What is business to do about social networking? This question has gone 'round the leadership table in businesses of all sizes for quite some time.
Additional questions follow, along these lines: "Does search engine optimization work?" "What about Facebook’s new search engine?" "How do I respond to social media queries from my client/prospect base?"
When business was all about a physical footprint, such as a corner store, the area of influence -- the sales footprint -- was defined by the customer's need and the availability of competitive product mixes. If one corner store was nearer than a competitive corner store, offering the same merchandise lineup, the closer store usually won. Barring an unsafe sales environment, price hijacking, or horrible customer service, the closer store prevailed.
Much the same paradigm existed for regional providers of heavy goods. Shipping costs and timelines combined to influence the buying decisions of purchasers. The age-old combination of people, time, and money won out over brand marketing.
All this has changed. Since the days of the Sears & Roebuck catalogue, the ever-shifting landscape of supplier inventory and convenience of delivery has affected the way we purchase and consume goods. Super stores, of which WalMart currently reigns king, have provided a wide variety of goods, enabling consumers to "one-stop-shop" for the majority of goods needed.
As Chris Anderson writes in The Long Tail, the law of scarcity defined the way we qualified and purchased goods for many generations of the product/market cycle. Now, with mobile search, competitive product analysis, and on-the-fly product and company reviews, all the rules have changed.
To the owner of any size of business the new landscape of client and vendor relations can seem daunting. Challenges abound in the qualification and execution of pre-, mid-, and post-order involvement with clients and prospects. Using traditional interaction models with a new breed of clients may fail, given the new sales model, a model based on more information and a briskly competitive sales landscape.
Social media, in my opinion, are the pivot for this change.
In order to compete in this new landscape, businesses must embrace client interaction, using social media as a tool. In our historical sales model the business owner had a close relationship with the client base, predicting the client need in real-time. Ms. Buyer would walk into the store, only to be directed towards a new product purchased with her in mind. Mr. Shop Owner would pull out the (hopefully) coveted new item, brandishing it for sale, to the specifically chosen prospect.
As business has become less personal and more industrialized this one-to-one sales/prospect relationship has been lost. Social media offer an opportunity to regain this personal touch.
The two major engines used to announce new items (in the past done by a banner in the window of the store) are Facebook and Google+. These engines, combined with Twitter, are the baseline to announce new inventory, services, and packaged options to your existing and prospective clients. The review-based feedback loop with your current clients may employ these same platforms. Adding Yelp or an industry-specific review site to the mix can complete the circle of information exchange.
In our historic model, Ms. Buyer purchases a new scarf at the corner store. As she interacts with others they comment on her new purchase, inquiring as to its origin. A reference is made to the point of purchase, its cost, and directions to the storefront. This is not unlike our current, digitally enabled sales path. A picture is shared on Facebook, a comment is made about the purchase, the prospect reads a review of the seller, and a sale is made. Same cycle, different tools.
Online reviews of products and businesses are driving decision-making in buyers. We know from research by Bazaar Voice that Millennials trust the opinions of strangers online; family members or friends exert influence over buying decisions; consumer reviews are much more trusted than marketing descriptions by manufacturers; and consumer-generated content including reviews is only going to grow.
With the advent of digital tools, the one-to-one interaction between buyer and seller was lost. A wise use of social media tools will help businesses of all sizes return to the roots of the buyer/seller relationship. We are social animals, not automatons. Return your business to a social environment to see increased sales, leveraging current tools to return to a lost time. Interact with your clients, converse with your vendors, and reclaim the one-to-one relationships that are the foundation of business.
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