WSI Digital Marketing Consultant – We Simplify the Internet

You may have heard of the Lost Generation, the Silent Generation and of course we’ve all heard of the Baby Boomers, right? We also have Generation X, Generation Y and, now most recently, Generation Z. And since we have apparently jumped right to the end of the alphabet, I guess we’re going to have to get a bit more creative when it comes time to name the next generation, don’t you think?

But, kidding aside… What I really want to tell you about is the Communication Generation.

What’s that?

Communication Generation is a phrase that I am going to use to wrap the members of all the previous generations together into one big group.

Why would I want to do that? Consider the following…

Thanks to the Internet, we now have more different ways to communicate with each other than ever before.

In addition to cell phones and texting, we have…

Emails
Instant messaging
Online chat applications
Blogging and commenting on blogs
Online forums & discussion groups

…and a virtual ocean of Social Media sites, all catering to different types of audiences and activities, and they’re all overflowing with people clamoring for more – more interaction, more information.

It’s communication at a truly staggering and historically unprecedented scale. Think about it. Every one of us today now has the ability to freely communicate with more people than has ever been possible, ever before, in the history of time. It’s incredible! And it is changing the ways that businesses need to communicate.

Now, enter the Communication Generation.

Did you know that the average household today has more than 4 internet connected devices? In one way or another, and to varying degrees, we are all utilizing some form or forms of online, digital communication on a regular basis. As a result, we have therefore all become members of…

The Communication Generation

But, what does the Communication Generation have to do with the success, or failure of your business?

Well, as vast and wide open as the online world is today, it has actually become easier than ever to target the specific social and demographic groups that fit the profile of your perfect, ideal customer or client.

As a business, you simply need to realize that your ideal customers or clients are a part of the Communication Generation. If you want to communicate with them effectively, you just need to understand their behavior. For example, what types of websites do they enjoy most? Where do they go to learn about the types of products or services that you offer? What kinds of things are they attracted to (like news and entertainment) and where do they go to find and interact with them?

Once you understand the behavior and preferences of your target audience, you can focus your communication much more efficiently and effectively. Remember, when it comes to the Internet, effective communication is just as much, if not more, about where you say it as what you say. And, with so many different places to spread your word on the Internet, this has never been more true than it is today.

At WSI, we specialize in developing and implementing targeted online communication strategies. Please contact us today for a free business analysis and a no obligation strategy planning session. We’ll help you tap into the Communication Generation.

Thanks for you time! Please feel free to post your comments and questions below. We look forward to talking with you soon.

It’s getting easier and easier to throw stones at big companies these days (not to mention our government). We’re still sore from the recent financial collapse and now Google and Facebook have to start making moves that threaten what some would call our innate rights to personal privacy.

Excuse me if I’m sounding cynical or militant, but I woke up to a couple pieces of news that set me off this morning.

First was the announcement by Market Samurai that they had lost the functionality of some key features of their service because of recent changes made by Google. Market Samurai provides keyword and search based data for internet marketing purposes, and they are not alone. Many other companies also do the same thing, and have also been impacted by the recent changes. In fact, the business of gathering, sorting, filtering and providing search data culled from the likes of Google, Yahoo!, Bing, et al, represents a rather large industry. And I can’t help think that while Google is fully aware of this, they are also a bit upset that someone else has figured out a way to monetize their services in a way that they don’t make a dime from.

Again, sorry for sounding cynical, but now get this…

The second thing that hit me this morning was the following article on the Washington Post Blog…
Google’s no-opt-out privacy changes and the end of the anonymous Internet

If you don’t feel like clicking off to read another article before you finish reading this one, here’s a short quote…

Google announced Tuesday its plans to integrate data from all its services with your profile for logged-in Google+ users. As usual, they sounded chipper about it: “We can provide reminders that you’re going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day.”

In other words, they are going to start tracking, predicting and attempting to influence as many of your daily activities as they possibly can – whether you like it or not. Call me a prude, but I find that to be just a little bit invasive, not to mention presumptuous.

And let’s not forget about Facebook’s recent IPA announcement. Now that they’ve captured more than 800 million active users (securing their place as the third largest nation in the world, between India and the United States) along with all the demographic information those users have freely shared about themselves, Facebook has now decided to get serious about making money. They’ve sucked us in with their cute and free offerings of group sharing, picture galleries, status updates and now they are after our cash!

Okay, okay, I hear you thinking, “This guy’s nuts!” But the point to be made here is about our personal privacy. I don’t think anyone who has created a profile, joined a group or posted a video ever consciously thought to themselves, “I would really like this huge company to know a lot more about me.” But we’ve got these two massive companies who now have the power to not only track, but also predict our behavior with fairly reasonable accuracy. And, the fact is that we freely gave them that power.

Now, I’m not saying any of this is good or bad. But is it what we really wanted or intended?

