pardon the interruption...

The rise of social network sites like facebook, myspace, and twitter have created a new medium of messaging (notice I didn’t say advertising) in order to develop, build and maintain relationships between business and customer.

The important thing to remember is how (and why) the medium started. In the case of facebook, it was started as a way for college students to write (on a virtual wall) and connect with friends online. It started at Harvard, spread to the rest of the Ivy League schools and then to the rest of the college crowd It then spread virally through the web to anyone who was interested in connecting with friends and family. The key to keep in mind is that it is a social site, designed to help people connect with other people.

The same thing with Twitter. It was based on a simple question: “what are you doing?”

Now businesses from the fortune 500 to the local deli are looking to see how they can invade these sites to do more business. The irony is that the success of many of these sites is the result of consumers being tired of being bugged by the over 5000 ad impressions they are bombarded with each day.

This type of ‘interruptive’ advertising is being challenged in a way that is really game changing. When you thing about it, most of the traditional types of advertising models are being marginalized by technology.

Tired of TV ads interrupting your show? TIVO it. Or better yet, watch it when you want to watch it on Hulu or Fancast.

How about radio? Tired of ads, then subscribe to XM or Sirius radio (or just create your own radio station on your ipod with music you want to hear, and by subscribing to podcasts featuring the commentary you are interested in).

Newsprint? That’s dying on its own, so we’ll just leave that one alone.

Yellow Pages? Online, why should I have to pay for it?

Telemarketers? Opt for the ‘do not call’ list.

Unwanted e-mail and spam? Better spam filters and black lists.

Junk mail? Well there is less of it because of the expense, and the fact that junk mail has just migrated to the web (spammers).

The point here is that consumers have the power to filter out all (or as much as they can) all the junk so they can spend time on things they are interested in. Sort of a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” approach.

So when you are looking to jump on Facebook so you can tell your ‘fans’ what’s on sale, you might just find yourself with less fans.

It is important to understand the power of the opportunity in front of you. Social media sites offer you the chance to really connect with your customers, and in turn, with their friends and family. You should realize that the real thing to concentrate on is how you can interact with your customers in ways that are meaningful to them.

Having a fundraiser? Well I bet that many of your customers are not that aware of all the philanthropic things you do. (That’s because you never wanted to ‘beat your own drum’.) Believe me people are interested in that. You can share your good deeds and let people know that you can (and will) help them and their cause. That is good news that can spread.

How long have you been in the community? That is something to promote. Buy local and shop local campaigns are important to people.

Have an expertise? Well then this is a good way to let people engage you and ask for your help or opinion. Remember if you encourage your customers to use facebook in order to ask questions, then your response can go out to the entire network of connected friends and family.

Use the technology so that customers can twitter you pictures of plants they like, or need identification on. How about ‘what pest is this?’

Why not consider facebook as part of your ‘loyalty program’. You can use it to survey your facebook friends to learn how you can better serve them. What do we do well? What can we do better? What products would you like us to carry? How is our customer service? Would you like to join a focus group on new plants?

You see it is that type of interactivity that is meaningful to your customers. What value do you offer? Why should I bother to follow you on facebook or twitter? At the end of the day it all comes back to relationships and content. Do you have anything meaningful to add to the conversation? If not, you might want to re-think your facebook strategy.

My advice is to use Twitter to feed quick ideas and to make it an available channel for customers to ask quick questions. (Get a smart phone). Your facebook should tease your blog posts where your gardening advice can be delivered by video, text posts and pictures. You should use it to offer access to information, ask for suggestions, and encourage feedback. Finally, your e-mail marketing is a good way to communicate all the benefits of being connected to you and your business. That is the place to offer incentive to buy offers, as well as information.

Google and Bing has just announced partnerships with Twitter and Facebook. Google is testing a google social search function. This will allow you to confer with your friends when making decisions as simple as ‘what did you think of the movie?’ to ‘what kind of flat panel tv is best?'

Microsoft (bing.com) and Google are searching and indexing Twitter feeds in real time. Word spreads fast. It is an amazing time to be in business - scary and exciting. I believe these changes really benefit small businesses that have nurtured a relationship with their customers over the years. If that doesn’t describe you then you better get started.

Consumers are connecting with each other and sharing their experiences in order to make better buying decisions. I would advise you to not only join in the discussion, but to facilitate the conversation. Remember, no one likes a ‘butt-insky’, so keep your lurking to a minimum.

If you would like to have Sunrise Marketing help you develop a strategy for success then call, click, write on our wall, or tweet. We are in a rare position to help you leverage our knowledge and industry expertise to your benefit. We have the content, images, and industry experience to help you and your business navigate this new frontier of social marketing.