Their touch point, frame of reference, what gets their interest…is the ‘human experience’. Period.

Today’s American consumers (whose ever changing life stages must be taken into consideration) start their relationship with your business by examining and experiencing your intent and motivation. Consumers interact with brands like they do with other humans.  Since they highly value authenticity and transparency in relationships, all the more this is true regarding brand communication.

This is why your story…your purpose, your heart should be at the core of your branding. Your brand needs to be able to ‘touch’ the human heart in order to even get consideration in the first place. That is why sales pitches, hype, fast talking and slick in-your-face intrusive advertising does NOT work any longer.

Show me your interesting story (your human touch point) and you can call it a branding or anything else you like.

Even though many businesses are jumping on the Twitter and Facebook bandwagon…they are finding they are on the outside of the bulk of conversations and not having the so-called instant success many of the Social Media gurus are promising. That is partly due to the fact businesses still think Social Media is just another form of advertising!! So how do they typically approach this? Well for the most part, they are still using the ‘old advertising model’ of shouting at people to get attention and conducting one way conversations about themselves, their brand, their great deal, and blah, blah, blah.

That is completely opposite of the way real live humans (consumers) converse and this certainly applies when it comes to social media. Conversations between people are two way. That is if you are really interested in connecting with people instead of just selling ‘at them’.

Marketers, businesses, and brands that are still pushing themselves on folks are being completely ignored and grouped with all the other annoying cyber noise class. Talking at your potential customer is OUT! It takes two way engagement to even get in the conversation game in the social media realm let alone influence someone to buy from you. Far too many believe they can just show up and Facebook friends will be eating out of your hands or Twitter broadcasts will ensure the masses come running. This is so far from the truth it’s sad.

Anyone selling you on the idea you can use cutesy or clever ads, quotes of the day, last minute deals or any other midway type of shenanigans to incite the masses to word of mouth you along like the greatest new ice cream flavor ever is just flat out lying to you.

People are talking! There is no doubt about that and this is what you want them to do about you. In my opinion, the social media platform is one of the greatest things that could ever have happened to businesses today if you understand what it really is, how to use it, and respect the people using it.

A perfect example of the incredible opportunities made available via social media is just this week Mashable.com reported on Facebook’s 500 million member milestone! That’s just amazing. One online application has managed to attack a cyber hangout of 500 million members and growing!!

Facebook 500 million

When it comes to Twitter, it’s also a powerhouse as well! Courtesy of Huffingtonpost stats as of the end of April this year check these few facts out…

• Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users.
• New users are signing up at the rate of 300,000 per day.
• 180 million unique visitors come to the site every month.
• Of Twitter’s active users, 37 percent use their phone to tweet.
• More than 40% of all tweets start with @, which means they are directed at someone.
• 85% of Tweets are original and not re-tweets of other messages.

If you are in business, you MUST be in the social media space if you want to be taken serious and compete in this new business era. However…there is a right way to do it that can put you on the path to long term success. I’m telling you up front though, it’s not a quick BAM here I am kinda marketing thing. Expect it to take lots of smart work! And be clear here, Social Marketing Is Not For the Lazy, the Greedy, or the Arrogant. It not only takes smart and hard work to be successful in this sphere, but it also takes the RIGHT strategy, planning and execution. See more on this “Useless Social Media Plans” from my colleague Jay Deragon over at Relationship Economy.

Want Social Media Marketing to work for you?

Well you better get in tune with the right information flows that give it to you straight and truthful. Really take the time to identify who you want to have as customers and start talking to them. The best place a business can start the transformation they must embark upon in order for any of this to make sense or even work for them is to consider your motives and intentions for being in the social sphere in the first place. Yes, I get it…you are in business to sell, to make a profit. That is understood and expected by even your customer. But what worked in the past does not work now. This is really an age of connectedness like never before and people don’t want to be connected to fakes, wanna-be’s, get rich quick quakes, ‘get more eyeballs’ types, or the socially irresponsible and so on. They want and demand to be connected to the real deal. And when they read your mail (in the conversations you have socially) and see you are the real deal…they will gladly share you with their sphere of influence and on, and on. Powerful, but it can be unsettling if one of your business values is not integrity. Integrity is at the core of meaningful conversations and relationships online and off. Always had been…always will be.

He indicated a busy businessman would pay $20 month to have their Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo or Bebo account updated, messages replied and so on and this would be way cheaper than hiring a new employee in-house or contracting independent U.S workers.

Sounds reasonable right? Well I guess it is if you want a surefire way to go out of business quickly in this new day and age. Look…haven’t we had enough experience with what a bad idea this greed driven approach is yet?

The notion you can use ‘canned’ conversations, get rich quick schemes, famous quotes, and other non relevant chatter to build real relationships with customers in the ‘socialsphere’ is just plain gimmick and lazy approach thinking to try and capture consumers. People are way too smart for this!

