There is one common thread that holds the worlds of customer management and marketing together. There is one common practice that drives every live event, direct mail campaign, email marketing push, and billboard ad. It is pretty simple in the world of business communication… you go where your customer goes… you (try) to speak how you customer speaks… you live where you customer lives… you are on their turf.. you want to be in their living rooms… you want to be in their thoughts.. you want to be first thing they think of when the pain point arises.
How do you decide which avenue to use when you are developing a strategy campaign to reach your customers? Chances are… you are going to decide based on market reach and campaign costs… Your organization is going to ask itself: How do I reach the largest amount of people for the least amount of dollars? Period.
Is social media right for every business? No. However, you need to ask yourself… Are my customers on social media? Do not take advice from your own personal experiences. You may be a baby boomer business owner who has never used social media tools but you are in the minority. Baby boomers are the fastest growing demographic using social media.
The best way to find out? Ask you customer. Engage in a conversation. Do they think it would be helpful to communicate one-on-one with your employees or maybe even you?
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"Is social media right for every business? No." I am struggling with this. I disagree. Social media is right for every business. If we view our client or market as defined and limited and incapable of becoming part of a larger (our) community, then I might agree. In reality, there are no limits to the potential for our businesses because of social media. Finding new clients and new contacts for our business is exactly why social media is for every business. (I even quoted you in my blog as a reason I feel this way http://www.purecooke.com/?p=707)
Kyle:
re: "you go where your customer goes… you (try) to speak how you customer speaks… you live where you customer lives… you are on their turf…" . . .
Man, I don't know. From a very traditional standpoint, hell yes. But think about Starbucks. Customers 12 years ago did NOT know they WANTED to stand in line for a $5.40 cup of coffee. 20 years ago, customers did NOT know they would want to pay $12.50 to overnight a package.
Even recently, I believe a guest post on your blog suggested the advantage of 'creating new needs' with an I-Phone example (adding accessories, etc.) which creates new avenues, new products, and exponential sales with existing customers.
My point – which has been partially learned from you – is that consumers want thought leaders. They want to be told A LOT of things – where to go, what's hip, what to buy, where to buy, etc. So I'm not sure it's airtight to suggest we follow the lambs around for our next move as an organization.
Maybe it's nitpicking, but I'd rather blaze a trail than study trends all day.
Thanks for your continued posts! Always insightful and a great learning resource for me . . .
JT
Kyle:
I slept on this and if I may finish the thought . . the use of social media should be that trailblazing, um, laser gun! Not merely a response medium. So if companies large & small wish to communicate meaningfully with their current & potential customers, then yes, social media use should be a part of their strategy, as Sales Cooke suggests.
If you have customers in the first place, then your goal is to attract more paying customers. With few exceptions, businesses can attract new customers via the Internet (in addition to WOM, marketing campaigns etc.). Clearly social media, and in particular inbound marketing, is one of the best ways to augment your Internet marketing efforts. So following that train of thought, social media is for every business, regardless of whether or not you intend to use it for customer service.
This is a good thought: I would rather blaze a trail than watch trends all day. There is something to say about a business that can create a trend and create a revenue stream off of that trend.
In regards to social media being for everyone: I don't think it has reached that point yet. When the Internet has a MASSIVE market penetration and social networking has become the main use of the Internet… only then will everyone be using the tool.
What do you think about building a community vs joining those that already exist – say you've looked at your clients and they are connected, they are online. Give them a home or join them in the auditorium?
I just wrote on this on Smaller Indiana. I know one older gentleman who spends, like his friends, a ton of money every year on stuff. He reads the newspaper and he reads his mail, and he doesn't know what Twitter is and he doesn't care. Social media can and should be part or your marketing strategy, but not your sole strategy. Otherwise, you will have no chance of reaching my father and the millions of others like him with high disposable retirement income. Will that group be around in 10 years? Unfortunately since he is my father, most likely not. But if the companies trying to reach him and the millions like him who do not buy on line and will not buy on line–and who read their mail and the newspaper every day–don't go where their customers are, that company won't be around in 10 years when the % of people who do use the Internet daily nears its peak.