How Your Business Can Avoid Looking Like Post-Election Iran
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009I have been seeing a lot of posts and articles about the role of technology, social media, and Twitter in particular, in the Iran election demonstrations. One of the most interesting perspectives I’ve seen contends that the old Iranian social and political system simply doesn’t know how to deal with the social media.
They have no category for it.
They don’t know how to control it.
They don’t understand how it works or why it flourishes.
And this isn’t just a technology thing either. The Iranian government has only now begun to see the mobilization, expression, collaboration, and informational sharing aspects of social media. The technology allows that to happen, but the emerging online culture is the soil where these technologies take root.
This isn’t so different from some companies in the United States today. I’ve heard several CEOs in the last few weeks talk about how they limit employee access to sites like YouTube and Facebook. They think by blocking the technology they are protecting what would otherwise be wasted productivity. They don’t have employees demonstrating in the break room or riots around the water cooler, but revolution is happening all around them…without them. They have an old business and marketing mindset that doesn’t know how to deal with social media.
They have no category for it.
They don’t know how to control it.
They don’t understand how it works or why it flourishes.
Why Social Media Works
- Social media works because it connects like-minded people more easily than ever.
- Social media works because everyone who wants to have a voice gets to use it.
- Social media works because it doesn’t force people to pay attention to the things that don’t interest them.
Why Social Media Works In Business
All of this can apply to your business. You can connect with like-minded people (meaning the people who are interested in what you do, sell, stand for, promote, etc.) more easily than ever.
Your employees can have a voice to connect with these people if you’ll trust them (and guide them) to do so.
Your current and future customers will appreciate that you didn’t interrupt their lives with marketing tactics that don’t work, and instead you sought to earn their attention with interesting content and conversations.
That’s how social media works and how it can work for your company. Don’t keep on marketing your business the way the old regime did. If it’s still working for you, great, keep it up. If not, it’s probably time for a revolution.
