Howard Mann has a great article, “For Better Or Worse,” about the “thousands of businesses making many millions a year in profits that have still never heard of twitter, a blog, or facebook.” The point of the article is that focusing on what makes any business great – extraordinary products, world-class customer service, face-to-face communication – has everything to do with their success despite the fact that they don’t have 1,000s of twitter followers or a whiz-bang facebook page.
As Howard says about businesses diving head-first into social media:
“Are they actually improving interactions with brands or, as it always has, does your experience with a brand come down to how great or not great the person you had to call when something went wrong was in solving your problem? Layer on as much technology and social media icing as you want, for any brand, YOU are the product! My new iPod may be shiny but, if the Apple Genius is a jerk, then I am not liking the brand. My Audi salesman acted like a jerk when I decided to not lease a new Audi this time. It changed the way I think about Audi in a small but important way. Social media cannot change that fact.”
When you take the time to handle the basics like customer service, and truly making the customer feel special, your business will most likely thrive. People will talk about your business on facebook and twitter, even if you have no idea about how to use these tools or the best way to “engage in social media.”
The basics are important. Remember this and use the new tools as part of your marketing toolkit – not the be-all, end-all. And make sure you check out Howard’s blog.
