Social Media
Is Your Business Community Listening?
Is your business community listening? I ask the question in all seriousness, I’ve discovered the business community in my area is very much asleep on social networks. It’s not only sad, but alarming at the same time. The problem is more about marketing, or how they acquire customers, after all, everyone wants more customers right?
It doesn’t matter what market sector you belong to, most still use social networks no different than they use newspaper, radio & television, they sell till their blue in the face. Yelling their heads off and hoping you will pay attention, you will be convinced to come to their businesses and buy what they were yelling about.
I’m going to share a very small case study with you, and I am the case study. You see, I have made it known on social networks, primarily Twitter, that I am shopping for a new fridge, hardwood flooring, and that I am painting two rooms called the Kitchen & Family room. I’ve been sharing that home upgrade project to all who follow me, and of course the many in the town and area where I live. Something interesting happened, nothing!
I’m surprised for a few reasons, for one, I have one of the largest followings in my area. Two, I hold workshops and teach business owners and entrepreneurs how the future of business has changed, and will continue to change. I even teach them how to listen in social networks. Three, I do a considerable amount of public speaking, to Chamber of Commerce groups and the like, on the very topic, and the future of business. Four, I was certain business owners in my area were actually listening and paying attention. I was wrong.
I even went so far as to Tweet this:
I was, I am that customer, I’m doing household improvements, I’ve been sharing, I truly believed that a business in my area would have been listening, paying attention, and would have connected with me, but nothing. I am not only disappointed, but actually surprised. The fact that no one contacted me to do business, this had me wondering, how many others like me on Twitter (put your favorite social network here)had money to spend but businesses aren’t around to get it. Why do local businesses ignore this apparently untapped market?
I’m even more surprised when I see these social networks getting so much air play on TV, Radio and to a lessor extent newspaper. It’s like saying you don’t know Jesus, but everyone has heard about him. Yes, he is still ignored by the masses too : )
So how is it that a city of 150,000 have missed this opportunity, they are leaving money on the NET (table), they are not listening here on social networks. I am just one of many that I know who are doing home improvements, we’re blogging, Tweeting about our projects, and yet not one business has contacted us.
Imagine, if one person (me) has 20k to spend on paint, hardwood flooring, and appliances and you had been listening on Twitter, your business could of had that business. But what if there are a 100 people like me with that kind of money to drop on goods and services. And as I mentioned, I’m not alone, there is potentially 100k up for grabs with the few friends I know in the same position.
There’s much to be said about marketing and advertising on social networks, but more needs to be done about teaching business owners how to listen and find customers like me.
That’s it, a short case study of me, a 20k bill waiting to be collected, and no one was paying attention. Imagine that. Many of the big name social media marketers preach to listen, to grow bigger ears, and yet, like common sense, there appears to be a huge shortage. When are you going to catch up, the tidal wave is coming, don’t be looking the other way, because your business will lose people like me.
So how would you fix this listening problem in your business community?
One might consider this a business opportunity, educating business owners. Oh and by the way, it’s too late, I spent the money already.
Is your business community listening?
Brands Built Without Advertising
Brands built without advertising, it sounds impossible right? I can’t imagine anyone saying you should never advertise, and when is not a good time to advertise? It’s a mystery for sure, but there are some huge brands out there that indeed did not advertise, and you know them very well. What a concept, that’s like saying, let’s give everything away and we will make money. Well, that is true also, competing with major companies by giving away core product and services is hard to walk away from, it’s even harder to compete against FREE.
But I’m not interested in talking about free, I want to talk about free from advertising, as in not advertising and still making billions. Imagine that, no advertising and creating a huge cash machine at the same time. How you ask, that’s the 64 million dollar question isn’t it? I mean, if you knew the answer, if we all knew the answer, we would have these mass fortunes ourselves. It’s not as simple as not advertising, but it’s close, it’s called Word Of Mouth, sound familiar? We practice it everyday on Social Networks.
Have you heard of Wayne Gould? He is the creator of Sudoku, the secret of Sudoku’s success was this, he offered the Times an endless supply of puzzles at no cost, there’s that FREE again. He offered the free puzzles with one request, that the times put a tiny credit on each puzzle, his website URL. Mr. Gould never purchased any advertising, it was a barter of sorts. The rest as you know it, is history.
Imagine this, you can’t just walk in a buy this car, you are selected. That’s right, no matter how much money you have or the position you hold will get you in the door. This brand has yet to purchase advertising, not one dime. Why? Because their customers are their marketing. They rely on word of mouth, special events and Social Media. The car? Ferrari.
With over 90 Billion in sales, this company has yet to purchase advertising, and you most likely are a card holder. COSTCO. Imagine gaining 66 million members that pay $55 or more for the privilege to shop, access to the COSTCO buying power is at your finger tips too.
This next one surprised me, The Body Shop. You’ve seen these stores everywhere, in every mall, and they don’t buy advertising. With no marketing department, they relied on one thing, a clearly stated purpose that the public could align their values to, not too mention word of mouth. With over 2,500 stores in over 60 markets worldwide, the business model seems to be working. I love this quote, I grabbed it off the Body Shop website:
“The business of business should not just be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed.”
