A Handshake is as Good as a Tweet

So everyone is telling you that you need to get more involved with social media sites if you want to grow your business. Either you agree and are interested in taking the leap, or you fine the whole prospect highly dubious. In my business circles I see a fairly even mix of the two, and both perspectives make perfect sense.

On the one hand, if you're in business, you know you've got to stay in front of your customers. If your customers are using print, you advertise in print. If they watch TV, you need a commercial. If they listen to the radio, you've got to have a spot.

 On the other hand, if you've been in business long enough, you've heard the same promises from all of them. You've advertised here and there; some of it worked and some didn't, but none of it had you ecstatic. Your best deals still involved wearing out shoe leather and shaking hands.

 Ironically, if your best deals are found from personal interactions with your clients, you're in the best position to use social media to your advantage. What may strike you as a fad is actually a shift in the way that people communicate on a daily basis. Two major technological advancements are driving this societal revolution: Internet speed and internet portability.

 Internet Speed

Back in the mid 1990's, when people were first getting on the internet the connection speeds were abysmal. Even if the information you wanted was online, nine times out of ten it was easier to look it up in the phone book. Certainly it was a novelty if you could get information online, but when push came to shove most people didn't have the patience to sit there and wait for everything to load.

 Fast forward to the present, and you see a different picture. Information is delivered almost instantly over the Internet. As quickly as you can type in a search, the answer is provided. Messages, pictures and video can all be shared immediately—not after an hour or so of download time. Because we lived through the “slow internet” period, we're not really aware of how shocking and transforming this technology is. We now can have a magic box on our desk that can answer our questions instantly, allow instant communication between friends, and give us information about any business that has made itself available via the web. Now if we could only carry that around in our pocket...

 Internet Portability

 And of course you can. Via cell phone technology and advanced computer technology, you can now carry these abilities with you wherever you go. A so-called “smart phone” is nothing less than the super small computer science fiction promised in decades past. People use them at every opportunity—even when a full size computer is within easy reach. It goes beyond mere novelty. This gives people a taste of what it would be like to have Aladdin's lamp. Whatever you need, you can find in the palm of your hand.

 Social Networking

 This technology has been especially important to social networking web sites. These sites were born in the old, slow history of the Internet. Developed from the classic “bulletin board” concept, people would post whatever public information that their group needed. The party is at Jim's house at 9. Probably by 7 everyone who used that board would have checked in to see when the party was—on their old computer in the den.

 Now that message appears instantly as soon as it is sent. Whether you're using Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, or any number of social networking sites, a message sent from one phone reaches everyone in the owner's sphere of influence instantly and simultaneously.

 The novelty of this ability is not lost on people. They will look for almost any excuse to send a message, and they make sure they know what messages are sent by the people, businesses, and organizations they follow. To be outside this “sphere of influence” is to be out of the loop. You're not looked upon with disfavor necessarily, but it takes extra effort to reach you. It takes extra effort to be reached by you. Today, the person you want to reach may be too busy to share a cup of coffee or talk on the phone. They will have enough time to check their messages.

The New Expectation

 From a business standpoint, the picture is clear. People expect to be able to access your information at a time that's convenient for them. They expect to be able to communicate you via whatever vehicle they prefer.

 If you don't make yourself available via social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and others, you send a message that you are not willing to cater to your customer's needs. It is no longer the case that finding your web site or Facebook page or Twitter account is a surprise. If you're a business, you are expected to have these things as much as you would a phone number. This is as much a measure of your professionalism as having a clean storefront.

In many ways, using social networking sites is a very similar method to traditional marketing. You're trying to make a connection with a customer. It doesn't matter if it's a handshake, a phone call, or a tweet. The point is to connect to the customer and get your message out. Now you can do it instantly.