Is social networking slowing down the pace of business?

[Harold Mansfield]

A lot of my past/present clients are interested in newsletters. List building. Networking. RSS subscribers and so on.
They all have this idea of building, and cultivating, and signing people up, and forming relationships, and holding hands singing cume baya ( is that really how you spell it?) around the camp fire, and having relationships with people so that they will eventually turn into clients.

What the hell is happening to us? Social Networking is such a part of our consciousness these days, that we don't seem to be able to do anything else.

It didn't used to be like this. You used to just ask for the sale. That was the whole point. "Look what I can do, and what I have. Call me right now"

Vacuum cleaner companies didn't sign you up on their list and send you informative newsletters for months to entice you to call them. No. They sent a guy to your house that dumped dirt on your floor, sucked it up with the new device, and asked you if you wanted to buy one.

Business operated just fine before. People needed your service, they looked you up and called.
It seems now that we spend more time beating around the bush than we ever used to before.

Some would rather have Facebook followers than Outlook contacts.
The contact form has replaced the contact person.
I've seen business cards with email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Linked in, and ICQ information..but no phone number or hours of operation.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in building a clientele. I'm all for making new contacts, and keeping in touch for a future sale.

I remember the days when department stores marketed with catalogs. And getting the new one was a big deal..because it only came out a few times a year. Spring. Summer. Fall. Christmas. That's it!
Now we are throwing 100x's more information and content at people and closing them at half the rate.

It seems that it has swung so far to the other end that I have to constantly remind people to put their blessed phone number on their website becuase they are too worried about newsletters and Twitter feeds.

Are consumers moving slower, or are we just wasting more time courting them than ever before?

[Patrysha]

I think it's a combination of things really. First of all, most of the people have the relationship building a little backwards at least for offline marketing needs. It's supposed to be about marketing to already previously satisfied clients...the stuff for prospects is supposed to be leading them towards the buy.

Second, I think we as marketers are hitting consumers a lot earlier in the buying cycle with new media...so it seems like it takes longer to move them from prospect to customer. But that might not really be the case...

All things being equal...what works has remained the same...

[Harold Mansfield]

Second, I think we as marketers are hitting consumers a lot earlier in the buying cycle with new media...so it seems like it takes longer to move them from prospect to customer. But that might not really be the case...


I think this hits it on the head. And in doing so it seems that business owners are casting a wider net, wasting time trying to convert everyone instead of targeting prospects directly. Everyone is not a prospect. I have a hard time trying to convince people of that.

[KristineS]

I think this hits it on the head. And in doing so it seems that business owners are casting a wider net, wasting time trying to convert everyone instead of targeting prospects directly. Everyone is not a prospect. I have a hard time trying to convince people of that.

"Everyone is not a prospect" is probably the truest thing I've seen written recently. It's the biggest obstacle that people fall over. Because you can reach everyone, or almost everyone, business people think that everyone is then a prospect. In order to make a sale, you still have to talk to the people who want what you have to sell. That's one of the reasons I'm so careful about who I follow on Twitter and who I friend and like on the company Facebook page. I want a group who is in our industry and is interested in what we have to offer. Talking to people who don't embroider or sublimate, and have no interest in learning about either of those disciplines does nothing for me or for the company.

I did a blog post about this subject for Stitches magazine recently, where I talked about the fact that more isn't always better. You can have 5,000 fans or friends, but if you can't motivate them to do something, or if they're not interested in what you have to sell, what good are they? I think the myth of more connections being better sometimes goes too far. It's not about who has the most connections it's about who has the most useful connections.

[Patrysha]

That is definitely a challenge. It blew me away in the start up stages how few business owners got and applied that concept and how even fewer of them have a plan...from reading my books I thought those two things were a given...

[vangogh]

I think it's all just a natural extension of what happens offline. Networking has always been an important part of doing business. Businesses have always been looking to build relationships with people for a variety of reasons. One is that most people will sooner do business with someone they know than someone they don't know.

Mailing lists and newsletters hardly started online. Marketers have been using both for years. The web just makes it easier to build a list and publish a newsletter.

I don't think anyone ever just asked for the sale. I think there have always been several steps along the way, one being connecting with potential clients and customers. I think what you're seeing has less to do with the specific tools and more to do with the people using them. Unfortunately many people look for quick results and because of that misinterpret why something works. People see someone successfully selling to Twitter followers and draw the conclusion that the gold is in getting more followers instead of understand it's in the strong connections made with a smaller group inside the whole.

The answer to the question you posed in the title of this thread is no. It's not social networking slowing down business. It's people using it incorrectly that's slowing down business. I also suspect that the question has been posed before with every new technological advance in communication.

[C. Horton]

I agree with vangogh. People aren't using the social networking sites correctly. The business part atleast.

[Harold Mansfield]

It just seems to me that more new business owners are more preoccupied with Social Networking as the main way to draw in customers at the expense of traditional methods. Not in combination with them.
And it seems to be getting a lot less personal. Like I said, too many people would rather their form be the contact person instead of putting their own name and number on the website, and putting more emphasis on being contacted through Facebook and Twitter, than their own website.
It just seems like it's too much.

[SCUBA9097]

I think it's really our own faults...

We hear from most marketing "experts" that you simply must have a newsletter or blog for your prospective clients or else you're missing a huge market segment. Now putting letters on the screen is easy to do, but true writing requires skills that not everyone possesses. Funny though, I never really hear this fact mentioned from these so called "experts".