Since the dawn of time, throughout the growth of mankind, we have experienced an evolutionary seesaw characterized by periods of rich social growth alternating with periods of great technological development. It’s gone something like this…

Perhaps the earliest technological developments were the the discovery of fire, followed by the invention of the lever, the wheel and other early tools.

Then came a shift towards greater social development embodied by prehistoric art forms, cave paintings and sculptures, as well as pyramids, and temples designed to facilitate specific rituals and celebrations.

The seesaw then shifted back toward more technological growth with the development of metallurgy during the Bronze and the Iron ages.

As we continued to step forward in time, the Renaissance, a time known for great artistic expression and philosophical enlightenment, marked a shift back to social development.

Then another shift back towards technological advancement occurred during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the invention and use of machines changed peoples lives, changed our world.

Next, anyone remember the 1960′s? The heart of the 20th century saw technology once again take a back seat to widespread social growth and enlightenment, in many ways, similar to the Renaissance.

And now, as we move into the 21st century, the pendulum once again swings the other way as we witness technological advances outpacing social progress.

But wait a minute… Have we now broken this age old cycle? Has the development of Social Technology caused the growth of our Society to become merged with the advancement of Technology? Has the pendulum stopped swinging? Have we evolved into a society where the ways in which we communicate, interact and express ourselves have become inextricably intertwined with technology?

Furthermore, will we ever progress beyond the ilk of Facebook to something more fulfilling, more meaningful? And if so, what could that possibly be, and when will it happen?

While we may not have direct answers to any of the above questions, we can all agree that technology will always play a role in shaping our future. But without a social purpose, technology becomes… well, just flat technical, and nothing more.

Hopefully, we are evolving towards a place where we don’t just have faster smartphones with better touch screens, but where our lives are actually impacted in a positive way. Where we are more enriched, enlightened and fulfilled.

In his work life, these are the kinds of issues that appeared to concern Steve Jobs on a regular basis. He was clearly able to see beyond mere technology to something bigger. Not just cool new electronic devices, but something that ultimately, actually improved our lives. Steve was a true visionary and he will be greatly missed. Let’s all continue where he left of and keep striving for something greater. What do you say?

I’m not going to bore you with yet another definition of Social Media. You can find millions of different answers to this question all over the internet. For example, just try Wikipedia. And then while you’re at it, you could also find more answers at YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Squidoo, Vimeo, Bebo, Technorati. And of course, there are many, many more out there.

So why am I bothering to address this already well worn subject? Well, because yesterday I had an epiphany. I realized that most of the definitions of Social Media that you find are really quite narrow in focus and are missing the big picture; I realized that the ‘new’ answer to the tired old question, “What is Social Media?”, is…

“The Internet.”

That’s right. That’s it. The Internet is Social Media and Social Media is The Internet! Epiphany!

Think about it. In 2008, Google announced that they had indexed more than 1 trillion unique URLs. That’s an awful lot of web pages. And certainly, that number has grown since then, right? So, what’s going on? Why do so many people, business and organizations want to have a presence on the internet? Are people creating trillions of pages of content on the internet just so it can all be ignored? Silly question, right?

I think we can all agree that the whole point of putting anything on the internet is so that other people can see it, read it, watch or hear it and then… interact with it, do something, say something, download, give, take, buy, copy, share, talk about, write about, respond to, make a phone call, take some kind of action in response to what someone has created and put there on the internet for us.

In fact, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that everyone who puts something on the internet does so because they want to get some kind of response from other people. Because if not, it’s like going to a party and passively deciding not to talk to or interact with anyone. And what’s the point of that?

People interacting with and responding to each other is social activity. Taking any type of action in response to anything found on the internet is the same thing. At the most basic level, it’s one person responding to something that another person has done. It just happens to take place on the internet. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, either. If it’s on the internet, it’s Social Media.

I hope this has given you some food for thought. If you are only just thinking about doing something on the internet, or if you have already made your mark, think about the kinds of responses that you would like from other people. Then come up with your own ways to encourage and facilitate those types of responses.

As always, please feel free to post a comment, below. Or contact us directly with any questions or for any help developing your own interactive online presence.

Google is reaching out from beyond the stoic boundries of it’s search engine to test the playful waters of online social interaction. Have you seen it yet? It’s the Google +1 Button. Similar to the way we are able to “like” or “digg” our favorite people, places and things through the multitudes of other online social sites, you can now “+1″ your favorite things on behalf of Google. The new +1 Button is only showing up in selected areas, so far. But soon it wll apparently begin showing up for everyone with a free public Google profile.

So let’s get started with the questions that are bound to start popping up with regard to this new feature.

• If I have a public Google profile and I like to +1 lots of different things, should I be concerned about my privacy?
• If I want my website to show up in Google’s search results, should I launch a massive social media campaign to get as many people as possible to +1 my website?
• If my website currently shows up on the first page of Google, will it get knocked down when people start +1′ing other websites?

So, there’s a start. What questions do you have about Google +1? Feel free to post a reply, below, with your questions and we’ll get them all sorted out right here.

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