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As I talk to my friends in the industry, I see a lot of chatter that social media has overtaken companies as the prime way to market a company. Combine social media with SEO, a Content Management Strategy and some other online tools and you have the perfect system. Meanwhile…many companies are looking at the future and are starting to look in a better direction.
This direction is “Connecting one-on-one with clients”. This direction is where companies need to go if they are really going to make a difference in the future. Right now, people are so inundated with data and tweets and posts and shares of data on their mobile devices and on social media platforms. I actually believe people are tuning out all the noise and are actually reading less and less information.
People want “simple, straight-forward messages” – This ultimately means all of us as marketers need to work on our “message” to our clients. The message starts by connecting closer to our clients. What do clients want to hear? Do they want to hear more information about a company, or do they want to hear information that exceeds their current needs? I would argue that companies need to do a better job of getting the right information to their followers, both clients and potential clients. Tools like social media, blogs, content are important, but also face-to-face communication needs to occur more. Companies need to get more personable with their clients and know them by name.
The shift is on, several social media experts that I follow are looking for the next movement on the horizon. Social media and SEO techniques are available to companies, but it also takes companies knowing and understanding their clients better. This is where I am spending my time. I am looking for ways to connect more personally. The number of followers, likes and pluses really don’t have an impact on creating a personable message. I want to connect with those people who want to share their ideas, improve their processes, and ultimately grow their businesses.
I believe way too much time is spent connecting with people who will never take the next step. The majority of people prefer to be generalists and not get too close to their clients or work. There is a difference.
Where do you see social media going in the future? How do we take it to another level? I am not sure anyone knows exactly where we are headed, but I do believe big changes will occur in 2014 and we will be moving to a whole new way of connecting and learning more about our clients if we want to see our companies continue to grow.
Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
