by Paul Slack
Innovation doesn’t care about us
It will leave us in the dust if we don’t grab hold. My guess is there were some really great candle companies around at the time Edison was inventing the light bulb, and they had no choice: adapt or be left in the dark. When innovation strikes, it’s almost impossible to go back to the way things were. However, the fuel to innovation is always the value it provides to the masses. We would all agree that having things like the light bulb and electricity are good for society.The best way to grab hold of social media is to remember your company’s purpose and the value you provide customers, then find a way to achieve that purpose in this new media. The newspaper industry failed because they forgot they were in the information business and began to falsely believe they were in the printing business. Travel agents failed because they thought they were in the business of selling seats on airplanes and rooms in hotels, and forgot that they were really in the business of selling convenience to business people and lifelong memories to vacationing families.
IBM embraces innovation
A great case study in adapting with innovation is IBM. IBM has roots back to the late 1880s. Since that time IBM has reinvented itself over and over to continue to deliver value to their customers in an ever-changing world, from accounting machines to computers to software and finally to services. Their Global Services division accounts for 57% of their revenue today. I have been fascinated by IBM since the early ’90s and over the years have seen them embrace the Internet and now social media with gusto. They aren’t afraid of change; they embrace it! As a happy shareholder in the company, I have also seen their stock price double during the last decade while other companies’ stock prices have taken a real beating.
Social Media Marketing is an opportunity
View social media marketing as an opportunity for your business to fulfill its purpose in ways you have never imagined. Don’t hold onto things that will prevent you from embracing it. This might mean reevaluating how you spend your marketing dollars or developing a new marketing strategy altogether. Don’t head down the road of travel agents and the newspaper industry, but rather become nimble and adapt and you will find plenty of new opportunities within social media.
