In a recent forum I attended on the effective business use of social media, each attendee was asked what their challenges were in their business. Being the ONLY golf business in the room I was picked on a little, but in a very productive and positive way. What I learned from the experience confirmed (again) a few of the major things golfers who use the social networking in business seem to forget (or ignore) about how social media works.
As is normal for any gathering of social media types, there were very few golfers in the room. However, the leader of the exercise took my challenge of find golfers online to task and asked everyone there to search, using their laptops, iPads or other tech device they had, their social networks for golfers. The remarks, statements and questions generated from the group brought a smile to my face as well as validating a number of issues I have been addressing for many years.
The following was a summation of the questions the group directed to me for an answer about the golfer’s they found…
- Who are all these people who post golf gloves, golf balls, logos, brands, cartoon characters and other absurd photos images as their avatar?
- Do they know how foolish they are making themselves look?
- Do these golfers, who seem to be consumers..if they are real people.., really expect me to follow them or have anything to do with them with the logo they post?
- Out of all of the thousands of people on Facebook, this is all the golfers?…I see your challenge.
The remarks and questions concerning the lack of seriousness towards the people they found who are assumed golfers went on for at least an hour. Naturally, the observation was made of the non-golf arena not showing a personal photo of ones self which lead the conversation for the forum back to a more neutral discussion on how social media and product branding has changed over the past year to mandate some sort of trust building.
In the business arena, the person speaking for the business, brand or logo will need to post a real photo of themselves since the wary consumers are now requiring it before taking the business/product/service serious.
In the consumer or customer arena, the same requirement of a photo being posted in their social networking groups helps businesses determine who to target their product/service offerings. No photo, no deals.
The bottomline was, shotgun marketing to millions of unknown people in social networking groups is finally proven to not have as much of an ROI as target marketing to a selected group is now developing. Businesses and business people, as well as consumers, who do not post a photo (anywhere in their online media) will be passed over by nearly 90% of today’s consumers..and over 75% of the businesses marketing to the group.
I guess this goes to show that putting a face social media efforts is starting to become standard procedure..finally.
If social network people are just looking for faces and not logo or any other picture to find a product seems pretty lame to me. If I want to find a product to buy I am going to look for that products logo and I am going to talk and interact with the sales rep or person in charge to buy that product. Weather there is a photo or logo that is not going to sell me the product.
They were told to search the networks for golfers. Would a logo of a golf ball be a good chance that is a golfer or is a photo of a white male or maybe black male because he looked Tiger Woods more of a golfer you would want to find.
Did all these people get into detail like, did the person in photo look good, old, ugly, male, female. How shallow is that kind of thinking to expand in social networking. Did anyone think that pictures might be of models to give a good impression.
Bushiness and individuals spend a lot on branding, logos are a big part of it. I do not see businesses with self photos as logos trying to sell a product or brand.
If you are limiting your social networking to just people with photos you are missing out.
I would suggest getting past the superficial and try to engage into some real conversation with people and draw a conclusion from that and not just a photo that may or may not be fake.I find it hard to judge a person by a photo.
Guess you missed the point..consumers are starting to not go to Facebook pages or Twitter accounts with logos, or brands since most of them are not trusted..what they would rather find is an employee or the owner of the store or company to find out who is running the show before wasting time with someone that can’t be trusted. This direction in new consumers wanting validation of who is marketing the product is changing quickly.
I got the point, but it is completely wrong. 180 degrees from what golfers want. With all due respect and appreciation for your goals and energy, golf can’t be compared to any other business/hobby/networking opportunity. Exactly what “products” are you speaking about? Equipment, lessons, memberships, blogs, sponsorships, etc. Golfers could care less where they come from as long as it is from a professional and fair person at a price that suits their needs. Thus the lack of golf sites (apart from equipment and Tour news) and successful networking arenas.
Your scale is small-town, not internet or broadcast. I do prefer small-town though personally….