Social media is fine but people want choices.
Today I was speaking to a group of business start-ups when the question was asked, “With everyone texting and tweeting, shouldn’t I focus on social media for launching my new business.”
With tremendous pause and a cold silence in the room, I found myself conducting an impromptu survey. Here’s how it went: Imagine today is your birthday. You can choose how you receive well-wishes from family, friends, co-workers, etc. You only get to choose one.
Would you like to receive well wishes via Facebook and Twitter as posts?
Would you prefer to receive an e-Card? Perhaps a musical e-Card.
Your birthday wishes can come in the mail in the form of a traditional card.
Or would you rather have well-wishes personally call you to say happy birthday?
Here are the results:
One lone individual just wanted to open his Facebook account, see the birthday greetings and be done with it.
I don’t recall anyone wanting to receive an electronic card.
Approximately half the group liked the good-old traditional card in the mail and the other half liked the deeply personal message of a phone call.
My point was to demonstrate that even in the simplest, yet personal communications, we still want choice.
Marketers, advertising agencies and social media gurus don’t dictate consumer choice; consumers do. It’s a good practice to periodically step back, look at how you speak to your customers and answer the question, “What do they really want.”