The BIG Shift

Recently I met with a group of professionals who don't work in the technology sector and are just starting to dabble in social media (or perhaps it's more accurate to say they were just starting to dabble in the idea of using social media). The group I was speaking with were curious about all the buzzwords and hype they keep hearing. More to the point, they needed to better understand how these technologies affect them and their specific business environments.

As I explained to them, what we’re witnessing, and navigating our way through, is The BIG Shift.

While this shift is bolstered by technology--both Web 2.0 and other tech innovations--its effects cut across all industry sectors, be they professional or consumer. You see, Web 2.0 technologies are remarkable because they shift content creation and control from marketers to their markets. An unlike all other media, people, not profit-driven companies, fuel the growth of this space. In this era, consumers aren't waiting on companies to "get it" or get on board. Nope. Empowered by these tools consumers are fully equipped to move ahead all on their own.

From influencing the purchasing decisions of people located all over the globe... to building active communities and establishing mass movements... our markets are now leading us.

Via these technologies we're now able to reach more of the world, so geographical borders are of little relevance--with the voices of the so-called little guys reaching (and influencing) many the world over. Equally compelling, while technology levels playing fields and make for a world that’s more “flat,” the global connections and relationships that these innovations enable make for a world that feels, and seems, much smaller.

It's not that we aren’t reading as many books so much as using new technologies to read and archive them. It’s not that we’ve stopped buying music, we just purchase it in more portable formats. And it's not that we're aren't consuming as much third-party content; it's that time-shifting technologies, like TiVo and Hulu, enable us to watch what we want, when we want and through which devices we want to watch it on, be it TV, Web or mobile phone.  

Moreover, it’s not that we know of less news, thanks to social networks such as Twitter, we know of more world news and with greater alacrity. (And how much more commonplace is it becoming to use software accessed from the cloud vs. the client desktop?)

As marketers, we’re moving from launching finite campaigns (that start and end) to holding market conversations that keep on going (and going). In the past we worked to connect our brands with our target markets. But now we work to connect our markets to one another... and hoping that through these connections they'll discuss, recommend and purchase our brands.

The more we use these technologies to reach out to our customers, the more they’re confirming that they prefer to hear from humans in human speak, not from brands wrapped in corporate verbiage. Even more revolutionary, marketers are learning that they get further not in talking to their audiences, but through listening to them.

That said, many professionals warn of drinking too much of the “Web 2.0 Kool-aid.” It’s a caution with merit, especially given that there is so much hype around these new technologies and that new best practices do not negate age-old principles. Yet the more I interface with companies, the more I confirm how very steep the learning curve is for them--most profoundly to the change needed in their overall mindsets and a firm understanding of how these tools empower their markets (and how the online discourse affects the offline perceptions of their brands).

But just as the group I was speaking with realized, while these innovations equip us with new ways to market, create and compete, there's a much broader set of implications at play.

Welcome to The BIG Shift.

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Comments

[Kneale Mann]

Hey CK,

Excellent piece, thanks for sharing!

Social Media is not a quick fix, neither are any traditional marketing and advertisting channels. It's all media and it all must be treated with commitment and respect.

Social Media is not a campaign and your marketing is not something you "do twice a year". And neither will fix a bad idea.

@knealemann

[Gavin Heaton]

Great post, CK. I actually read and wrote something on this topic recently. It is making for interesting, if complex times!

[Cindy King]

Well said!

And this is exactly the same situation I have encountered here in Europe... even if my next door neighbors here in France seem to slightly behind with regards to social media.

[Jon]

"From influencing the purchasing decisions of people located all over the globe... to building active communities and establishing mass movements... our markets are now leading us."

CK: Are you in my head or just reading through all my notes?