Social Media is such a hot topic right now (lucky for us) that it winds up entering a majority of the conversations about business development and marketing. In most cases, it’s at least appropriate to investigate what role social media will play in a company’s marketing, lead generation, customer service and business development initiatives. The conversation has grown so loud though that we often overlook the core of what we’re trying to accomplish, we focus on the wrong piece of the puzzle.
Before social media, people met face-to-face, made phone calls and met people through other people. Now that social media exists, do those activities become obsolete, or less relevant? Absolutely not.
“The more things change…
the more they stay the same.”
Face-to-face conversations led to the phone. Written letters led to email. Brief emails created the need for instant messenger services and short phone calls created text messaging. Insulated private discussions clashed with team-based crowd-sourced innovation and the result was the social web. Public conversations and free flowing content fulfilled the promise of an information superhighway, only now it’s powered by ALL of us. Each of these technologies carries its own etiquette, strengths and weaknesses.
But what are we really doing?
We’re communicating
The simple fact is, that regardless of the medium, every one of the aforementioned examples is about communication. We choose to communicate, we choose to find ways of telling stories and sharing our lives with other people. Social Media isn’t about the tools, its about how the tools make it easier to facilitate conversation.
Everyone gets hyped up about the newest shiny toys on the internet, so we rush to figure out how we can “use” these tools to make money, we rush to exploit the best practices. We often focus the conversation around the tool itself rather than the abilities it gives us.
People will still want to do business with people they like, OR the company with the lowest prices. People will still refer products and services they like, or the ones they get paid to promote, or sometimes just the one with the lowest price. This has happened since the dawn of communication and all we have now is a new set of tools.
The REAL Problem businesses are having
What businesses are really struggling with isn’t how to use Twitter, it’s not what type of YouTube video statistically generates the most hits and it’s not getting 5% higher clickthrough rates on Facebook ads. What businesses are struggling with is the very real possibility that they will have to engage with their customers on their terms, and in an environment where customers now have a voice. This puts all businesses under the microscope. This is why many businesses choose to focus on the tools. Somewhere in the way they talk about Facebook and Twitter is a glimmer of hope that the tool will save them from having to do the real work of caring and connecting.
In a world where business reached new heights through automation, the thought of scaling one-to-one conversations is terrifying to most businesses. So let’s just step back and take it one customer at a time. Forget about the platform and forget about the end result for a moment. Just take the first step and build one new relationship today. Then do it again tomorrow. And then again the day after. It will get easier over time, trust me.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet.” – Lao Tzu