being social in the new world of social media

talking to prospects when prospects can talk back.

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

there are four things to know about what we now call the social media.

first, it’s media – a means of communication, a medium, not of itself a magic carpet. which means that its value lies in its ability to convey ideas and facts to a vast world of viewers. which means, as well, that we’re back to the old computer nostrum of “garbage in-garbage out.” or to paraphrase another (if contrarian) view, it’s not the medium, it’s the message.

second, it substantially changes the world of marketing. in the old marketing, we talked to people who couldn’t really talk back (other than by buying or not buying what we were selling). very primitive and cumbersome. with social media, marketing becomes a conversation. we no longer talk at people, but with them, which creates a dynamic that never existed before. and what was once a mass market becomes an individual market, but one with individual feedback. for accountants, who, by the definitions of professional services marketing, must participate in any marketing activities, this is a new and invaluable tool. it must be learned by the professionals who would compete with one another for practice development.

third, it puts marketing directly in the hands of the accountant. i remember, back in the early days of the personal computer, when no accountant would consider touching a typewriter keyboard (that’s what secretaries were for). i remember, back then (1982), seeing a partner or two with the old kaypro computer (an early version of a laptop computer), hidden under the desk. today, no desk in any firm is without a desktop computer. many of these desktops are now used by accountants for facebook, linkedin, or managing blogs, as marketing tools. it is very much marketing 3.0.

and fourth, today’s social media define the meaning of change, which is the result of an evolutionary process. they went from non-existence to dominant communications devices in a relatively few years. the beauty of this is that the evolution darwin spoke of was a process of incremental change over thousands of years. moreover, unlike traditional evolution, which is driven in large measure by environmental response, social media are an evolution of an idea – an evolution of the mind. with the social media, it’s a process that resulted in substantial change, in our lifetime. darwin would love it.

bruce w. marcus is a pioneer in professional services marketing and coauthor of “client at the core.” this is adapted from his new book, “professional services marketing 3.0,” available for purchase here.

copyright. used by permission.

posted on june 12, 2013