21^st century has introduced dramatic changes into marketing and sales tactics. Today customers spend more time on mobile applications than on web browsers. Studies indicate that 22% of time spent on the internet is social, 24% people prefer social networks to email, and increasing number of users are active on Facebook through mobile versus desktop. The social revolution has created a social divide where most of your customers and employees are already social. What about your company?

Humans are changing, so are they ways to reach them. We are moving from the world of outbound marketing to inbound marketing. Push strategies are slowly but firmly being replaced by user initiated pull strategies. Today, the sales representatives have much less leveraging power in the process than 10 years ago. Customers can find the product reviews online, they can skip the TV ad with just a press of a button on Tivo remote, they have caller ID to screen incoming calls, etc.
The old marketing playbook is broken.

But is it really over for traditional media? Not in my opinion. Although social media usage is growing exponentially, it cannot live without the traditional media. Traditional advertising and promotion strategies, integrated with Social media marketing, will enhance the overall effect on target audiences. Alone it will be so much weaker.

There is no universal one-tactic-works-for-all. The key is how to get the right message to the right person. Who are the people targeted? What do they like? What are they saying? Where are they hanging out?

 - Kristel

Download on-demand webinar from Hubspot to learn more about The Social Revolution.

Recently I noticed a trend in restaurants – younger couples having dinner, not absorbed in conversation but rather by their smart phones. You can argue that they might be texting to each other, and maybe some of them are. Is Social Media replacing the Social Life? Is Facebook replacing the old fashioned backyard barbeque parties? Is Twitter replacing casual gatherings at cocktail hour? Are LinkedIn and Webinars replacing the old fashioned meetings and interviews? You might say that this a ridiculous thought. But is it? Think of the communication methods and devices available 20 years ago versus today. In past we used to write letters and send these in mail. Last week I found a handwritten cover letter from the 1990 sales file. When was the last time you sent a hand written correspondence to your customer?

Today, company websites are taking over the functionality of a salesman. A perfect website will attract the prospects with updated blog contents, webinars and technical papers. Prospects then will be converted into the sales leads through well designed landing pages. What about 20 years from now? Advanced technology with artificial intelligence will recognize the need, prepare the sales proposal, and convert it into the order. The mainstream of business people (today’s teenagers) won’t appreciate the personal phone calls or traveling to personal meetings, these take too much of their valuable time. Can we as marketers keep up with these changes? Or will we be replaced by an intelligent machine? What do you think?
- Kristel

http://blog.growingleaders.com/generation-iy/leading-the-next-generation-well-over-connected-2/ 

“Google doesn’t get social and never will, they should give up.”

Facebook has shut down the “export contacts”  feature in order to deter people from exporting their contacts to Google+. I wrote that I thought this was awful. Facebook has shown us time and again that they don’t care what we think, need or want.

On the other side, Google just set up Google Transfer that allows users to remove their data from Google applications. Two different attitudes about user needs.

If you think that Facebook is ‘too big to fail’, I’d like to remind you of a little company called AOL who also tried to keep everything, in the corral. Hmmm. It’s going to be interesting?

If you’re looking for a good explanation and analysis of Google + – check out Chris Brogan. He’s doing a good job. Right now, Google has shut down any new invitations but it’s only a matter of time before it’s wide open.

Oh yeah, Michael Dell… (the owner of Dell computers) he held a ‘hangout’ with selected people and made it public so people could ‘listen in.’ I missed it but I’m looking forward to hearing more from all kinds of people. Including you…   Posted by Deborah Mourey