Internet Gods
Buzzing.
That’s how I felt after 2 hours hearing from the gurus of Facebook and Google. They have changed our world and they will continue to do so. Search and social media. Without them brands and their web-presence are increasingly irrelevant.
Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
The power of this mission is extraordinary. The passion of those that work there is contagious. There are 400 million active users. Returning regularly. Sharing their favourite things with those they know. Did you know that your propensity to click on an article or join a group if you know that one of your friends has, is multiplied around 80 times? The joy of “Your friend likes this”. And it’s free! Community networks and social media are more enormous and more powerful than any media that has gone before. Social media can turn a marketing monologue into a consumer dialogue. It can give a brand talkability, shareability. Ignore it and miss out.
Google = Search.
A concept that the global population is very used to. But, the future of search is making the past look antiquated. It’s mobile and almost human in nature reflecting voice, eyes, skin and location by using speaker, camera, touch-screen and GPS to replace the Google search bar.
“Not being top of search in Google is like the modern day equivalent of being out of stock.” This comment came from one of the most senior marketers at one of the top pharmaceutical companies. And it really stuck in my mind. How often has search been the last thing on the list?
So what can we learn from all this? A lot. Search and Social Media – If no one can find your brand and no one likes your brand, your brand has a problem. But on the plus side, the opportunities these create are endless. Thank you Google and Facebook for changing the world and making it a better and more connected place.
Aren’t they inspiring?! I find Google particularly interesting from a business model perspective too – to have built a business where the value (search) is so distinct from the revenue (advertising) is fascinating, and may initially have been quite a leap of faith.
We no longer live in a world where business is a straightforward journey of creating a product and offering it to a market. It’s true that if you are unfindable you might as well not exist. We hear of the opportunities now afforded by the internet, but I feel it has got more serious than that – these days it’s as much about the bare necessity of keeping up with the changed world of access and availability as it is about making the most of it.
July 5th, 2010 | 9:56pm
by Emma