RESPONSE #13. I finally opened my eyes.
Social media tools are definitely playing an important role in today’s market. Since I am living in the United States, I have had the opportunity to understand its clout even more. When I left my country 16 months ago Colombians did not know all this tools. Just a few marketers applied them but there were no enough consumers using them by the time. For my part, I had heard about some tools but I did not the chance to utilize them profoundly. Soon after, people start to talk about it and marketers knew we must prepare for a radical shift. To be honest, I was horrified. I though this were going to be extremely difficult to learn. I knew I had to do something quickly; I could afford risking my clients. They were aware while I was not. I was reluctant to deal with all this from my work so I decided to confront it from academy. I knew I should dive into. That’s why I am here in Georgetown University.
Before taking this class, I scarcely understood how social media works. Today, I keep being the same stupid but this time with privileged information in my hands. This amazing discipline needs more time, dedication and a lot of practice in the real world to master it. Now it is my responsibility to get ahead and leave my fears away. I am quite convinced that everything will have to be with Internet in Colombia. From the most modest business to my field, political marketing, every business is going to depend on trading via Internet.
In political marketing trading refers to the exchange of goods as well: Information in exchange for satisfaction. In the United States voters share their personal information with politicians as long as they use these data intelligently. They hope even more than ever. Before this technological breakthrough, both politicians and parties used to spend a plenty of money in demographic investigations, focus groups, opinion surveys, etc. Their audiences were accustomed to listen. Nowadays, getting information is much easier, but electors are no longer passives, they are much complex, and they want to participate. They know that as long as they control just about all information, they can demand that their needs are satisfied. Internet is their weapon, it is all what they have and that is enough. Colombians are about to change and trigger this arm so we all must be well-prepared.
Social media bridges the gap between electors and politicians in terms of communications. Investigation, segmentation, construction of the message, media and evaluation rely largely on Internet as well as its tools. For instance, I will surely need Google Trends to know about my audience behavior; Twitter to start a crowd-bulding government plan; an official site or Facebook to launch it; or a Blog to get feedback. Anyway, as marketer I must be able to handle and comprehend this new scenario.
Today, I lost my fears about technology. I feel confident and willing to embark on this challenge. Today, I acknowledge how important is to apply this tools in my field. I finally opened my eyes.
