"We have for the first time an economy based on a key resource [information] that is not only renewable, but self-generating. Running out of it is not a problem, but drowning in it is." John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends.
Naisbitt's words were never more true. You could easily drown in information. But information is really our stock and trade. Face it, just about anything you sell can be bought somewhere else at a lower price. The difference, the thing that makes you stand out from your competition is information.
You sell better, higher-margin products by informing the customer of the additional benefits to be gained in exchange for the extra price. Unless we're talking about a very basic commodity item, your customers are coming to you because you have the information they need.
As Naisbitt says, we're not going to run out of information. But how do we separate the good stuff from the junk? You have to be very selective. So do your customers. If you gain a reputation as a source for valuable information, delivered in a timely efficient way, you'll become the "go-to" person. That's what these "social media" or "social networking" tools we've been looking at can do for you; give you a way to share information.
In the past "broadcasting" was the thing. Information flowed one way; top to bottom. Consumers of products were also consumers of information. Today it's all about two-way communication. Your customers want relationships. They want to be partners in the process. They want to be informed, but they want it on their terms, not yours. That's "social media".
Whether you've ever used it or not, you've probably heard of You Tube. It's the place where anyone can share video clips with fellow Internet users. The original intention of You Tube was to provide a place for individuals to share their home-made videos For example, You like cats? Search You Tube for the word kitten and you'll find 33,000 clips. That's a lot of cute kitties.
Do a lot of people use You Tube? Well, In October 2006, Google, Inc. acquired the company for $1.65 billion. The people who run Google know what they're doing. The site still features a lot of home-made videos, but it's grown into a place to find clips of television shows and movies, and most important to us, a place for companies to post videos about themselves and their products.
Do you have a television commercial that features a video of your store? Post it on You Tube. But the videos don't have to be professionally made. A lot of the material on the site was made with a simple fixed-focus web cam or even with a cell phone. It's the content, not the production quality that makes You Tube popular.
Does anyone actually look at the videos on You Tube? Here's a really awful video showing a guy installing a ceiling fan. It was posted on January 27, 2007 and it's been viewed almost 2,000 times! (Click on the arrow to view it.)
Did we mention that people like videos of cats? Here's one of a cat being groomed with a vacuum cleaner. Posted just five months ago, 14,000 plus people have looked at it.
You get the idea. If you're the least bit creative, you can come up with a video that promotes your business and people will watch it. You Tube is loaded with excerpts from Home Shopping Network and QVC, so people WILL watch commercials.
This spot for Mr. Appliance has been seen 2,640 times.
Decide what your customers are interested in and create a video. It's that simple. If you do, be sure to promote the video on your web site and in other communications with your customers. You may be surprised at the reaction. And You Tube is FREE.
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