HOUSE OF KNOWLEDGE
QUICK UPDATE ON WHAT HAPPENED
Since the beginning of time, evolution has distinctly separated the winners from the losers. During periods of rapid progression and uncertainty, the winners were always identified as those who could adapt the fastest while the losers were those who were incapable of making the jump. We have seen this principle of adaptation manifest itself throughout various areas of life, especially the business sector of our economy.
For example, over the last two decades we have seen massive changes and progress in the way businesses engage with their customers. With the dawn of the internet – a thing that many people believed to be a fad – many products transferred over to the web. Then complete stores made the jump with the .com boom, entertainment avenues followed, with Google Ads marketing came along as well, and then social media platforms took customer engagement to new heights.
“ The scary thing about all of this is that many businesses are not getting the memo. Even entire industries are feeling the pressure of this marketing-evolutionary shift, but they’re not taking the steps to adapt. Businesses’ inability to progress forward with the trends puts them at a huge disadvantage, because their more vigilant, agile competitors are able to quickly differentiate themselves within the market by leveraging the power of social media. ”
Over that 25 year span, many golden opportunities arose for business owners to jump on the cutting edge. Whenever something new came out, the businesses that took advantage of changing tide were able to ride the “wave” from its initial swell to its full height when it brought in the most ROI.
GET TO THE POINT, WILL YA?
Now you’re probably thinking, “Okay cool. Thanks for brief overview of how businesses have transformed in the last decades. What are you getting at?”
Here’s my point: We are currently experiencing one of the biggest evolutionary shifts in marketing to date. Let me repeat that again in bold, slanted print.
WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING ONE OF THE BIGGEST EVOLUTIONARY SHIFTS IN MARKETING TO DATE.
Old platforms like Television and Radio are no longer providing the fruitful ROIs they used to (this is particularly true for small businesses that are advertising via local Television and Radio channels.) Social Media has quickly become the reigning champion for advertising and marketing in the business world. Platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr are paving the way to a new marketing era.
Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube alone are causing billions of people to congregate on the internet. And you can see this all around you now. Go to any restaurant in your local area and you will most definitely find a family where 1/2 of its members are on iPhones updating their Facebook statuses, watching videos, and checking their Instagram notifications. It is obvious that the attention is shifting from other areas of advertising to social media.
And as we all know, where attention goes energy flows. But more appropriately, what follows energy? Money.
Because people are spending more and more of their time on social media platforms, it only makes sense to sell to your audience via the same platforms. They are already congregating within these little virtual communities: all you have to do is bring your business to them. Find the people who represent you ideal customer – those who will connect with your brand and products the most – and throw your product in front of them. You are far more likely to convert that group of people into loyal customers than the number of people you planned on Mail Advertising to. (You weren’t planning on doing that right? You know people just throw away mail fliers these days?)
THE SCARY TRUTH
The scary thing about all of this is that many businesses are not getting the memo. Even entire industries are feeling the pressure of this marketing-evolutionary shift, but they’re not taking the steps to adapt. Businesses’ inability to progress forward with the trends puts them at a huge disadvantage, because their more vigilant, agile competitors are able to quickly differentiate themselves within the market by leveraging the power of social media.
The businesses that fully optimize their online presence using social media will easily pierce through the noise of the internet. But getting to a high level of proficiency on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, and similar platforms requires many hours of committed study. Learning how to post properly, when to post, which tools to use, how to effectively drive traffic from your website to your accounts and vice versa takes months to learn. So if you don’t know how to do any of these things yet, you’re behind. Big time.
DID YOU MISS THE BOAT?
Although they may have come out a few years ago, business owners like you and myself still have the opportunity to use big social media platforms like Facebook and Youtube to our advantage before they’re over saturated with advertising. The trick to catching up and jumping on these trends is by taking your social media campaigns to extreme heights. If you want to seriously maximize your results with social media, you have two options:
1.) You need to read books on this subject, find mentors in the field, and constantly pay attention to the updates of each platform. Eat social media related knowledge like a madman. This may sound like a huge task, and that’s because it is. But if you can afford the time, energy, and focus, this investment will be well worth it. OR…
2) You can hire a social media agency much like the one my business partner and I own to manage your social media accounts. If you take this route, you’ll be able to quickly catch up with some of your competitors (who are currently ahead of you), and in a couple of months most likely surpass them. The benefit of this approach is that it will spare you the free time you would have spent in option 1, so that you can focus on what matters most: your business.
THE TAKE HOME
The businesses that are optimizing their online presence via social media platforms are thriving and even dominating their markets. Don’t fall behind. Jump on social media NOW to ensure that your business will succeed for the years to come. If you don’t know anything about YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or the like, catch up by learning or hiring someone else.
– The Enchantment Team
