of, but now I actually am commenting more frequently on discussions in those groups.
I still need to update Twitter. Its been too long. I also need to update the design of my Twitter page to match my new design. Twitter can be a really powerful tool, and I definitely need to start taking advantage of it.
Point Brake has a Facebook fan page!
Slideshow From the Luncheon
James posted his slideshow on their site, so now you can all view the points that I missed in this post.
Thanks for the blog post! You clearly were taking notes.
Good luck with your business!