According to studies, One in Five Relationships started online--and most of them start at Match.com.
"Online?" I scoffed. "That's ridiculous--what ever happened to locking eyes across a crowded room or meeting in a coffee shop, or even the concept of soulmates? Meeting online takes all the romance out of it!"
"I don't know about that," my roommate said. "Matchmakers have existed since the beginning of the practice of marriage--maybe this is just society's way of catching up with the times."
I quickly dismissed her defense as underlying gratitude that she didn't have to resort to online dating anytime soon, but later that night I found myself thinking about that disturbing statistic. Was my roommate right, and was I just being old-fashioned? Is Match.com just part of an ongoing evolution, and were we the guinea pig generation for internet dating?
I thought of that conversation again as I started reading Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Ideologies, and suddenly found my sentiments petty compared to the PR and marketing industries whose worlds have been turned upside down because of the social media phenomenon. Professionals who have spent their entire careers in these fields are now finding themselves in direct competition with Alpha Moms and cheap college students who are blogging, tweeting, tagging, hashing, and streaming anything and everything about the products they use. A five-minute YouTube video, gone viral, can directly impact a product's success or failure. People are no longer easily manipulated by conventional marketing techniques that are being used, and are in fact fed up with them. Things are happening faster, from the bottom-up, and more chaotic than ever. Bottom line is, when your career is dependent on the mysterious phenomenon that is the online world, well, that's a scary thought.
However, the beauty of the chaos theory is finding the various conditions and factors that form predictable patterns in the midst of the chaos. This is where Groundswell comes in. Right off the bat Li and Bernoff say that the difference between successful businesses and those that are trailing behind are those who see social media not as a challenge, but an opportunity. When you think about it, they do have a valid point: it is now easier to gather information about your customers, predict their next moves, and be more creative about it! Marketing is no longer a one-way dissemination of information followed by a crossing of fingers hoping that your target audiences respond positively; now you can consistently check up on, support, and defend your product by using a variety of online tools, many of which are free or low-cost. It is time for all of us to get over the intimidation of social media, and accept it for what it is with open arms. Here is a helpful little chart I found on Forrester Research's blog on Groundswell about the different ways you can take advantage of social media for your business:
I am looking forward to reading the rest of Groundswell and seeing what guidelines they have regarding web 2.0 and marketing. From the perspective of someone who uses social media for mainly personal reasons, it will be extremely interesting (and advantageous!) to see it in the eyes of a community that uses the same tools we do, but for different reasons. Just as my roommate implied, this is a different game that requires the same basic rules. Hopefully by the end of this book, I can be schooled in the art of social media jujitsu and be able to take these skills with me as I enter the job market. Will keep you updated, fellow bloggers!
Oh, and in light of this post, Happy Valentines Day everyone!
Your comment, "... the difference between successful businesses and those that are trailing behind are those who see social media not as a challenge, but an opportunity." I absolutely agree with this! Companies that are utilizing the various social media platforms are setting themselves up to attract more potential customers.
ReplyDelete