Mary Carty

Teaching craft professionals about social media as a development and sales platform with the Craft Council of Ireland, was a great experience over the past few weeks.

After my workshop in Cork; I observed two elderly ladies drinking coffee and having a chat. They both took out their mobile phones and had a detailed discussion about Twitter and Facebook; keeping up with the kids and the grandkids and how great this new technology is.They swapped their favourite pictures and sent status updates.

It was fantastic to see such confidence and engagement with these new communication platforms. And the thing I learned from watching this conversation taking place, is just how much mobile devices have changed the landscape of sharing our lives and our interests online; older people as well as younger folk.

Many of the participants in my workshop sold their work to people over 50 and here is the case in point demonstrated! If your target market is moving online then you better get online quick smart. If your market is embracing these new platforms, like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, you better too. Why loose a valuable opportunity to talk to your customers, help them solve their problems and communicate with them regularly.

On the train back to Dublin, I noted the three people sitting right beside me were connected to the web via wifi and all had smart phones.

Lesson Learned:

– Time to get on the online train. If you are not there your competitors are.

– If you have been in business for a long time and you’re doing great, good for you. Your future customers are very web savvy.They know what they like and they know how to find it online.

– Think of engaging with your customer over the long-term and the lifetime value of that customer.

– Be a hero for your customers, help them find you where ever they hang out online.

– After all, the future sustainability of your business depends on your engagement with your current and future customers.

No more time for procrastination, do it now!

Many thanks to Emer from the Craft Council of Ireland for organising the workshop series and for the invitation to present.

Image thanks to BitchBuzz