Social Media: Amplifying the Obvious

Occasionally, in the business world, something happens that revolutionises how business is done.

Think about air travel, or computers. Right now the world of marketing is witnessing an event of such proportions, with the rise of social media. With social media, firms must adapt to a more dynamic and democratic environment in which the reputation of their brands can live or die with a well-executed social media strategy.

In this new age, traditional credentials and storied corporate histories are being replaced by ‘experts’ who have mastered the intricacies of social media. And yet one essential principle remains unchanged – even in the next generation of business, it’s still all about your customers.

Let’s start with the first, and the most fundamental, difference between the new generation of social media and the older generation. The social media world comes with a low cost of entry with regard to expenditure. A firm can set up a Twitter page or a Facebook page for free. In doing so, they gain instant potential exposure to the 18 million users of Twitter or the 130+ million monthly visitors of facebook.

Accounts on other social sites, from scribd.com to seekingalpha.com, are also free. Never before has a firm been able to get such a large audience at any cost, let alone for free.

There is a vast difference, however, between a basic social media presence and an effective social media presence. Across the Internet, there are myriad examples of ineffective social media presences - from an unused Twitter account to a dull and cheap looking website. Firms must remember that while it is free to set up an account, activity is the cornerstone of social media.

To gain credibility in the world of social media, it is imperative that firms take the time to interact daily with their followers and friends. Answer their questions and inform them of new developments.

Much like traditional business networking, all of your social media contacts have many more contacts of their own, and making a positive impression on one of them can lead to exponential growth for your firm. But an impression cannot be made with an idle presence. Therefore, it is advisable to allocate several hours a day to maintenance of a firm’s social media presence.

Furthermore, an effective social media campaign is not just proactive – it is also reactive. The double-edged sword of social media is that you have a chance to present your image to millions of people for free, but in turn they can also say anything they’d like about your product, and they can say it to millions of people.

For the owners of firms, this has two large implications. First, the quality of their products and services must be of uniformly high quality. For example, it used to be that restaurants only had to worry about occasional visits from critics. Now, any patron who had a negative experience can share their negative experience through social media.

For this reason, firms now must treat all customers equally, as each customer has the potential to deeply damage the firm. Second, firms must use their own social media outlets to react directly to serious criticism. For example, on TripAdvisor.com, hotel managers have the option to reply to every review posted.

Most hotels waste this opportunity entirely, leaving only the negative comments for visitors to see. An effective social media campaign makes sure that all steps are taken to respond directly and efficiently to negative attention.

Just as the phenomenon of social media has created a throng of people who claim to be ‘experts’ on the field, social media also enables any business to appear larger – or smaller – than it truly is. Rather than seeing this as a barrier to success, firms should look at this as an opportunity to put their best foot forward.

With an attractive, professional website and a well-managed social media campaign, even the smallest firm can present a competitive and polished image. This image can lead to increased sales, higher pricing ability, and positive media attention.

On the other side of the coin, if a large firm has a sloppy website or poor social media presence it is at a disadvantage compared to its competitors.

However, seasoned executives will recognize that at the heart of all this change, one fundamental remains the same – your business is about your customers, and social media has merely amplified this fact.

If a firm is providing a low-quality or inconsistent product and/or does not have a social media presence, it is now at a severe disadvantage in the marketplace.

If a firm is providing a high-quality experience for its customers and invests modestly in a social media presence, then social media will only improve the revenue and reputation for the firm.

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