New Rules, New Game

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Ning, Delicious, RSS, Blogs … It’s enough to make any business owner feel they’re a deer in the headlights. Actually, the analogy is not that far off. If you’re not paying attention, your business will be flattened by the 80,000-pound 18-wheeler called Social Media barreling down your once quiet neighborhood.

The fact is, advertising and marketing for business have undergone a major tectonic shift. In the not-so-distant past, businesses created their marketing budget around – among other things – print ads, direct mail, telemarketing, radio. This type of “push” – or outbound – marketing is inherently flawed and ineffective:

• The average human is inundated with over 2,000 media interruptions per day. People are figuring out more creative ways to block out ads, including caller id, spam filtering, Tivo, and Sirius satellite radio (source: HubSpot.)
• Print advertising is passive and ineffective. Print ad spending is declining dramatically, resulting in closure of major newspapers and magazines.
• Direct mail has been abused over time. Customers have been conditioned to “toss the gloss,” so relevant mailers get tossed with the junk mail.
• Trade shows are not only expensive, competition for face time and meaningful discussions with prospects is fierce.
• Local and national radio ad spending has dropped dramatically in 2009, while digital radio advertising has experienced growth this year.

Social Media – The Wisdom of Crowds

Social media, also known at Web 2.0, is the “human powered web.” The social media ecosystem is powered by computing technologies that enable people to create, share, review, critique and edit content across multiple channels. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube all make up the most significant channels of social media.

These technologies have shifted the balance of power from one-to-many traditional media advertising and institutions to real-time, word-of-mouth, make-or-break Wisdom of Crowds. Conversations are flying fast and furious on Twitter; opinions are shared on Facebook; careers are made on LinkedIn; stars are born on YouTube.

Bottom line: Customers have the power through word-of-mouth to promote or demote your business by simply typing 140 characters on Twitter; posting a comment, link or photo to their Wall on Facebook; or adding a comment to another person’s post. These are shared, spread and repeated across the Web.

The challenge for business owners is to get into the middle of the noise that is Social Media – to listen, learn and participate in the conversation.

Follow So You Can Lead

Today, customers – your customers – are in control. They’re in control of your brand, your message and your reputation. Does that statement make you nervous? It should if you are unclear about how, where, why, when and – most importantly – IF your customers are talking about your business. If you listen and participate in the discussion, you have an opportunity to improve communications with your customers, foster transparency and trust, and drive innovation through wisdom of crowds.