Social media continues to expand and dominate the virtual conversation. What can we learn from the popularity of the platform?
Lessons from Social Media:
1. Be Brief. Get your communication down to the fewest possible characters. The technology – and consumers – demand it. Whatever you think you need pages and pages to explain might be better said in just a few lines.
2. Be Attentive. There’s far more for you to listen to on social media than there is for you to say. Be aware of what others are saying, pay attention to the conversations that are going on around you. Just because you didn’t start them doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.
3. Be Flexible. No format is forever. I never wanted Rakuten merchants to be tied to one platform—they must use many and assume they will use even more in the future. This is the best mind-set for success. We did a study of our merchants in 2012 and found they were successfully using Facebook, Mixi, Google+, and Twitter. We created a screen by which our merchants could access these many tools easily and efficiently. The result is that Rakuten merchants not only use one kind of social media, they participate in the full landscape of social media options and will be able to do so even as newcomers enter the space. In technology, there is always a new invention right around the corner. To be successful, you must embrace what is available now and be ready for whatever is coming—because something is surely coming.
Much of what is new and relevant in the business world will happen first in the virtual world. Social media is our window and our guide to this virtual information.
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