Today’s consumer not only can read right through this type of hype and pitch…they will absolutely loathe you for it.

Am I saying having a 3^rd party service your social media marketing is a bad thing? Absolutely not! In fact, it can be a brilliant action on your part and certainly position your business probably faster and more effectively than you can on your own.

What I am saying here is don’t think you can be lazy or half stepping this stuff.  The work necessary to provide targeted and relevant content that is sincere and meaningful on behalf of your business rather than a bunch of noise, will and should rest on your shoulders. That means you have to be willing as well as sincerely committed to doing the work it takes to successfully engage with your customers and potential clients in the online social scene. It should be placed as a priority right up there with the other things you are doing to grow your business.

In my experience working with clients it saddens me to see many are not willing nor do they see the importance of truly committing to adding Social Marketing into their everyday marketing mix and strategies. And don’t think that I’m finding this with just small business. The folks over at Social Times posted an article on this very thing… 50% of Companies Entering Social Media Have Plan. Their take on a couple of recent reports on this topic revealed even large corporations are not investing their time, money and efforts to create meaningful strategies and plans in order to ensure their company is emotionally connecting with their target markets. Many think you can rest on your brand, just ‘show up’ or put on a charade to appear you are in the trenches with 21st century marketing and they are in with the customer.

Not true! Today’s new business era will no longer support or tolerate status quo mindsets and approaches. Just like having an offline relationship takes lots of personal investment, so it is with online. No free rides for marketers. No free rides for business. People do not care about your brand like you think they do. This is the age of the great awaking for anyone in business. Integrity, intent, motives and transparency are the tell-tell signs of what a business really wants from and with a customer.

What about you? Does your business have a plan, well defined strategies for incorporating Social Media into your marketing and business processes? If not, would you if you knew how to get started? Let me hear from you what you feel you need in order to transport your business into the 21^st century way of doing business.

Now you tell me how anyone in business who is fairly intelligent can ignore this or not see the significance of what is going on here? Honestly, it does not take a PhD to see this in not just a trend! No this is the END of business as usual forever. This is a new age, a new business era, and huge shift in our culture.

This is so significant that anyone in business whether it be the local cleaners to the hair stylist…would be foolish not to embrace what is going on and partner up with professionals who can help them bring their business practices into the 21^st century way of doing business.

If you need referrals to fine folks who do this contact me. I will be glad to refer you.

Facebook Company Timeline

2010

• February

Facebook reaches over 400 million active users

2009

• December

Facebook reaches over 350 million active users

• September

Facebook reaches over 300 million active users

• August

Facebook acquires FriendFeed

• July

Facebook reaches over 250 million active users

• June

Facebook launches Facebook Usernames

• May

Digital Sky Technologies makes a $200 million investment for preferred stock at a $10 billion valuation

• April

Facebook reaches over 200 million active users

• February

Facebook reaches over 175 million active users
Facebook joins OpenID board
“Like” feature added

• January

Facebook reaches over 150 million active users
CNN Live/Facebook integration

2008

• December

Facebook Connect becomes generally available

• August

Facebook reaches over 100 million active users

• April

Facebook launches Facebook Chat
Facebook releases Translation application to 21 additional languages

• March

Facebook updates privacy controls to include Friend List privacy
Facebook launches in German

• February

Facebook launches in Spanish and French

• January

Facebook co-sponsors Presidential Debates with ABC News

2007

• November

Facebook launches Facebook Ads

• October

Facebook reaches over 50 million active users
Facebook launches Facebook Platform for Mobile
Facebook and Microsoft expand advertising deal to cover international markets; Microsoft takes a $240 million equity stake in Facebook

• July

Facebook acquires startup Parakey

• May

Facebook launches Marketplace application for classified listings
Facebook hosts F8 event to launch Facebook Platform
Facebook Platform launches with 65 developer partners and over 85 applications

• April

Facebook reaches 20 million active users
Facebook updates site design and adds network portals

• March

Facebook reaches over 2 million active Canadian users and 1 million active UK users

• February

Virtual gift shop launches as a feature

2006

• December

Facebook reaches more than 12 million active users

• November

Share feature added on Facebook, simultaneously launched on over 20 partner sites

• September

News Feed and Mini-Feed are introduced with additional privacy controls
Facebook expands registration so anyone can join

• August

Facebook development platform launches
Notes application is introduced
Facebook and Microsoft form strategic relationship for banner ad syndication

• May

Facebook expands to add work networks

• April

Facebook raises $27.5 million from Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and others
Facebook Mobile feature launches

2005

• December

Facebook reaches more than 5.5 million active users

• October

Photos is added as an application
Facebook begins to add international school networks

• September

Facebook expands to add high school networks

• August

The company officially changes its name to Facebook from thefacebook.com

• May

Facebook raises $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners;
Facebook grows to support more than 800 college networks

2004

• December

Facebook reaches nearly 1 million active users

• September

Groups application is added; the Wall is added as a Profile feature

• June

Facebook moves its base of operations to Palo Alto, Calif.

