Marketing is changing, Social Media is seeing to that.
The internet has changed, and is still changing, the way we market goods, services and even ourselves. This fast-paced roller-coaster of an information machine is an excellent medium through which to promote and market whatever you are selling, but you have to keep up with it.
The public is hungry for information. If they hear about a product, they want to research it from multiple angles. Take a book, for example. Here’s what I do if I hear of a new book that’s just been released:
- The first thing I do is see if anyone I know is saying anything about the book – for me, personal recommendation is the number one factor in making a purchase.
- Next, I look up the author. Who are they? What have they written previously? What do they stand for? I can find this information almost instantly and it will affect whether or not I buy their book.
- Lastly I will look at reviews of the book on Amazon.com and by doing a google search. I’ll discount immediately anything that looks professionally written and home in on what seem like reviews from real people, people like me.
The information I gather before making a purchase would have been impossible to gather just ten years ago. Maybe not even five years ago.
Getting the right information about your product out onto the internet is essential for sales – but here comes the catch: The internet is evolving again. The days when people just wanted information are disappearing fast. Increasingly, we are entering the day of information and interaction.
Going back to the book I heard of that’s just been released, I don’t just want to find out who the author is any more, I want to contact them, to interact with them. My questions now are:
- Do they have a blog?
- Do they twitter?
- Are they on facebook?
- Will they respond to me?
The answers to these questions will have a direct effect on whether or not I buy their book. No longer is it good enough for me to look at someones picture on a book cover, I want personal interaction.
I was reminded of the power of personal interaction tonight.
One of the people I follow on Twitter (@tremendousnews) decided to try to contact the actress Alyssa Milano through Twitter. His strategy was basically to harass and confuse her with an array of messages until she gave in and either blocked him or responded.
It seemed a futile mission but, just 6 hours after beginning his crazy plan, he sent out a tweet saying that Miss Milano had sent him a direct message.
I had heard of Alyssa Milano but had no idea who she was, all I knew is that she was somewhat famous. I couldn’t believe that she had actually sent a message to @tremendousnews so I sent her a message myself asking whether or not he was telling the truth. It took her less than 60 seconds to respond to me and confirm that she had put him out of his (and our) misery.
Over the course of the next 15 minutes, Miss Milano sent me two more messages in response to things I said, to the point that it felt like we had had a conversation.
Alyssa Milano has over 100,000 twitter followers, yet she took a few seconds to respond to me personally – and that has given me a very positive opinion of her.
It was that easy for her to take me from having no idea who she was to thinking very positively about her – and the same principal can work for you too.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling coffee or cars, bakeware or books, mice or movies – it doesn’t take much work at all to interact with your potential buyers and change their opinion of you for the better.
People want interaction, they want to feel part of a community. If that community happens to be the community of people who buy your personalized purses then so be it. If you create that sense of community by being willing to take the time to respond and react to your customers, your community will grow and your sales will grow with it.
That’s the power of social media marketing today.
You can find me here or on Twitter, Facebook and my personal website. Drop me a line through any of them and I’ll respond as soon as I can. Can your customers find you that easily?
Peter I was ‘anxiously’ watching and waiting as @tremendousnews kept on harassing Alyssa. I hadn’t realized she finally responded and this is why we finally got a break…haha!
I love the opportunities that are offered to us these days with so many authors/agents/publicists that will actually take the time to ‘talk’ with you when not that many years ago if I called any of them on the telephone directly I doubt we’d have had many conversations. Now I get the honor and joy of speaking to many of them daily and learning as I go…thanks for the post!
You’re welcome, Bridget.
I love the way the internet is bringing people closer together… and it now really annoys me when people DON’T respond personally!
I’m much more impressed that YOU follow me than I would be by Alyssa’s follow. You see, if someone asked me “Who’s Peter P?” I’d be able to tell them, but if you ask me about Alyssa….huh??
Peter,
I look forward to your tech posts as much as the others. You always have so much to share and I for one appreciate the enlightenment.
Tonight I get to start reading your book to my grandchildren, Ryan Alyce 11 Reese Catherine 8 and Max 5 1/2. I am really excited to share your manuscript with them. I am hoping to have feedback for you!
Bless you – I love the personal contact of the internet – how else would I get to know people like you!
Blessings Deb
Thanks Deb,
I’m really looking forward to hearing what they think of it!
Alyssa was on that one show, with the boxer guy who was a maid. Right? (See how much I know.)
To be honest, I thought she was in her late teens or early 20’s. She’s 36. Shows how much I know!
I agree with you that it is great that Alyssa did not let fame go to her head, and will converse on twitter with the nonfamous population.
I also see Candy’s point. I am more impressed with you and Jason than with Miss Milano. I don’t have anything against her….But the way the both of you reach out to people both in person and over the internet for the glory of God is way more moving to me.
Helen and Candy,
It’s obvious that Alyssa Milano is using twitter to promote herself. 130,000 followers yet only following 300 shows that she is more interested in getting a message out than having relationships. That, however, is fine – as long as we don’t pretend it’s for something else. As far as using it for marketing goes, I think she does a good job.
On the other hand, there are people like us who aren’t here to sell ourselves but are rather here for relationship – and I think you guys do a great job of using twitter for that purpose.
Maybe I should write a post next week about using social media for being the church!
Good idea. Some of us don’t have anything to sell. And we are okay with that. 🙂
I think this has wonderful application for the church, but I’ll wait to see what you write next week! It is amazing how these simple tools have infiltrated our lives for better and for worse…
Great post.
I noticed you selected the word “harass” whereas I would’ve chosen “seduced.”
I can’t speak for Ms. Milano but I will say that I’m open to dating her electrically if she’s up for it.
Put in a good word for me, buddy.
This is going into my RSS reader.
Just kidding.
I don’t even know what that means.
LOL. Harass made it sound more dangerous 🙂
I’ll let you know when Alyssa responds and we’ll find out whether she feels seduced or not. 🙂
Following you now on Twitter. 🙂
Alyssa Milano just read this post and didn’t flame me afterward!
Whew!
You are right in your assessment of how we now look at things differently. The book and author discovery process you employ is similar to mine. I have discovered some books on marketing and social media who’s authors do not have blogs or ones that are dated or minimalist at best. This shuts the book down for me immediately. If the author is not interested in community than they are missing the boat in today’s social media world!
It’s amazing to me that people think they can write a book on social media and then not utilize it very well themselves!
Thanks for stopping by, David.