The start of a new year often fosters discussions over what will be the key events to occur over the next 12 months. So far, many pundits are pointing out how 2011 will be the year of mass adoption by businesses of social media platforms as part of their marketing, management, and employee retention efforts. Given the fact that Facebook has surpassed Google as the most visited site on the internet in 2010, as well as the deepening integration of social media platforms into people’s everyday lives, there’s no question that businesses will have to adapt and incorporate social media into their various processes.
Granted, there are many businesses which are already fairly active on the various social media sites. Of course, while some of them have been shining examples of how businesses should use social media, most are still struggling in large part because they haven’t quite understood how they should be using social media to benefit their organization.
So why are some companies able to join in the social media scene and within a short period, reap the benefits while others were better off before they made the jump into these online social spheres? To help answer this question, I’d like to first start off by sharing this example of an interaction between a small business owner and a customer from the ‘real world’.
A friend of mine recently had some problems with his car and so he took it to his local garage to have it checked out. After running a series of tests on his car, the mechanic told my friend what was behind the problem his car was having and what the he could do to fix it. But then this mechanic did something completely unexpected – after explaining how he could fix the problem, he then advised my friend that his solution would only be a temporary fix and that he would be better off going to another garage that specializes in this kind of repair work.
Yes, you heard right – here was a small business owner who was basically telling a paying customer that while his service would fix his problem, he would be better off going to his competition to get his car repaired.
So, in addition to being a great example of true customer service, what can this story teach other business owners/leaders about how to approach using social media for their business?
To find out the three key takeaways from this story, click here to read this guest post on the thoughtLEADERS blog.
Tanveer: Adaption will vary by industry, but as people begin working on formulating their plans in 2011 in conjunction with their day to day activities, I believe we are looking at 2012 as the year of implementation. The more I get into social media, the more I am beginning to realize people are not up to speed on how to use these platforms to enhance their current CRM initiatives.
I concur, Jim. Part of the problem is that most of these pundits are big users of these platforms in their everyday affairs that I think they don't realize how many people still haven't jumped onto the social media bandwagon. Another issue is that I think many industries are holding out for a social media "best practices" standard to be established as it can feel like the internet's version of the wild west for some.
Personally, I think the shift and mass adoption will occur when we start moving away from isolating social media in our business strategies/marketing plans to a 'social media' division and start looking at it more as being just another skill, much like using email or a word processor, that everyone in the organization will be expected to know how to handle.
I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this, Jim.
That story about your friend's mechanic is a good illustration of how social media should work- providing value on followers and building relationships. Even though we aim to sell, I believe it would happen continuously if we first provide value on our service because clients would feel our sincerity in helping them. If we gain their trust, they would be able to be more open about their concerns and we could get more sales from them. And if we consistently satisfy them, referrals would follow.
Thanks Charlene; the problem I see with many businesses is that they confuse social media with traditional broadcasting outlets (print, TV, radio) where the sole objective is brand identification and obviously generating sales. I read today an interesting study that showed that in the last year, many users on Facebook and Twitter have either ‘unliked’ or stopped following businesses because of they were too busy pushing their message that they were failing to take into account the reason why their target audience is active on these sites.
There’s no question that in putting the interests and needs of those you’re hoping to attract will serve you more than simply trying to make a quick sales surge. Thanks again, Charlene for sharing your thoughts on this.
I've got a friend who is a mechanic and with new technology. It is becoming more and more difficult to fix different models of cars.
The car manufactuers are making it that way so that all repairs need to be done by them. I can fully understand why this mechanic, could not do this job.
Hi Keith. It does seem like car mechanics are becoming more complex and understandably so given how people are expecting better fuel mileage, more options and safety features. Not sure if that means the local garage is danger of losing business as I think it’s like any industry – you need to keep up with the technological/informative changes that are underway so that your products/services remain relevant to those in your target market.
Thanks for your comment, Keith.