The only thing we can ever be certain of in life is, change. And it happens so quickly.
Take a moment to think about how your life has changed over the past 10 years. Did you ever imagine 10 years ago that you would be posting your thoughts, life events on Facebook, or your photos on Instagram? Tweeting celebrities on Twitter! – and having a direct connection into their everyday lives. It’s astounding isn’t it how technology has transformed our relationships?
For those of you that embraced Social Media to connect with your friends and loved ones, did you ever for a moment stop and think that you’d use it to one day connect with your customers? I bet you wouldn’t have dreamed of it – it was incomprehensible not that long ago! Surely social was just for friends – keeping up to date with your lives, arranging events. Using social media with your customers to really get and stay connected? Well maybe that just seemed a little strange.
But, the world has changed. We have changed. Social has evolved to being much more than posting holiday snaps or photos of your dog.
As marketers, the reality is, our customers are in the driving seat of how we engage with them. Our customers live in social networks – as do you and I – because we are consumers too. To reach our customers we have to exist where they ‘hangout’ and that’s in social media.
How many times have you tweeted a brand with a complaint? Research states that 72% of us do this and we expect a reply within 1 hour.
Marketing has grown to be much more than one way communication. We are locked in a continuous dialogue with our customers, partners and of course prospects that require us to not only be great storytellers but also listeners.
Marketing has grown up. It is no longer the annoying little brother that has for years been inept of having an adult conversation. Marketing has grown into a mature, modern adult of the 21st century. It has learnt to listen, engage, share and is willing to do so using a variety of channels of YOUR choosing. Marketing now, is quite like the boyfriend or girlfriend you’ve always longed for.
Technology has been the enabler and supported how marketing has evolved and is now accomplished. But has the outcome of marketing really changed? If we take away technology and go back to the fundamental basics – what are we as marketers really here to do? It is quite simply to be ‘human’. Bryan Kramer sums it up perfectly.
“There is no B2B, B2C marketing, there is only ‘human to human’ H2H.”
So I encourage you all to go out and be human. Tell great stories, listen to your customers, engage with them and create authentic relationships built upon trust.
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2 Comments
Great article. When I joined Cisco I was from B2C and I was challenged to start thinking on how we connect B2B but then truth is its the same. we still connect with people. People buy products and solutions from people. They trust the connections and thats when business relationships are formed. Social media has helped bridge the gap and for a company to remain relevant there is need to ensure that they feel you., connect with you and see you in their daily lives and thats mostly made possible through the internet.
H2H – love it !
Thank you for keeping the focus on Human to Human #H2H communication, Jeremy. I’ve always used technology to enhance human interactions, not diminish them. Isn’t it wonderful that Social Media allows us to have real-time conversations globally?