-Dame Anita Roddick. Human Rights Activist. Founder of The Body Shop.
As crazy as it sounds, using FREE and Word Of Mouth can build a massive brand, maybe even an incredible way of life for you and the many being served by your business. It’s all possible, it also comes with a price tag called work, lot’s of it. In building anything there is always some level of risk, but these are examples of how a simple idea can lead to something far bigger than you ever dreamed of.
You don’t have to build a business of this magnitude, but you can build a legacy that provides a modest living. What’s your dream dynasty, what does it stand for and against?
The Future Of Business – The Death Of Social Media GURUS & EXPERTS!
People are a funny lot aren’t they, we say one thing and do another, we want one thing but we want everything, we don’t want to be rich but we want to be millionaires. There are literally millions of websites telling us all how to get rich beyond our wildest dreams (whatever that is), how to get FREE target traffic to your website for $17, how to write amazing content, and the list goes on. The GURUS are everywhere, they litter your inbox without notice, you are being directed, pulled and pushed into a million advertisements every day, how do we know who the real GURUS are, who the EXPERTS are.
That question almost seems like the 64 million dollar question. I have been thinking about this for a very long time, frustrated by people who lead other people down the garden path so to speak. Why do we do this to each other, why do we kill each other, why do we lie to each other, that’s the REAL 64 Million dollar question.
One of the things I’m plagued with is, I have been here in the Social Networks a little while, OK a long while. There are many more that have been here longer than me, and I’m certain they struggle with the same problem. We, have this sense of ownership when it comes to the Social Networks. We, get offended by the so called people that claim to be GURUS & EXPERTS. Why? Because we don’t agree with them mostly. In some cases, WE, fight back, we even push back, but the GURUS keep coming. It is a futile effort in my humble opinion. Why? Because people don’t care, they are only interested in making a buck for the most part. What WE, don’t seem to understand, is that the problem will take care of its self. Much like nature takes care of a forest after a forest fire, the vegetation just starts to recover, it forgets that it had a fire, it just knows the fire will fade. Because the forest never dies. The forest doesn’t get caught-up in the ownership game, why, because it already knows what will happen if you try to own it. There is a simple order of things, it adapts, it overcomes by doing what it does best, it keeps doing what it was designed to do, it just grows. The GURUS & EXPERTS of the forest come and go, they think they have control over the forest, but the one thing they can’t control, is what the forest does best. GROW!
The same can be said for the Internet, you have different, billions of different kinds of growth, some good, and some bad. The bad we will call the forest fire, the good we will call healthy growth. These GURUS & EXPERTS like their 15 minutes of fame, they seek it without realizing how short that really is, and many follow them only to be found out later. We have GURUS & EXPERTS in every sector of the world, industry, society, races, and so on. They are everywhere. But they always fade into obscurity at some point, the growth around them is overwhelming, they are left behind because healthy growth wins every time. We all eventually catchup, before you know it, the shiny new thing no longer is, the GURU or EXPERT no longer is.
Social Media GURUS & EXPERTS are fads, they can’t sustain or stay ahead of the growth, the change, they simply disappear, they die and move onto something else. Social Media GURUS & EXPERTS will lose their job to one simple thing, everyone will catchup. Soon, Social Media will become something you just have to know how to do, like using the phone, the smart-phone is now the phone of the day, you just know how to use it. Why? You caught up, you learned, I call that healthy growth. So, someday soon, we will read about how those Social Media GURUS & EXPERTS died. When they can no longer find a customer to listen to something we all will already know how to do, they will move on to the next thing.
So today, I claim The Death Of The Social Media GURU or EXPERT, we have, or we are very close to catching up, and no longer in need of these wind bags, these snake oil salesmen & women.
From this day forward, business owners will need to learn, you don’t plug your business into Social Media, you plug Social Media into your business. That Social Media is not a business, businesses become Social. The best way to eliminate Social Media GURUS & EXPERTS? Grow, and they will scramble to find another way to sell you something.
I charge you, GO and build something great, let the world know about your passion(s), and don’t be that guy or girl that calls themselves a GURU or EXPERT of anything, just do. If you just do, the truth will come forward and you will find your place. And remember, an EXPERT is just a drip under pressure : )
Let 2012 be the Death Of Social Media GURUS & EXPERTS!
Related articles
- The Future Of Business – Social Is A Feature Not A Platform (owengreaves.com)
- The Future Of Business – Change Is Coming, And Lots Of It. (owengreaves.com)
- If I Were a Social Media Guru… (kaneconsulting.biz)
- Ten Social Media Strategies to Define a Successful 2012 (briansolis.com)
The Future Of Business – Change Is Coming, And Lots Of It.
For as long as I can remember, nothing ever stays the same, and yet we fight tooth and nail to keep things in their rightful place so we know where to find it. Most of us even call ourselves change agents, that really only applies to everyone else right? We don’t mind walking others through change as long as it doesn’t impact our own little worlds. The truth is, when it comes to our businesses, we had better embrace change.
