Surviving, let alone thriving, in the digital age is difficult. So we’ve put together a list to get
you started. Social media is very interesting and some have even posted the idea that
the new free flowing nature of information is not actually new, but old. Thomas Petitt has
developed the idea of the Gutenberg Parenthesis - that this free flowing nature of information
is not dissimilar to the times before the advent of Gutenberg’s printing press.
This is somewhat helpful as it encourages us to look at the digital age, and more specifically
the growing strength of social media, as just the newer version of word-of-mouth. For many
of us, who can look at social media in terms of making personal connections, but find using it
for building business a much steeper hill, this can help make the transition easier.
First of all, watch this video from our own John Dawson to help you grasp an understanding
of what is happening as the digital world collides with the business one.
Marketing for Possums
Blogging is a good starting point — they’re not referred to as the Fifth Estate for no reason.
A lot of businesses aren’t into the idea of blogs because they know they’ll probably be
forgotten about and sit there gathering dust. Honestly, no blog is better than one that hasn’t
had a post for 21⁄2 years. However, if you attack the idea of blogging for your business a little
more casually, you won’t bump into these problems. Don’t feel inclined to have numerous
posts a week - even one a month is completely fine. Ultimately, blogging not only allows
customers or clients to easily read about and identify the DNA of your business, but it allows
you to directly talk to your customers by asking questions and interacting. This literally
gives another dimension to your business.
Of course, you should look at the world’s most well-known social media websites. Yes, that’s
Facebook and Twitter. This can also be daunting for the same reasons as blogging. Then
there’s the idea that your efforts will look unimpressive with three Twitter followers and a
mere 14 likes on Facebook. This is a fair reservation, but it’s better to look like you’re trying
to meld to the digital age, rather than adopting an approach that looks draconian, especially
to the younger digital natives that will be your next generation of customers. As with
blogging, don’t go too hard out to begin on social media. Test the waters: post different types
of statuses and see what the replies and responses are, and build from that. Think about
word-of-mouth - what interests people regarding what your business does, and how can you
use that to increase traffic and give your business a bigger and better digital presence.
Additionally, when you’ve figured that out you can invest in advertising your social media
pages across both Twitter and Facebook in an affordable way, while using targeting to get
the most appropriate demographics that will help you turn Facebook users into customers.
Look at your competitors and the way that they deal with social media and the digital age
in general. You can learn from them and do better than them, because especially if you’re
selling an expensive or niche product, or expensive service, customers will look across all
of your competitors. Figure out ways to look better than they look. This can be somewhat
difficult, but even a better free trial than the others can put you ahead.