Being social and mobile...
What does it mean for your business?
By Ryan Hogarth
Almost
every business is aware that something is happening, something big; and they
are aware in a rather vague way that it has something to do with them. Social
and mobile; they are big and getting bigger and, do not be mislead, it has
everything to do with you and your business.
The good
news is that it is far less complicated and far less scary than all the buzz
words make it seem. Every new advance cloaks itself in mystery with new,
complicated sounding terms. It happened when the Internet was becoming a
standard platform and it is the same with social and mobile. Conversation,
engagement, content curation, inbound marketing and other catch phrases give
the appearance of a technical and complicated field. Yet, at the base of it all
is the simple and ancient human relationship.
Worrying about going social?
Let’s first
deal with the issues that make ‘going social’ worrying. More than the mechanics
of having and running a Facebook or Twitter account, is the mindset that comes
with social, and the greatest shift in thinking is the issue of ‘control’.
Brands, quite rightly, have always been obsessed with controlling their brand
image. I’ve seen marketing people argue for an hour about where a logo should
go on a T-shirt. In the social age we have to realise that we cannot control
every aspect of our brand. Through social platforms consumers have the freedom
to say what they want, about any brand they wish, to as many people as they
have access to.
Instead of
control, brands must focus on building trust. Trust is the new control and is
built through transparency and credibility. When you are seen to be actively
engaging and transparently dealing with customer problems or complaints and
when you provide value to your community, they naturally come to trust you. If
you try just to sell to them they will run for the digital hills. If you are
trusted by your community you will have at least some control.
The next
issue is one of resources. While the platforms are all free, employing people
to look after your social presence is not; and neither is the time it takes to
build a community that trusts you. In as far as it is possible, it is advisable
to have a person (or team) dedicated to the task rather than simply amending
the Receptionist’s job description to include Facebook.
Probably
the most important issue and biggest discussion point surrounding social media
is return on investment (ROI). What are we getting for all this effort? Measuring
progress is critical. How else can you tell if it’s been worth it? How can you tell
if your efforts in social media are successful and we are not just talking
about the number of followers? What percentage of contacts are going to your
website and how many of those are being converted to sales? Is your community
sharing your content? These are just a few aspects that can be measured.
There is,
however, no getting around the fact that going social and mobile is an
imperative for every business. The longer a business delays, the further out of
touch they become.
We must
understand that consumers (and that includes you and I) have changed the way
they interact with commerce, the way they buy. We have all learned to dislike
advertising and ‘being sold’. We want brands to be there when we need them and
to provide what we need at our convenience; and more and more of this
interaction is taking place on our mobile devices. Our smart phones are the key
to the world; we literally have a world of knowledge in our hands and we are
connected to that knowledge and our networks all the time. When we shop, we
consult our friends and followers; when we buy, we inform our friends and
followers.
Simply put,
you should be doing the following:
·
Be
active on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as a minimum and
others as your confidence and results grow.
·
Your
website must be optimised for mobile – your customers need full access to your
website through their smartphones and devices.
·
Being
‘active’ means having quick turnaround times when attending to customer
enquiries and/or providing information about your brand to your followers.
Once you are
actively engaging, you will see the world of opportunity that exists in the
social space and you will wonder how you ever did business any other way.
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