Dinosaurs in the Digital Age

Author - Ian Whitburn

For those of us who grew up in a less than digital age, where TVs were still mostly black and white, telephones had round dials and were certainly not mobile, discos and LPs were trendy and petrol was available in 2, 3 or 4 star, the digital age has been quite an eye opener.

In those dark and distant days if you wanted to advertise your products or services you had to place an advert in the local newspaper. In those days everyone read newspapers so you had a good chance of getting in front of an audience. Another great way of getting the word around about your business was to do a good job and get recommended, that will always be the case. In fact that is where social media can now step in and you can use your online social network and your customers network to promote your business and to get recommended to new potential customers. Without spending money you can gain followers for your business and generate interest in and enquiries for your business via Facebook, Twitter etc.  With millions of users nationally and internationally it is now possible to reach people globally through clever use of these mediums. You can also target potential customers by location, gender and age as well as targeting special interest groups that contain your prospective customers.

As an addition to more traditional methods of advertising social media can be a great tool, to some it is the only way they advertise their services. Surely as business owners we cannot afford to ignore any medium that has so many potential customers on it and even better, perhaps that is free to use.

If dinosaurs like me can get to grips with social media, then so can you, whoever you are and whatever your background so go on have a bash. The digital age is not as frightening as it looks and is well worth getting to grips with. Get your head round social media and you will be surprised how much business it can attract.

Ian Whitburn

Getters Consultancy 

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