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This is about reading trends
The book I’m currently reading is Signals, and what I’ve learned from that so far is that sometimes we get overly analytical and caught up in the latest hype from marketers .
Somewhere in between the hype and the over-numerical analysis is intuition or a sense of where things are going in certain areas.
Technology adoption curve
Consider whether I’m an:
- Early Adopter: someone who queues for the latest iPhone
- Early Majority: someone who has the latest phone, but not immediately after its release.
- Late Majority: someone who purchases something after the majority of people already have that product.
- Laggard: at the point in which this person has an item, the majority of people have already moved on to a newer version.
You are your own best customer!
Look at your my own activities. When I look at my habits, I find that I’m generally an Early Majority kind of person. Younger people will generally be earlier adopters, and older people are typically later adopters. I live in London in a relatively wealthy area. Generally, metropolitan areas are earlier adopters.
My own communication trends
The early ‘90s at university – ignored email.
Office work email the early 2000s
Mobile/cell phone
I had an experience where it really benefitted me that a friend of mine had a mobile phone, and he called this a “Mobile moment”.
Got my first mobile in the Early 2000s.
SMS messaging
Early 2000s texting/SMS
Nowadays have serious conversations with wife inc arguments via SMS!
Plus arrange music teaching or gigs (the latter possibly backed up by email).
Skype messaging
Began using this tool in 2015.
Zoom video calls
Then moved to Zoom video calls in 2016.
Facebook Messenger
Been using increasingly since 2015, about the time I started running the Amazing FBA Facebook group.
Facebook messenger has been increasingly utilized for organising groups, such as with the 10K Collective Mastermind. It is much more interactive and has useful features such as the poll. And now, it has become a means of communication that is a first go to option for arranging work. For example, I recently spoke with a friend about a pianist job and we communicated solely using Facebook Messenger.
‘It’s Not “Either/Or” But “Both/And”’ (Tim Ferriss)
Old channels don’t disappear
Often times conversations may move from messenger to email, particularly when it is with an older, more formal person.
New technology doesn’t always replace old technology. They can coexist and be used differently.
One or two members of 10K Collective mastermind miss info occasionally because they don’t check FaceBook often, or at all.
For the dissemination of important information, you need to use the form of communication which is most widespread among your audience.
Many people are only on 1 of your communication channels. Others only respond to one!
“Three connection point” theory
To feel connected to a person, the theory says we need to see them in 3 places or 3 times.
In the physical world
- Maybe that’s 3 dates for a romantic partner.
- Or 3 meetings for business. (There is advice to have at least 3 meals with someone before considering going into a business partnership with them!)
Virtual connections
In the virtual world, I think that’s even more important because the connections are more tenuous and there’s more distraction.
I don’t have the exact stats, but I believe there is a strong crossover between the Amazing FBA channels:
the podcast audience, my email subscribers, Youtube watchers, and the Facebook Group Members.
I suspect many people are connected to me via at least 2, as the same names crop up in different places.
For Amazon sellers and ecommerce, there is a trap of only being visible to people on Amazon, and only when Amazon decides to show us.
- This is the year where it is more critical to connect with people in as many was as you can.
Example: Mentoring Contest
I recently talked about my mentoring contest at the beginning of a recent podcast episode. I also sent people a certain link via email marketing.
- Both of these channels have produced substantial numbers of entrants to the contest.
So if I had ignored one at the expense of the other, I think it would have been a lot less successful.
More speculative, they have reinforced each other.
- If someone heard about it on the podcast, and also received emails about the podcast, I suspect that the extra communication may have encouraged some people to enter.
There is an overlap
However, there are preferred/growing channels of communication
Messenger is gradually becoming a preferred channel of communication between myself and clients for Amazing FBA.
For communication with my team, however, we use Skype.
And for group calls and 1-1 consulting, Zoom is my preferred method.
Follow your own style
Not every trend is for you
Messenger is a trend, but that trend may not work for you.
- For example, Instagram is a platform where I have a personal account from years ago but literally haven’t posted for years.
- For many marketers, Twitter was very big, but I don’t like it, so I don’t use it and I’m not going to focus on it.
If you’re not a FaceBook user or messenger user, it may be that your business should NOT focus on this.
- But even if your business is going to use it, if you’re not a power user yourself, you may need to engage someone (probably younger!) who is into that that can be helpful.
Star Principle theory tells clearly what we should do :
To learn more about The Star Principle, I highly recommend this book.
If you spot a growing market and believe you can be the market leader, you should invest, invest, invest!
- For example, if Facebook Messenger is going to be the next big thing, get into it big time. It is a growing trend.
Paul Harvey provided me with some stats when he was on a recent episode of the podcast, and he said that only about 5% of businesses have any sort of Chatbot or Messenger presence.
- This is important because messages on Messenger get about a 90% open rate, which compares to about 20%, at best, for email.
- And the click rate for Messenger is about 10%, as opposed to 1-2% for emails.
Right now IS a sweet spot to get into and dominate messenger marketing.
I recently started learning about Seller Chatbot, the new software specifically designed for ecommerce and Amazon sellers by Paul Harvey.
I’ll put up a video of me playing with the software. To see that, join the Facebook group at amazingfba.com/FB
The medium is not the message!
Watch Why Facebook Chatbot for ecommerce is the new email
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