People today don't have to go to your website, in fact it's probably one of the last places to go to, they also don't have to be interrupted with your intrusive adverts, they can block out your digital intrusions across multiple devices, they have greater control over how/if you can use personal data,.....as a result inertia is very much with them, not you!.

If you're the biggest and best in your sector today you won't be for long, the internet has allowed millions of people around the world to take what today might be a small micro bite out of your very large macro cake, and if enough of them do this consistently and better than you then it's inevitable they will quickly dilute what you think is a dominant position, the reality is the digital Pandora box is open, and it isn't closing anytime soon.

In the past, consumers had no choice but to pay attention to what brands had to say across a handful of radio or television channels, print media, corporate website, trade show, and eCommerce site. Today, every single Instagram page or Twitter account is a media outlet in its own right. Social media has democratized share of voice; people are no longer passive consumers, but creators in their own right. 

Image credit: Fusion Hill

Not too many years ago the biggest threat in any sector was to come from your nearest and perceived biggest competitor, this was a time when businesses were locked in a 'macro' mindset. They were sure that smaller businesses, or start-ups would take a long time to have any real impact on what they did, where in the world they did it, and of course they had nowhere near the financial and resource access that big business had.

Fast forward to today and not only is the macro player under pressure with a competitors website, there's a new aggregated 'micro' threat that is using stealth and free to use social media platforms to come along and screw up your safe haven.

At no time in history has it been easier and cheaper to set up a business.

If I understand the social digital medium better than you I already know I don't need a database, I don't need to spend huge amounts of my budget and resource on advertising, If needed I can do 'drop ship', and I can gain access to your incumbent and future customers.

Take a moment to consider the following stats;

  • Less than 2% of Employees regularly share or create employer related brand content.
  • Over 33% of Employees are unclear on what to post and how it could benefit their employer.
  • There is a 561% increase in audience for your brand message when shared by employees vs sharing via the corporate channel.
  • 90% of your employee network is new to your brand meaning you are opening up previously untapped audiences.

FACT - I can create conversations on social media with your customers - TODAY, I can build relationships better than you that will make them think differently about why they should do business with me over you, and I will 'listen' to them because you don't.

Very few companies purposely set out to 'disrupt' themselves, in my experience they are always in a constant state of what I would call 'protectionists ignorance' which in simple terms means let's keep doing what we've always done, so its no surprise that most disruptive innovation comes from external sources.

The modern consumer is extremely demanding and also very impatient with a brand, the 'I want it now' generation' is what is driving these changes via the global adoption and take up of social media platforms, which at July 2019 stood at circa 3.5 billion people.

What if the next biggest threat to your brand/company didn't come from an existing recognised industry competitor, what if that next threat came from the many thousands of 'micro' influencers operating across social media?

So when you've realised that the 'advertise and promote' thinking that's draining your budget and resource no longer work what are you going to do when your nearest, or as yet unknown competitor has nibbled a sizable chunk of you business across numerous social media platforms?