Social awareness

This mind-blowing video was uploaded to YouTube to publicise Erik Qualman’s book Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business.

Despite the premise of both the book and the video, I couldn’t help but notice the irony that you can buy the hardcopy from Amazon for less than you can download it to a Kindle.

Nevertheless, it is a powerful watch – four minutes and 19 seconds of relentless pummelling of how social media is changing the way we live in the real world, including the fact that online students outperform those receiving one-to-one tuition and that one-in-five divorces are blamed on Facebook.

Of particular interest to business communicators is the way customers use social media. Even if your company doesn’t use it, you can bet that your customers do, and they could well be talking about you.

Is this concerning? Or inspiring? It depends on how you react. The video’s startling assertion that if you don’t use social media, your business will not exist in five years is potent stuff, but the democratising nature of social media means that it is something that any of us (including our customers) can use.

Qualman says that 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations but only 14% trust advertisements. That’s good news for those who can’t afford expensive advertising budgets – the technology is there for us to build our own communities and, as long as your quality and service are up to scratch, you can let your customers do your promotion for you.

As always, the issue boils down to content. Is your story good enough to get people talking about you?