Over the Easter break, a group of 8 enjoyed a beautiful dumpling feast in Windsor. Of the 8, I personally knew 4 people. Watching the interaction between old friends and potential new ones was eye opening.
Firstly, the group age was between 30 and 50. Secondly, the demographic of the group was personal business owners who turned over millions in revenue each year to managers of exclusive bars to personals trainers and a children’s book editor. Not a teenager amongst us and not a IT geek in the group (except for the wannabe IT geek in me).
Every person on the table had a smartphone, half of which checked into the restaurant via facebook’s check in service. Later in the night as new friendships blossomed, people did not exchange phone numbers, in the traditional ways that I grew up with, they were connecting as friends via their facebook profile.
Today I read that facebook are launching the long awaited facebook Deals service as a test in 5 cities within the USA, that will take on the giants Groupon, Scoopon and Catch of the day.
The difference is that facebook already has 600 Million users, many of whom are already familiar with the Check in feature of the app, that now extends to providing discount deals.
Facebook, twitter, foursquare, LinkedIn are all social media services that only commenced operations in the last 3-7 years and have anywhere from tens of millions to 100’s of millions subscribers who live and breathe life through their social status.
Regardless of the type of business you have, the types of products or services you sell, social media has allowed small 1 person operators to receive the same exposure to the public as multi-national companies, however with much lower overheads.
For any company, social media is a great stepping stone to communicating with your existing and potential customers, it delivers new ways to increase exposure of your brand and drive greater loyalty with your customers without having to build a mobile app of your own.
As your clients grow on your social media accounts, you can then review how to own those clients by delivering a specific mobile app that also integrates with the current social media services, ensuring your logo and services are front of mind.
Driving your brand and business through social media forums is a low cost marketing tool that can assist you in reaching and connecting with a global audience. All it costs to start down this path is your time to research and understand how best to utilise and monitor these services.
Social media however is not a set and forget marketing tool. It requires your constant attention, it needs to be nurtured and moulded and feed to ensure that it grows from strength to strength.
Recently a telephone carrier ignored the growing number of consumer complaints, including complaints registered social media forums with devastating results.
Around the same time, one of the largest retailers in Australia embraced the feedback from social media forums, twitter and facebook and turned a radio marketing campaign from a branding disaster to a media win.
My dinner experience was not an uncommon occurrence in today’s society. Smartphones, fast wireless networks, mobile apps and social media are driving the consumer demand of delivering information, products and services quickly, easily and cost effectively to the public. Consumers want this information delivered in the palm of their hands anywhere, anytime with the ability to share or brag about it to their friends.
Age, gender, religion, race, sexual preference or occupation may still form the demographics of marketing, however may not dictate social media marketing.
Any person of any age with any occupation are a potential revenue streams when embracing social media and smartphones to engage with your customers.
Embrace social media to thrive, ignore social media at your own professional peril.
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