Phil Lauterjung

With every twist and turn in technology there are those who think that every new thing is a passing fad.  Quite honestly, sometimes they are right.  But, then there are broader movements within the overall scheme; and, those are the ones that we ignore at our own peril.

With the recent release of Forrester Research‘s third annual Social Technographics Profile called “The Broad Reach of Social Technologies”, we can now safely say that this Social Media thingy just might be here to stay.  There will be various tools and companies that don’t end up commanding a large presence, and some will fail; but, the concept of doing business using some form of Social Media will be necessary to survive.

For those that aren’t familiar with the “Social Technographics Tool” that Forrester has developed, here’s a brief description.  They divide internet users into six categories based on their participation online.

• Creators – those that publish online (blogs, website, articles, etc.) and upload video and music.
• Critics – those that post ratings/reviews, comment on blogs, contribute to forums, etc.
• Collectors – they use RSS feeds, vote for web sites, and add “tags” to web pages or photos.
• Joiners – they maintain profiles on social networking sites and visit those sites.
• Spectators – basically they read, watch, and listen.
• Inactives – None of the above.

Here’s the Forrester graph that shows the difference in these categories over the past 3 years:

Two categories are worth noting for business implications – joiners and spectators.  The significant increase in joiners is rather stunning.  Those are our customers and prospects, folks.  If we want to reach them using the internet, and well we should, then we need to be delivering our message wherever they are online.

We also dare not ignore the spectators, which is virtually everyone.  Even if they aren’t joining they are reading, watching, and listening – actually they can’t help doing that, why else would they be online.  And, that’s that point.

If you haven’t devised a strategy to get your marketing message to your customers and prospects online, beware.  One or more of your competitors is likely planning to do so, or already doing it.  Do you see this as a threat or an opportunity?  I’d be interested in hearing what you are doing to reach people online.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.