Power of social media

A WEEK is a long time in politics, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcement that the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, was to be awarded the title of Knight of the Order of Australia is still playing out in Canberra and elsewhere.

I have to say I was gobsmacked by Mr Abbott’s response to the social media outpourings of protest, when he dismissed social media as simply “electronic graffiti”.

The way I see it, graffiti is a statement. Social media is a conversation.

You don’t have to like the topic or agree with the conversation, but in 2015, there can be no denying the very real power of social media.

Conversations about your business or your service can literally make or break your endeavour.

The social media chat about a business, the thirdparty endorsement — or lack thereof — has been acknowledged as one of the most powerful and potentially compelling marketing tools of all time.

Advertising certainly has its role, but who do you listen to?

The slickly produced TV ad or the voice of a friend or an acquaintance with no vested interest, who has some feedback to share? Whose opinion do you value more?

Two thirds of all Australians — regardless of their voting preferences — have a Facebook account.

That means that each and every month that’s almost 14 million people reflecting on everything from the banality of cappuccino art, to why a prime minister would anoint the Queen’s husband for a national gong.

As business owners, I think there are many of us who seriously undervalue the potential of social media.

To be frank, for many it’s just not part of their communication repertoire. They don’t understand it, they don’t see the relevance in it and consider it all a bit vacuous, silly and a waste of time.

But make no mistake, just because you don’t “get it” doesn’t mean your potential clients are impervious to the power of social media.

For those who realise there’s something they “should” be doing on the social media bandwagon, all too often it’s handed off to the youngest person in the building because it’s more “their thing”. Big mistake.

Social media is a potentially powerful and compelling platform that needs to be well planned, well targeted and precisely executed and should be considered equally as important as any other pillar that underpins your business’s future direction.

Dismiss social media as electronic graffiti at your peril, or your business may well see the writing on the wall.