People are more connected than ever and the latest technologies are fueling the social media craze. As a smaller business, you need to get connected with your customers -- before your competition does
Social Media: It's All About Connectedness
There's no disputing that we're in a time of great technological change. But what's interesting is that most of the recent advances in mobile or Web technology are based in social media -- reflecting people's desire for connection. But social media not only provides us with the connections we are all looking for, it also links us to others in several different ways.
Technology links people together
The technology being developed is largely focused on connecting people via the Web or mobile devices. Look at the top 50 products in different lists of innovations and almost all involve some form of connection.
Social media encompasses many different types of sites. LinkedIn lets you stay in touch with colleagues and make contacts with new people. Digg tells you what others care about and not just what major media companies are pushing. Amazon is a retail site, but it also provides you with information about what other people have actually purchased, and VOX gives you the ability to blog to a select few. Individuals can define their audience, just as advertisers and media companies have for decades. Our society and the tools we're innovating are focused on creating more connectedness. People to people connection; not institution to people connection.
Whenever social change of this magnitude happens, we have to rethink what we're doing. While it can mean incorporating new technologies into your marketing portfolio, such as blogging, I think there's something bigger here. How we connect changes what we create and how we go to market.
Social media as a connector
Blogs, RSS feeds, and comments are being seen (incorrectly, I'd argue) as measures of influencer currency. But just using social media is no guarantee of success in connecting with customers. Witness the colossal bust of Coca-Cola's The Coke Show, a video channel that was closed last summer after a profound lack of viewer interest.
Now the company is trying to tap into social media again with significant campaigns on MySpace and Facebook, as well as the development of a virtual world. The notions that press releases are dead and audiences are unimportant are false. Audio has progressed from wax cylinder to vinyl record, magnetic tape, CD, and flash memory. That evolution is important because new technologies provide different methods of distribution. With social media, we're experiencing new ways to distribute our stories -- whether they're ads, corporate data, music, an opera, a film, spoken word, paintings, or photographs. Breaking the rules is one sure way we'll continue to evolve social media.
Leadership is experience-based, not directive
The immediacy of the Internet has changed leadership. The old hierarchical model is being morphed into a flatter, transparent iteration. Witness this New York Times quote from Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO:
"One day Larry Page pointed out to me that the engineering management summary of our strategy and activities did not jibe with what the engineers were really working on. He had been reading the engineers' weekly "snippets" of their activity and I had been listening to their managers. Larry's point -- and my mistake -- offered me yet another lesson in the power of direct measurement."
This is remarkable on two counts. First, because we seldom see a CEO at any level owning up to a mistake in print. Second, from reading this piece we have a window into the organization and see that Google's culture encourages straight talk and values primary experience.
Natural leaders in business can be any age, come from any background. We're no longer restricted to just a man in a navy suit. It's probable that someone like Seth Godin or Malcolm Gladwell will come up with the perfect term, because that's what they do so well. Whatever we call them, the name is not the point.
The point is that the Internet has leveled the playing field and an industry leader or influencer might be your neighbor. If Grandma Ethel has been collecting beetles for decades, she may vie with that Ph.D. at Berkeley for influence in her specific area of interest. I'm talking about any category, any product. It could be yogurt, scooters, or even blogging services. Social media lets your customer tell someone in Des Moines that you've got a great product -- or not.
If you don't know your key user influencers, it's time you introduced yourself. If you're not involved in a dialogue with them already, what do you think is at risk? Is your competition talking with them?
The important thing is to pay attention so you, and not your competitors, can figure out the right strategy for your company to win markets.
Read other Strategy Matters columns by Nilofer Merchant
Nilofer Merchant, CEO of Rubicon Consulting, is a global high-tech industry thought leader and trusted strategic adviser for companies such as Adobe, Symantec, and VMware. She publishes and speaks frequently on strategy, innovation, and leadership.
