It may be a sign of acceptance of social media as an integrated essential of today's online search and social, content share and consuming life. A new buzzword is whizzing around the web, circulating seminars and conference halls. You may already be using it yourself. It's called social business.
Yes - it's another 'must-know' term you need to get your head around! It's not so bad - essentially the two words aim to tie up the core concepts, behaviours and technologies that inform the way eCommerce, companies and organisations are now required to engage with audiences, customers and prospects in order to sustain an effective online presence.
It's important to recognise a key shift in mindset that is required to successfully incorporate social media networking harmoniously into everyday marketing strategies. It has to be understood that a deeper change of web culture has been taking place, transforming a traditional one-way online marketing and static advertising space to a fully interactive multichannel and platform environment.
Understanding the fluid and organic mechanisms that predominate consumer- led social participation requires more than paying 'lip service' to the removal of traditional barriers by a bland request for site visitors to 'follow us on Facebook'. It is often seen that where there is an understandable focus on boosting brand identity awareness, customer-targeting campaigns and sales conversions, on the other hand, customer service and feedback is narrowed down to an email address, request for a brochure or customer form filling.
To be a social business is to be having a conversation and listening to your audience of interested followers and visitor prospects. It may mean more than sending out an email marketing newsletter three or four times a year or even monthly. How really social and interested in feedback, comment and conversation do you think your recipients will feel your business is when you send 'do not reply' emails?
Updating a Facebook page, tweeting or blogging should be happening continuously and frequently, not stopping and starting like a misfiring, crank driven model Ford T. Months - or even weeks - of non-communication sends strong signals to followers about exactly what your business thinks of their interest and loyalty. It should also not be forgotten that Google algorithms will be reacting and visiting less in response to a lack of social signals. That could mean a drop in ranking.
Social business does not mean conducting business as before but with a 'like' option bolted on as a sop to customer engagement. With nearly half of all consumers using mobile and smartphone to quickly search, and increasingly network share their shopping activities, which site is more likely to be a sales winner? The super friendly, network socially interactive presence always popping up just where their audiences are hanging out with lots of content goodies - or a site, mute, impenetrable yet claiming, perversely, to offer solutions to your problems?
The problem is getting the conversation started.
Social business - now we're talking!