Are You Scared of Social Media?

There is a serious question that needs to be addressed in ALL businesses that plan on thriving (not surviving) the next decade. The issue is social media. OMG it’s so freaking scary isn’t it? Actually, I find it so exciting but there are many many many many many people absolutely terrified of it. Oh but the legal ramifications – people are talking, what are they saying? They can’t say that – what if they say this – what if they post this picture? LISTEN… People are talking, they’re saying a lot of stuff. Who was it that said that your brand is what people say about you when you leave the room? Anyway, here’s the deal. Social media has totally transformed the way we do business, interact and communicate with each other, customers and vendors. If you want to be successful you have to accept change. Get ready for it and plan on how to implement change. Fighting it will not help. Facebook and twitter and linked in are just a few of the sites out there – there are TONS. And here’s the reality – it’s not going anywhere, it’s not a fad and it is here to stay. If you do not embrace it and join it then you will fade away quicker than pods (remember those?). People are talking about your brand either way. The lines have blurred and perhaps you will see a picture of your employees on the beach drinking a beer all the while you are shocked because they have become facebook friends with an important client. I understand – and it is scary because so much information is available to so many people. But the fact you have to face is that social media has transformed the business landscape. Just pushing your message out there to the public isn’t going to work. People expect personalization now and people want to do business with people not faceless companies. They want accountability and transparency and if you aren’t offering that then you better think fast on how you will compete. It’s late and I’m exhausted. So I’m terribly sorry about the grammatical errors and typos and I’m pretty sure I’ve included an unnecessary amount of run-on sentences…

POINT IS – Social media is not going away and if you don’t figure out a way to incorporate it into your business structure and marketing then you are losing out and ultimately it will be detrimental to your business. Focus on creating transparency and honesty to get the respect and attention from your customers. Join the discussions and properly represent yourself and remember – people run every business and people want to do business with other people. So stop hiding behind your cubicle walls and join the conversation. If you don’t join in – your competitor most likely already is.

Don't Go Diving in the Ocean Until You Learn to Swim

I used to work a lot with small businesses as a marketing consultant. I had my own company for a little while and almost each client had the same story. They wanted to get onto the "internet/facebook bandwagon". You know - that internet thing is really where they got stuck. But it went much further than they realized. It wasn't just that internet thing that they didn't understand but it was the foundation of their business. Some of my clients had lost sight of why they started their business in the first place and most of them never really took the time to get to know their who their clients were. That's really where the problem was and at that point I realized that I had my work cut out for me. In some ways, they expected me to build something from nothing which wasn't easy.

I understand as a small business owner you want to focus on what will bring in money because after all - what's really more important than the bottom line? If you don't have money coming in then how are you expected to survive? I totally get that. But before diving into an ocean filled will sharks and exotic fish, you want to do a little research - about the creatures you'd encounter and the environment. You want to know what you should wear and other ways you should prepare before diving in. Similarly, you want to do some research before starting. Get to know your customers - who are they, what do they think about at night, what problems do they deal with, where do you fit in, how can you help your customers live their lives easier or better? This is an ongoing process - you can't just read a biography and forget about it. Your customers are changing and adapting and you must do the same in order to be relevant.

I'll get into the "internet thing" in a later post. But for now, where would you be without your customers? Probably not in business. So in terms of the bottom line - what could possibly be more important than educating yourself on your customers?

--- FYI - I'm no expert and am certainly not pretending to be. There's more people than I can name or even know that are marketing gurus out there. I just figure it's about time I choose a focus for this blog and frankly, if there's anything I'm most passionate about, it's business, marketing and graphic design.

Here's the post that got me thinking on the purpose of my blog. So my goal is to keep this blog alive, interesting and helpful. Ultimately - I don't want it to suck and it would be nice if eventually people would read it. :)


http://www.copyblogger.com/does-my-content-suck/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Copyblogger+%28Copyblogger%29