There are over 6.5 billion people in the world and around 1.5 billion of those people are online. That means they are using the internet to get information, search for a product, talk about a company, participate in a social network, etc. There was an absolutely great interview that Lee Odden did with Richard from the Dell social media team; in the interview Richard makes an excellent point:
“Even more importantly than its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, social media is an ideal tool to listen, learn and engage in real conversations with customers. Does someone need to justify that?”
Read that 10 times if you have to until it sinks in. With 1.5 billion people currently online and with that number increasing at a rapid rate; how can you possibly think of NOT going online? Perhaps we should flip the question around and instead of saying “why would you get involved with social media?” we should say “why wouldn’t you get involved with social media?”
If we take a look at some of the current internet usage statistics we can see how rapidly the internet is growing; both in terms of users and in terms of information.
If we look at some of the most visited sites we have:
- yahoo
- youtube
- windows live
- myspace
- wikipedia
- hi5
- ebay
- craigslist
People are out there searching and talking. In 2009 and beyond no brand or company can afford to not listen or engage with their users, it’s just not smart. All the information you will ever need about your users and your customers is online.
- Who they are
- How they find you
- Where they come from
- What languages they speak
- What they click on
- How long they visit your site
- What pay they take through your site
It’s all there. I can even tell what browser or screen resolution some of my readers are using when they visit my site. No type of off-line marketing can possibly give you this type of information. I’m not saying dump traditional media, I’m saying help your users find you online. Direct your users to your online presence via facebook, twitter, blogs, etc. Have the CEO of your company go on a television commercial and say “we have a blog, here is how to find us and talk to us.” Run a print campaign with an add that says “we are now on twitter, if you have a question or a problem, let us know.”
The metrics are all online now. As a brand manager, company executive, or employee it should part of your responsibility to help all of your users and customers find you online!
Thanks for reading!
Between the various social networks that we belong to and our blog, I think that we need to make it ridiculously easy for people to contact us. Furthermore, brands/profiles need to remain consistent across various networks. These two things together should make it easier for people to connect with us.
Hey there Jacob.I enjoy reading your twitters and posts…have followed you for a few weeks now. I am a practitioner and writer of spirituality and healing and use my blog to talk about my own journey..but more and more, I'm bored with just doing that. It's not enough. I need to know about the journey of my readers and anyone else seeking to make spirituality practical/tangible. So I've kinda dived into this social media realm to try to set up some tools to do just as you say.If you can recommend 2 things: 1, someone who writes about plugins for this very theme: neoclassical (I'm quite a novice with coding) and all your posts end w/ follow me on x, y, z as well as the share and enjoy links…not to mention your sidebar links.
and 2. a more important question….what I am offering isn't a product that's tangible. It's a thought shift. I'm not offering to folks “buy this ebook and it will teach you how to live moment to moment without fear, anxiousness, guilt, doubt” but in a sense that's what I'm offering in the blogs. if one is 'selling' / promoting a way of thinking–a perspective–how can social media tools be used effectively? Perhaps there needs to be something tangible like an ebook or something else tangible–consultations etc people can 'buy'…? your thoughts?
easy of communication is crucial. i am very up front and transparent with clients when it comes time to communication. im easy to find, all you have to do is google my name 🙂
thanks for the comment!
well first of all, thanks a lot for connecting with me. i should introduce you to arielle ford. shes's writing a new book called the “soulmate secret” perhaps we can ask you to write about the book or about similar spiritual topics? if you're interested let me know, email me at [email protected]
1) your plugins will work for any theme, the theme is just the front end, plugins interface with all of them 🙂
2) doesn't have to be tangible, check out @9keme on twitter he isn't selling a product but communicating a mindshit. you can use social media to educate and explore
thanks for the comment!
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