Many times when I mention blogging or social networking to the general public I get an eye roll. "What do you mean social networking, is that like MySpace?" Well partially I explain....and you know the rest of the story. It seems that unless you are on board with the march of the 2.0 , you really don't get it. Sometimes to explain in the super-macro overview style I will give a little discourse that goes something like this-
Once upon a time word of mouth was THE avenue for marketing your goods or services. Six Gun Sam would ride into town and ask where he could board his horses and he got his answers via ...a referral networkof sorts. Everything was done word of mouth and by pure reputation a business succeeded or failed. It was personal. There is NO DOUBT that this is still the best form of advertising for any business.
NEWSPAPER
Then there was the print media that offered an opportunity to pay to have you face and marketing information thrust out to the publics eye. An eye that was, and still is to some degree information hungry.
RADIO
Next we have radio. Now we are able to put a voice with this business. Let's play on emotion and rational. This is a major breakthrough based on the fact that we can broadcast a subliminal message of sorts while consumers are shopping or driving.
TELEVISION
Now were cooking with gas! Advertisers are free to appeal to you through site, color, action, humor, drama, sound... you name it.
INTERNET
Fast forward to the real breakthrough in technology. The Internet. I'm not going to begin to explain all of the obvious advantages that we have through an on-line presence. Only to say as we have developed our style and ease of website deployment to a wonderful level in business and pleasure.
There is one major problem with all of this "advancement".
We have slowly eased away from the #1 element of successful business operations from time past.
Personal Familiarity
I reference the original form of advertisement, the referral. This has always worked because there is an understood element of trust involved. In the name of convenience we have fudged from that. Let's cut right to the chase.
Are not most websites out there no more than pictures, words, phrases, video and audio that has been strategically arranged to portray the best possible scenario for a business front?
Does it or does it not become a little stale and over-rehearsed to the point of losing much of the genuineness?
For example. We are in the real estate business. We are a people business, and if you are not a people person than you will soon find yourself doing something else to keep the lights on. We are employed to help individuals through usually the biggest financial decisions of there lives. We also live in a world where over 80% of these consumers will shop on-line way before they pick up the phone to call and get to know you...get to trust you.
In this world of technology where people still want a real connection to their agents, the web 2.0 model is the bridge that they are and will use. It enables us to provide true authenticity, a genuine level of professionalism (if we are true professionals), quick response time, and an endless supply of ways to deliver this information.
It enables ample information to be shared and trust to be built in a no pressure atmosphere.Think very hard about this statement because I am convinced it IS the answer to a business model that is taking over and will dominate our world in a very short amount of time.
-----If this is a subject that interests you, I started a new group, feel free to join.- WEB 2.0
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