The Clicking Moment in Social Media

When learning about social media I think there is a point where it just clicks and you realize, "I cannot not do this". My parents are photographers and have a business on the side. It is both of their dream to run this business full time and quit their day jobs. Recently my dad heard of a photographer who never advertises, she only has a strong facebook and social media presence. This was their clicking moment. As much as I had urged them to be on facebook, twitter, and in the blogging world it wasn't until they heard this that they were sold.

In the past few weeks I have gotten nonstop emails, calls and texts asking how do you set up this and what should I do about that. They have finally bought into this lego-like affect that connects and expands to build something huge and far beyond one person or element, social networking.

I was home recently and was driving through Piqua, a neighboring town to where I live in Ohio. Piqua might have it's attractive points, a corner or two, but for the most part it's far from Mayberry. I passed an old rootbeer stand that looked so pathetic if it didn't have an open sign you would think it was shut down. Then I was immediately amazed when their sign that would normally list specials I would think said, "find us on facebook". So I took that challenge and was a bit amazed at what I found. This tiny rootbeer stand in a small town has almost 1,000 fans and is continually growing. This facebook fan page is nonstop updated with status updates on how business is going and what specials they have going on. People have been tagging them in their status updates and telling their friends to become fans also. People who live in other states are posting things like, "Cannot wait until my next visit to Piqua. So I can have my Spanish hot dog, and a frosty Rootbeer!".

Just through their simple sign, directing people to facebook, they have identified their fan base and can now adjust their servics to meet the customer and community needs. Advertising is a huge bonus also. Small town word of mouth is still used I am sure, but this expands that idea and reaches much farther than it would. Through these two examples I have seen recently it seems that this idea of social media and networking is clicking all over the place.