This leads us to every Tom, Dick and Harry writing a craptastic newsletter every week, all done out of a fear because "everyone else is doing it". The next generation of business owners hears that same "you have to do it" mantra and copy the format of their favorite one-of-a-million (not to be confused with one-in-a-million) craptastic newsletter. The market is now completely saturated with garbage "writing".

Now the next factor comes into play. If a woman cooks dinner for a guy every night, it is initially appreciated... but after a while it becomes the expected norm (same applies for a guy buying flowers, etc.) The general public see that every other business out there is publishing a newsletter so it goes from an appreciated thing, to expected. This cycle perpetuates the myth that if you're not "social media marketing", you business is... (in a deep, scary voice) doomed.

I'll be the first to admit it... I have a Facebook Fan page, but I do almost nothing with it that could be considered marketing to bring in new clients. It sits there like the antique dressing table in Grandma's attic. Sure, I'll occasionally put something of interest on it, but all it's really doing is collecting dust.

[vangogh]

I agree Ted. What I see happening a lot is a blogger wants to write an article on how setting up a Facebook fanpage can be a good way to market your business. Ok, fair enough. You can market your business with a fanpage. The problem is the original blogger will sensationalize the title of their post so it reads Why you have to set up a Facebook fanpage if you want to stay in business or something like that.

Seeing one article like that might not be a big deal, but when the post does well and a few hundred others try to capitalize on the same topic with similarly sensationalized posts the ideas start spreading. Unfortunately it's only the sensationalized titles that spread so everyone thinks they need a fanpage.

Another thing I see is many people jump online still thinking it's the path to instant riches. When it turns out not to be, they start seeking quick and easy solutions to instant wealth. They become susceptible to the sensationalized content and actively seek it.

Then there's a third group just wanting to do business. This group is made up of honest hard working people who may not have all the technical skills of others or perhaps don't have the money to hire someone to market their business for them all the time. These people still hear the sensationalized ideas and feel like they have to be on this social site or that one. The hear they need a newsletter and mailing list. They don't however, have the skills to set these things up well on their own and either lack or are unwilling to spend the money to hire someone who does know how.

I think you have to look at all these different things (social, lists, newsletters, etc) as potential sources of customers. Pick one you think you can do well and start doing it. Once you have that one going, pick another and add it to your overall marketing. Add as many as you want, but make sure you've got the channels you're already using working or decide that one of them isn't going to work and move on from it.

[ChrisHeggem]

The biggest misconception by businesses is that they have to be social on all medias. That just isn't a scalable solution and does become a massive time suck. More often then not, only a few of the channels on the social Web even drive their business.

Outlining clear goals (lead gen, conversion, revenue, etc.) is a requirement for all the social channels. It isn't worth the time and effort to build and maintain a presence on channels that don't move the needle for your company.

[greenoak]

i dont think its slowing anything down in my world...im just part of lots of customers mornings !! hopefully....when they read my facebook post...but its still all about them coming to the store... reading about it is for in between visits...
i hear all about the customer care stuff in my world ...for sure....but i do keep in mind that its all about them and if they do come in and leave empty handed its not working no matter how many newsletters or media things i send..
we are still in business and i think it boils down to WHERES THE BEEF....when they get here and try us out WE DONT WANT TO DISSAPPOINT THEM WITH OUR REALITY...
.i do know our real fans , meaning loyal computer using customers, seem to enjoy our pictures and stories....they tell me that anyway....one emailed today and said shes been watching our website for years.and is going to be coming this summer....we must be on the same wavelength...
we are local so i do get to see my fans.... and im not trying for thousands of national fans...
if i weree spending hours and hours a week with no results i would think it was slowing me down...

[jamesray50]

There is a virtual forum I belong to and a member suggested that we "like" each others facebook pages. I thought it was a good idea. I thought other people would see my facebook page which would be good for business. Lots of other VA's started liking my page and in return I liked their page. I even got compliment on my page and some of my posts. I did this for a couple of weeks. This idea has really taken off, but I finally got to thinking it really wasn't benefiting me in any way. So what if a bunch of competitors liked my page. I am not going to get business from them. Yet I was taking time out of my day every day to visit every page to like, and sending them my link so that I could be liked in return. I have stopped doing it.

[greenoak]

i agree.....you could have some numbers but it wouldnt be real prospects....
that is a goal among the retail stores forums too...and why would i want my customers to see all their stores....and what could our store get out of being seen by far away stores.

[Blessed]

One thing I've seen in my local market is businesses trying to make it with only social media marketing - nothing traditional. The business owners have heard their competitors or other long-established business owners and managers talk about the slight boost that social media marketing has given their business and the new manager/owner thinks they can succeed with only social media marketing - and "it's so much cheaper!" than ads, postcards, brochures, a quality website or whatever other traditional marketing method you try to convince them to use. Then they wonder why only 50 people show up to their special sale that they advertised to everyone on their Facebook page - all 200 of them. This phenomenon does seem to "slow down" the pace of business - but it isn't the social networking that is the problem, it's the business owner who refuses to do anything else that is the problem.

[greenoak]

thats sad...he needs some customers to market to.....if he already has them then he can sign them up or try to...
..... they still need a useable website and an email list ...at least....
newspapers and snail mail and radio....they are falling back in importance around here ....

[dumsy22]

Networking has always been an important part of doing business. Businesses have always been looking to build relationships with people for a variety of reasons. One is that most people will sooner do business with someone they know than someone they don't know.Mailing lists and newsletters hardly started online. Marketers have been using both for years. The web just makes it easier to build a list and publish a newsletter.It's not social networking slowing down business. It's people using it incorrectly that's slowing down business. I also suspect that the question has been posed before with every new technological advance in communication.