This week, I was at a team meeting over in Madrid, Spain.
It was a lovely location, quite near the city… and walking distance to some really good restaurants, where I was able to take photos of the tasty food.
During the meeting, we had the usual on the tables… paper, pens… water… and some jelly beans.
Okay, it might be a bit out of the norm to have jelly beans, but we had several packets on the table.
Now, one of these packets was next to me, and I picked it up… had a look and placed it back down. No… I didn’t have any, on a little diet… New Year, New Me and all that.
Anyhow, what I did notice were the social media images on the back of the pack.
Now, usually – I probably wouldn’t have looked twice… but where the contact details usually are… there were social media icons. Is this the new norm? – if you want to contact them, find them on facebook, twitter, etc… and then reach out to them…?
Now, let’s be honest… we’re all on Facebook… or Twitter (or both!)… Instagram…. And I’m sure, we’ve all watched a video or two on YouTube. We know these channels very well. So it’s normal for us to be on them… for us to connect with brands (as well as friends, family, etc…)… and then be able to contact them.
And more importantly… it’s great! – you don’t have to email… you don’t have to write a letter… just when you’re posting that photo of you on the beach onto Facebook to share with your friends, why not connect with the brand and let them know your thoughts.
But moreso… what got me was…. Just icons where there. No words. That’s right… it didn’t say ‘Facebook’… it just have the logo…. It didn’t say ‘Instagram’… just the logo. Which means, these social media platforms, which have millions and millions of users… don’t need to be described or explained.
And I’ve noticed… we are using less and less words when communicating.
Take for example, Emoji’s.
One emoji = words. Could be several words. Could even be a whole sentence!
Are we moving back in time… to the era of hieroglyphics?
It’s fine. It doesn’t matter how you communicate. As long as you do communicate.
New Ways of Communication.
New Channels to your customers.
It’s about knowing your customer.
Not everyone should be using emoji’s or pictures. If you audience are elderly folk… you’ll probably need some printed, large text, leaflets and materials. But… what if your audience are young. What if your audience are on Snapchat all the time… what if your audience have more photo’s with Snapchat filters than… without!
Comes back to the basic principles of Lean. Start with the customer.
And it’s even easier these days… with the amount of data that’s available, for you to do an analysis on your customers… understand how they’re communicating and how they’d like to be communicated to.
So in summary….
- Have a Social Media Strategy – Everyone (nearly everyone) is on social media. Find out which is the right one for you… and understand how you can use the channels effectively.
- Execute your strategy – Content is King! – That’s right, build some engaging materials to share with your customers. Make them feel part of the familia.
- Increase your Digital Footprint – many of you are probably doing this already, but increase your on-line presence… be clear, what and where you’re sharing, informing and communicating. Because at the end of the day, you want to be Lean… in a Digital World.
Oh, and by the way… if you are on Insta and want to ‘hook up’ with me… in other words, connect… my username is @mrbalbansal… but I’ll warn you now…. It’s full of photo’s of cars, buildings… and food (which I had in Madrid!).
And…. finally, there’s many great people – who share some fantastic information and insights, but limit themselves to one platform. If expanded… think of the possibilities!