• March

Facebook expands from Harvard to Stanford, Columbia and Yale

• February

Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook from their Harvard dorm room

Source http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline

With so many things available through technology to market and reach your customer directly today…why don’t more business owners take on more of their own marketing efforts?

You would have to have been on another planet this past decade not to know we have entered into a new business era. This is so a direct-to-consumer market now. People want customization and personalization and a one-to-one experience.  The middle man and gatekeepers are dying off by the droves in every industry segment!

One thing I’ve discovered and relate to as a consumer over the past few years is people want more than a transaction! They want a meaningful connection.

That’s one reason the middle guy can’t deliver anymore. People want real. Who better can deliver ‘real’ connections than you…owner of the business?

The way I see it, you have a really huge edge over those who just hand off all their marketing to some agency or organization that probably cares more about you paying your invoice to them than if your customers really have a lasting emotional connection with you and your business. That edge you have is YOU know your products and services best and you know your customers and can interact with them on a personal level regularly. What gets me though is I see lots of business owners not take advantage of this huge opportunity either because of fear of the new digital frontier (although they don’t readily admit it) or because of what I call ‘Status Quo Mindset”.  You know…it’s the “that’s the way we’ve always done it” or “I don’t care about all that Internet stuff it’s not hurtin my business”. RIGHT!

Well, I’m convinced business has changed forever…not all are going to be successful in this new business era because there will be many who will not change. We hate change for some reason when that is what life is full of. But that is another story

Point is, if you are recognizing you gotta do something different to not only compete but transform your business…technology and Social Media has made it sooooooo possible for businesses to be more hands on with their marketing if used properly. Blogging, Social Networks, Twitter (your 24/7 broadcasting network), Share bookmarks, and more all provide you with direct customer interaction and get this… Most of the tools are Free!

Yep, it’s true. Many marketers don’t want you to realize this but Do-It-Yourself Marketing can work well to move your business in front of others because you are the one in the center of building relationships with your customer. And, you can do an excellent job to market your business YOURSELF.

Am I saying you just get online and jump in and see where you end up? No. Am I saying you should not seek out professionals in marketing to help your business? No again. Why that is what I do for a living!!J

What I am saying is YOU should learn about the DIY options available to help your business and enlighten yourself on the importance of the new landscape in marketing and relating to your customers in this digital economy.

I’m also saying you should seek out marketing professionals who want to empower YOU by teaching you how to do this yourself rather than them selling you a bunch of hype and programs to hold you hostage so you feel you have to have them to help you do this successfully.

Look friend, all I’m trying to relay is this is a brand new business era we are in. Don’t let technology or anything else keep you away from taking the reins of your business and guiding it into 21^st century marketplace. You have a lot to lose if you don’t DIY.

That’s that I thought!

But to my dismay, a week later another one of those pesky dinosaur phone books showed up delivered to my doorstep once again without me having any say so in the ordeal. Well, I don’t have to tell you what became of this annoyance once again.

Here’s the thing though that bugs me more than having to throw away those phone books that continually make their way on my doorstep. It’s the huge WASTE this represents!

What a waste of money, resources (hello! TREES!) and the waste of the advertisers money they spent to have a presence in these bulky beasts of the past!

I haven’t used a phone book for searching for anything in years and I’m a baby boomer! Just think of the younger generations who are using digital devices connected at the hip. I can see the day coming very soon when my grand kids won’t even know what a phone book is.

Here’s another annoying side note. I get phone books from sources that have nothing to do with my phone service provider. So these are unsolicited deliveries. Isn’t that real-time SPAM? Otta be a law against that if there isn’t one already.

I could really address those companies producing and selling these useless mounds but rather I would like to use my time and efforts to address the businesses that are still using these antiquated means as a prominent way to market and advertise their business.

According to research from Webvisible and Nielsen, reported by Marketing Charts, 63% of consumers and small business owners go to the Internet first for information about local companies and services. And get this, 82% of them use search engines to find those businesses and services!

The survey also reported, 50% said search engines (Not phone books) were the first place they looked when seeking a local business, while 24% chose the Yellow Pages online directories.

It’s very clear phone books along with many other ‘old model’ methods of advertising and marketing are not only no longer the way your customer prefers to find you, but it’s also a very futile investment on your behalf and the return will not outweigh the costs. In other words…It’s no longer a good business decision!

Advertising is dead.

Traditional marketing is dead.

I have said many times before…we are in (not headed to) but in, a New Era for Business.

