Secret Keeping

April 28, 2011 | Article Posted By - James Miles-Lambert, Nottingham

In the recent hit Hollywood movie ‘the social network’ which brilliantly captures the innovation and growth of Facebook on camera, the character that plays Mark Zuckerburg makes many brilliant statements which I believe are often overlooked. Whilst many will talk about the movie to celebrate its theatrical, screenwriting, and acting brilliance, this blog will concentrate on the most subtle of the comments Mark’s character made, yet arguably the most pertinent to any business.

 

Upon the completion of their first website, www.facemash.com, Mark’s business partner Eduardo asked him “who are you going to send it to?” Indeed it is this question which is likely the first question in any Marketing strategy, online or offline, who are we going to show this to? Who is our market? Yet the brilliance of Mark’s response was not a complicated marketing growth matrix as developed by a high-tech computer programme or marketing executive, but its inherent simplicity. Mark responded, “I will send it to a few people, but the real question is, who are they going to send it to?” That, our loyal readers, is social media defined because nobody can keep a good story a secret.  

It seems to me that there are few businesses in the entire world that would reject new customers. Everyone wants new customers, but paying for their acquisition is often a daunting task which when accompanied with the usual weighing up of options true to any business, remains neglected. It is because businesses can often not afford to find new customers that they cannot grow, and it is because they cannot grow that they cannot afford to find new customers. The cycle is perpetual and it is the bane of most businesses without the answer. Many businessmen will say they were too busy making a living to make any real money, we believe we understand why.

Whilst we all want to grow our businesses, many things have to be taken into consideration. Paying an extra sales man even 1,000,000 won a month, is food not going to your pocket, to your family’s wellbeing. Guaranteeing a return on your investment is impossible. There is no risk-free business, and there is no business that can grow without increasing risks. Using old media, in a new media world is a zero-sum game. But we believe it is not taking risks that’s key but managing them. Manage your risks.

We believe there an extremely high probability that if you tell someone something, and them telling someone else. Harnessing that idea, we can manage that “risk” and spread messages that return positive outcomes only. If you have a product or service, the chances are that if you tell someone and they will tell people. Through traditional word of mouth channels, old media, you might get a 3x multiplier, tell one person and have 3 find out. Through new media, your multiplier is becoming increasingly large as more people become connected to the internet and social media. Delivered strategically you can create limitless multipliers. Remember that today Facebook has 500 million members, but it started with just one. I cannot guarantee that your business will grow to Facebook size, but I can guarantee that it wont if you don’t adopt social media. Many businesses will be left behind as the new wave of communications and new media comes, you don’t have to be one of them.


 

Tags : Business | Social networking

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