Where are we going....

It’s hard to imagine what life was like before Facebook. Personal relations have changed ever since the introduction of email and text messages, the days of hand written letters are long gone. For better or for worse, we are all more “connected” than we used to be. While most of us represent a mere number in the world’s population, everything we do and say online can be read and found by others. Anonymity has become a thing of the past.

I think what I find the most interesting regarding social media is how customer/brand relations have changed. No longer do customers come into a store, purchase a good and return home. Companies now must manage their brands both online and offline, treating their customers like more than just a number and help lead them in their purchasing decisions. In a previous role, I managed the social media campaign for a small shoe brand. I established their facebook page, twitter and customer reviews platform. We realized that as customers spent more time researching their purchases, we had to provide a platform for our customers to share and read about past/present purchases on our own site. While the end goal was of course to sell more product, we knew that maintaining and growing our customer relations was just as important, if not more.

So where do we go from now? It’s the ever-constant question for companies as well as customers. What’s next with Facebook, what will happen with Google+? We all remember MySpace and Friendster, how quickly they came and went (some tried again) and now just are distant memories. What I do know for sure is that what was will never be again. Gone are the days of going to a store, purchasing a product and returning home. Everything we do is closely monitored, from the products we purchase and sites we visit, companies strive to provide customers with a more personalized shopping experience.