Old business models are crumbling, new business models are springing up and completely challenging both online and offline businesses all the while turning the marketplace upside down. If you are not seeing this…I would have to say you are dangerously disconnected or purposely ignoring the revolution going on out there.

In my many years of experience in consulting and coaching businesses, I have found the one’s to be in the most danger when it comes to business survival and growth in this digital 21^st century, are the local retail type businesses such as restaurants, cleaners, auto repair, entertainment & recreation, as well as services such as medical, home repair, attorneys, and such.

Most of these businesses are owned by the baby boomer generation group which I have found seems to be a bit let’s say…resistant to the digital transition. In all fairness, I realize most of these hard working folks are already overwhelmed running their business and don’t much care for the fact digital marketing requires more personal interaction and involvement then required using the old advertising and marketing methods of the past.

It also requires a learning curve so the business owner can be savvy to make the right strategic decisions to best position their business. They also need to be able to sort through all the hype and wanna-be marketers and marketing services out there.  They need help to do this. The good news is legitimate good help is there but they must take the steps to secure good council.

I personally believe if a business does not make digital marketing and positioning a priority, they stand to lose out big time to those who are and who will.

After all, the statistics are demonstrating clearly your customer is not participating in ‘old model’ marketing so why are you going to continue to spend your time and money to have a presence there? I welcome your comments.

If your anything like me, it represents a “check out” moment from the hustle and bustle of life to reflect on the joys of beings mom (and the sorrows), how far you have come and how far your family has come.

Most of us our adorned with flowers, a gift, or dinner out and those are all such wonderful tokens of love from our families. However, this year I also received a Mother’s Day gift that not only was really special to me personally…but it was an excellent example of 21st century marketing at its finest in my books! Those of us in business should setup and take notice.

Here’s the scoop. I was busy at my computer (I still spend way too much time there) working on my business and an email came in from a dear friend of mine notifying me…

Your friend Patty sent you the following video from CNNBC: “Hazel Nieves Announced as 2009 Mother of the Year.”

I thought at first…wow…about time someone out there knew what I went through raising six children as a single parent!! Of course, I clicked on the link and to my utter delight the video played with all these mentions of me announced as ‘Mother of the Year’ from President Obama to a guy with a tattoo on his arm with my first name!!!!

WOW! I was so excited I then personalized the email and sent it to a list of mothers I know so they too could get the joy of this gift like I did.

You may be saying great for you but how does this help me with my marketing!

Well first, I found out the video has been sent to more than 4,500,000 moms and that does not count today’s numbers or tomorrow!! Secondly, the sponsors of this video have had a flood of emails pouring in thanking them for the video, blogger’s blogging about and just a huge response to what the entire marketing purpose was in the first place and that was to bring attention and TRAFFIC to their organization MomsRising.org!

The MomsRising Organization is dedicated to bring together millions of people who share a common concern about the need to build a more family-friendly America. Started in May of 2006, MomsRising has gained over 150,000 citizen members and is rapidly growing. More than 85 national and state organizations have signed on to be aligned with MomsRising.

There marketing for this cause is soooooooo 21st century in that they understand how to strike the cord of emotion in people and give something relevant to their audience so that they can also share in the purpose and mission of this organization and at the same time in a ‘non-selling’ way help us to understand the need for us to support this cause.

I advise anyone one interested in what I call ‘New Model’ marketing to study their website and strategies. They certainly are doing an excellent job!

P.S. Just because of this ONE video, I not only became aware of them (I never heard of them before), I have signed up as a member, took the time to fill out a ‘refer my friends’ form to help spread the word, and I will begin to get involved with this organization.

Now that is good marketing! That’s good Social Media Marketing!!

However, I would have to add to his statement…

“More important by far is creating a desire to share”.

But I add to that…before people will even take note you have created a desire to share, they are going to do a “Motive Check”.

Motive is more important than ever in today’s marketplace because we have just had it with all the hype, lies, switch-n-bait, etc.

And yes, making the effort to ensure your “Motive Check” hits the mark and you are in fact genuine in your interactions with the marketplace may take you a bit longer in reaching your target market and getting results, your integrity will far out pace the Hypie crap pitched everywhere online and offline today.

The marketing mindset must move to one that shifts from:

• Pushing messages to nurturing consumer connection

• Talking to listening

• Shifting innovation from the top-down to the bottom-up

• Creating pull interactions

• Designing campaigns to facilitating conversations

• Ownership to experience

It is predicted over the next five years, traditional marketing and advertising will become obsolete. Those who embrace connecting with consumer communities and eventually becoming an integral part of them by weaving communities into their products and services and business practices, will be the winners in creating businesses that cultivate consumers and employees into partners and brand loyalists.

Are you beginning to chart a new course for the way you market your business?