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Sure, the speed and always-on nature of the real-time Web makes it a daunting and challenging environment. A single tweet, YouTube video, or blog post can be the spark that sets off a firestorm of controversy.

But while companies are rightly trying to get their heads around the concept that every customer is now a secret shopper and a potential reporter, not enough attention is being paid to the positive ramifications of real-time business.

The ability of companies to win hearts and minds through contextually appropriate, just in time marketing is the hallmark of the Opportunity Economy, and it has never been healthier.

Opportunities Via Geography

Recently, I was in downtown Flagstaff (where I live) and used Foursquare to check-in at a local restaurant. Immediately, a message popped up on my iPhone saying “since you’re so close, why not visit Tinderbox Kitchen? Named One of Arizona’s Top 25 Restaurants by Arizona Highways Magazine, show this message for a discount on an appetizer.” Imagine owning a restaurant, and then sending a staff member to the adjacent restaurant, where he or she would stand in the bar area and offer coupons to patrons. That type of rifle shot, competitive marketing would be unthinkable in the “real world”, but it happens every minute of every day on Foursquare. That’s the Opportunity Economy at work.

Opportunities Via Inquiry

One of the agencies I work with is Flint Communication, based in Fargo. One of their clients is SunButter, a spreadable food product made entirely from sunflower seeds. Most of SunButter’s customers have a disproportionate hankering for the taste of sunflower seeds (baseball players, Australian ex-pats that can’t get Vegemite). But, another significant potential customer base for SunButter are people with peanut allergies (like my son). A quick check of Yahoo! Answers for “peanut allergies” finds thousands of questions on the topic, with many asking for alternatives. SunButter could credibly answer those questions, and introduce their product in a helpful way. That’s the Opportunity Economy at work.

Opportunities Via Context

Musician Dave Carroll has been widely lauded for his “United Breaks Guitars” YouTube video that has now been seen more than 8.5 million times, and takes United Airlines out behind the woodshed for a musical ass-kicking. And while Carroll’s demonstration of the power of a single, scorned customer will populate business text books for decades, there’s another, better angle to the story.

Just 4 days after the United Breaks Guitars video launched, Bob Taylor and the folks at Taylor Guitars in San Diego (the brand played by Dave Carroll and broken by United), launched a “video response” on YouTube. Titled “Taylor Guitars Responds to United Breaks Guitars” it features an unedited Bob Taylor in the factory unspooling an array of helpful tidbits about airline rules, TSA guidelines, and the protective qualities of guitar cases. Useful and appropriate. And then the video wraps up with a reminder from Bob that the Taylor Guitars factory service center can repair all makes and models of guitars, not just Taylor’s and that they’ve seen it all. Guitars that were thought to be ruined, were brought back to life by the nurturing hands of the Taylor team. 450,000 views on YouTube, and counting. For a two minute video about guitar repair. How’s that for the Opportunity Economy?

To capitalize on the Opportunity Economy, you first have to understand that you cannot plan for it, or proactively harness it. Instead, you must first establish a protocol by which your company is CONSTANTLY listening for opportunities. And then you must empower your team members to capitalize on those opportunities immediately by using their best judgement. Whether it’s a tweet asking for a recommendation for auto body repair in Houston, to a Foursquare coupon, to a video response, opportunities to build your company surround you like never before in the history of business.

Are your ears big enough to find them?

(photo by Alan Vernon)

View full post on Convince and Convert Blog: Social Media Strategy and Social Media Consulting

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I believe that Social Media represents in two words and five syllables, nothing short of a revolution within any business or any industry for that matter. And, for individuals, it represents the democratization of media and equalization of influence. It presents an equal opportunity platform to broadcast and publish at will, earning audiences and prominence that directly align with the level of individual participation and investment in engagement. The socialization of media affects and empowers more than personal brands however.

Essentially all brands are entitled to become media, earn audiences and build online communities, and that is powerful as well as emancipating.

The Socialization of Business

Within every organization, Social Media is championed from within, sparked by external influences that awaken a new sense of awareness and inspire a genuine ambition to bring about change.

At some point however, social media permeates the fabric of every business until it reaches the very essence that defines the spirit, persona, and intention of the brand. It’s natural of course, for new media’s promise and opportunity to escalate within the organization once its potential is unlocked and revealed.

As such, the inevitable question emerges, “who owns social media.”

What if we asked the question another way….Who owns email?

The answer is that email, even though it is among the most social of all channels we use today, is not owned by any one department. Email is simply a tool to communicate.

Once we let go of the rope in this veritable tug of war of who owns social media and realize that no one necessarily owns this diverse medium, we can then concentrate our efforts on shaping the perception of our brand and contribute to its sense of value and purpose within the influential communities that define our markets.

Social Media, at the very least, galvanizes the socialization of businesses, down to departmental and individual roles. Service, marketing, PR, HR, sales, finance, product, will maintain a social presence as dictated and demanded by their communities, thus evoking the movement from social CRM (sCRM) to SRM.

eMarketer recently shared a study published by Mzinga and Babson Executive Research that examined how each business area embraced social media…

As expected, marketing earned the top spot with 57% using social media as part of the overall program. Internal collaboration and learning followed with 39% and as the implications and unseen potential for new media unfolds, digital literacy becomes paramount for the future success of any business. Customer service ranked third with 29% and sales, human resources and strategy trailed at 25%, 21%, and 16% respectively.

Everything Begins with Listening and Research

While these numbers differ from business to business, one of the most interesting revelations for those brand managers and champions who proactively listen and study material activity online prior to engagement is that conversations tend to map perfectly to the infrastructure of any organization. Basically, the location, volume, topic, influential voices as well as the reach of conversations are not only discoverable, they align with the corresponding divisions of most organizations…

Marketing
Service
Sales
Product Development/Engineering
HR
et al.

As eMarketer observed…

More and more opportunities will present themselves for companies to use social channels to increase their business. The landscape will change rapidly, so tactics that might have seemed irrelevant in 2009 might be on the table in 2010 or 2011.

The point is this, social media is owned by its participants and steered by the voices who invest its direction. In order to compete for attention, mind share, and ultimately the future, businesses must now engage in the very online societies in which our audiences seek, share, and discover guidance and information.We must step outside of our domain and come to terms with the reality that relevance and trust, moving forward, is now earned and not simply achieved.

Social Media is shared and it’s a privilege.

When we pay attention to relevant conversations and in turn, organize them by the roles within our organization that are specifically impacted or affected, we remove the guesswork for how to build a social strategy and ascertain exactly how we can activate the social Web.

With the permeation of Social Media, the company matures, adapting and improving the culture, behavior, and overall mission of the business. Without evolution, the stature of what our brand was, slowly erodes as other socially-savvy competitors create awareness and connections.

Social Media forces us to find comfort outside of our comfort zones by listening, learning, and collaborating with peers, prospects and influencers engage today. As such, with social media comes great opportunity for those ready to embrace change from the inside out.

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