Is your business going to survive in the age of Social Media?
Brian Solis is one of my favorite Social Media thought leaders. He looks at Social Media from the perspective of a social anthropologist. It’s not just important to examine the tools themselves but WHY we use them.
I recently heard (I think it was on an I LOVE Marketing podcast), that we search on Google to think, and we visit sites like Facebook NOT to think.
It’s just a reminder that each tool is different and we shouldn’t just jump into creating a presence on Facebook, Twitter etc without knowing what you want to achieve.
I really like how Brian Solis examines “Digital Darwinism” and how if your businesses doesn’t evolve, only the strongest will survive.
In some ways, Social Media comes back to “old school” customer service. The question is, how you use this in your business?
If you’re a smaller organization/entrepreneur, it can be easier to cut through the “red tape” of approvals and respond in a timely manner. If used correctly, Social Media isn’t a constant push of a conversation from the business to the consumer, but a conversation.
In larger organizations, where control of the brand message is paramount and there’s very little communication across departments, the challenge is going to be greater to break down barriers and put customer needs first.
It’s just a reminder to re-visit your overall strategy (or begin to create one!), to assess your target audience, your unique selling proposition and what it is you want to acheive.
To paraphrase the Cheshire Cat in Alice of Wonderland: If you don’t have a destination, any path will take you there.
(Minute 1:15)