You would have to be in complete denial or not have a pulse to see that it’s not business as usual, just look around you, people are behaving differently more today than any other time in history. Hell, younger generations own a phone but don’t know how to speak on it, they only communicate via some flavour of text messaging. What happened, my sister used to live on the phone when she was a teenager, now it’s a mobile device in hand and we’ll text all day long.
If there’s one thing you should be learning here at owengreaves.com, it’s change. The world of business is not what we are comfortable with, we have to move with it or be ignored, especially in the digital realm. One of the first things to consider here is this, the same problem will always confront you, and that is how to get attention. We have been struggling with that one problem for some time, back in the day we thought Radio, TV, and Newspaper were the best ways to get that done, not anymore.
Enter in the Internet and it’s soon to be 5 Billion eyeballs, the playing field has changed (there’s that word), now reaching the world is much cheaper, and anyone can talk to anyone at any given time. But here’s the bigger problem, even though we can spread the word faster and cheaper, how do we actually get the masses attention? Well, now you have to change the way you look at your business, you have to change the way you think, because you no longer have control over it. That’s right, the consumer of tomorrow will not tolerate being manipulated into a sale, in fact, if they sense it, they’re gone. Today you have to be transparent, you can’t lie, mislead or trick and get away with it, that’s a problem for most big businesses because they have considered consumers as not that smart to figure things out. Today you have to give away something before consumers actually notice you. I’m generalizing of course, but you get the point, because you ARE smart people.
You’re probably wondering why I’m even talking about this, well, for some reason business owners are struggling with the change that needs to take place. Big business has to give up control, they have to learn how to trust the people formerly known as consumers. You’ve read that here many times before, but what’s the problem? Big business doesn’t know what to do, still, even after 5 years of heavy Social Media integration.
Let’s be honest here, Social Media has passed the I’m a new fad phase, Social is changing, it’s a natural process now in many circles, except small to medium businesses. Most of the smaller operations still want to do things the old way, they don’t understand the changes happening around them. Why? For the most part they aren’t paying attention, and attention is everything! What happens when over 60% of commerce is done on a handheld devices, when everything goes mobile, what will small to medium sized business do then? Play catchup, it will be too late. They can’t hide behind a lack of knowledge, there’s so much of it out here, so there’s a deeper reason, there has to be.
The funny thing about business owners and entrepreneurs is, they only have one vision for that business, they tend to only see how they can sell their product or service based on what they know and were taught. That’s usually old industrial age process and thinking, it’s not right or wrong, we must think differently today to see a bigger picture. Smart, well intentioned people struggle the most. Looking beyond the transaction, think more on the lines of interaction, it’s relationship building, it’s building trust, and that takes an investment and time. Mostly, it takes change. You will have to give more of your business away, put it consumers hands before the transaction will take place.
We are about to enter a world so mobile and social, we’ll think it was invented 15 years from now, a quantum leap is about to take place in the next 3 – 5 years, and I hope to reach as many business owners as possible before it happens. Social is no longer a platform, it’s a feature. We won’t even think Social Media anymore, it will be a natural DNA of everything we do, it will be everything mobile.
So build for mobile and let social be the tide or current if you will, those who get attention will have built their businesses future on smartphones, and above all, give consumers access and a seamless way to buy.
Use Nine Inch Nails business model, CWF + RTB = $$$$ it’s the 90 /10 rule.
I’m a little long winded today I know, but I can’t help it, I run into far too many business owners fighting the change, change happens every second of our lives, don’t fight it, embrace it. Change is coming, and lots of it. Are you prepared, if not, I’m available to help.
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Is This One Of Your Goals For 2012?
It’s midnight, I’m thinking about the past year, wondering if I made a difference to any business owner in my community, my Twitter followers, my blog readers and….. It’s a fair question, you probably ask yourself the same question many times. In fact, you may spend too much time asking yourself that question. If you truly want to make a difference, Go and make a difference! Go, do that thing you are passionate about, you will touch someone’s life and you probably won’t even know it.
I attend many events in my community, most are surprised when I show up, but I need the interaction with smart people. You can only speak from a stage, from a microphone, a blog, or even a workshop for so long. Eventually, you’ll want to see eyeballs, hear real stories directly from the sources, maybe in their own surroundings. The words Social Media don’t really say enough about what it really means, we tend to forget the “Social” part, but it’s the best part, it’s the awesome sauce.
I have a few social engagements in my calendar for December, maybe we’ll run into each other, and I’ll bet there’s a great story to share. Make sure you step away from the keyboard, better yet, go master the deadlock on your front door and get out and see the people. The people are what makes the Social in Social Media, media is actually cold and unfeeling, why would you want to just do that?
Social Networks are environments, cultures, and places to learn, because that’s where the people are, and no matter how much you avoid it, the Future Of Business means people. You will never have success without them, and what they want from you is simple, they want access to you. They want to know you, even spend time with you, that’s where the real value is, and eventually, the Gold.
When you get around the people, and you are doing what you were meant to do, you are making a difference. So GO! Be a human business, one that connects with others, one that connects businesses, Go and be with the people, help them achieve their goals, and you will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams. Make that your goal for 2012, I hope you do because I can’t wait to hear your story when you do.
