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Many of us remember the days of passing notes in the
classroom, to getting letters in the mail. The first introductions to phone
calls transformed into hoarding the phone from our parents because there was
only 1 line with no call waiting. Communication with people has transformed
drastically in the last 20 years. Let's take a walk down that journey so we can
better understand how to communicate with people today due to the technology
changes.
Before telephones, people communicated in person, through
mailed letters and although it seems like times were simpler, communication
took much longer to make. You could invite people into your home for visits,
but anyone not living within your community would get what we call today
"snail mail" and respond in return.
It was a superb technology at the time that served well for many, many
years.
Over time, the telephone was developed in many
variations. From operator calls to family lines to later phones in most homes
for people to call and visit on a more real time basis.
From this technology came the need for further access,
introducing car phones and pagers. Not necessarily the most "real
time" solutions as in most cases you were required to either pay at a
phone booth for your call or access a friend who had a nifty brick phone in
their automobiles. Children still played
in the streets until dark, letters were still being mailed, notes passed around
classrooms, but communication was an optional, as these were less required
things that not everyone felt the need to have.
Eventually the evolution of the car phone became the
introduction of the personal handheld devices. People began to migrate more
away from pagers and leaned more toward systems with voice mail and other
features making communications a bit more accessible.
Then came the Internet and shortly after, email
communication. Businesses flocked to the
new technology which became a spring board for businesses to have online
presence, easily accessible website and people began to communicate more over
email than letters.
Texting erupted quickly which migrated communications a
little less from email (for personal users), eliminating a lot of need for
personal, handwritten letters between people and a lot more real time - "where
you are" - communication started happening.
Shortly after, texting on mobile devices became Email and
Internet compatible devices which allowed people to spend more time out of the
office (if your job allowed for it) and more dedication to notifications on
your phone.
The phone quickly evolved from a "dumb phone' system
with texting capabilities to a "smart phone" system with quick access
to email, quick access to internet and quick access to basically any type of
application that could either make your life more intertwining or more
enjoyable in the process.
During this time frame ... specifically, the last 10
years, while the Internet was developing, email was thriving and communication
was changing before our eyes, people discovered platforms and websites where
they could communicate with friends and business people without having to pick
up that phone or write a personal letter.
They could now communicate in social media.
Take a second ... 10 years, people have been using social
media. Cloud computing which has been
used in social media, has been around for YEARS! Look at Amazon, Facebook,
Google and any other website you go to, to make purchases. The internet has transformed our shopping,
our games, our communication. It is no wonder that in this world now, with
access to communicate, real time, at your finger tips, social media is so
prominent.
Take a look at this evolution over time. Your clients, have before them, the World
Wide Web at their finger tips. 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, 365/366 days out
of the year. With this much activity
online, you are truly missing the boat with visibility if you don't have a
website, if you don't have an online presence and you aren't communicatingactively.
Your clients are online at any time, any day, searching
for information in many, many platforms.
It is your choice on whether you will engage with them in this new age
of activity in social media, or if you are choosing a presence where your
clients aren't active.
We challenge you to take the step your clients already
have. Get active, get social, remain in the front of your clients mind. If you aren't, your competitors are.
~ Social Media is changing the way people do business. Don't get left behind ~ Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a social media manager, trainer and author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , Pinterest and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Links
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