Whether or not your business needs a social media platform to succeed will be business specific; however, the facts are clear and social media is here to stay. It has drastically changed the way that we do business and the way that consumers are responding. Today, the question I present to you comes from the research of sociologist and communications scholar, Everett Rogers. Before you make your decision for or against social media consider this: Are you an innovator, early adopter or simply a laggard?
Everett Rogers wrote a book in 1962 called The Diffusion of Innovation. It’s an interesting book that pulls from the research of those that went before him summarizing the way that innovative products are adopted and classifying those that adopt them. The innovation adopter categories are below:
Stage 1: Innovators (2.5% of adopters) – Risk Takers
If you are creating something, these are the people you are looking for at the very beginning. In general, they are educated and enjoy new ventures and risks. They can handle set backs that are inherent with new technologies and love to be the catalyst for change in their reference group.
Stage 2: Early Adopters (13% of adopters) – Social Leaders
“They are the visionaries in their market and are looking to adopt and use new technology to achieve a revolutionary breakthrough that will achieve dramatic competitive advantage in their industries. They are attracted by high-risk, high-reward projects and are not very price sensitive, because they envision great gains in competitive advantage from adopting a new technology.”
Stage 3: Early Majority (34% of adopters) – Evolutionary, not Revolutionary
“They are deliberate and have many informal social contacts. Rather than looking for revolutionary changes to gain productivity enhancements in their firms, they are motivated by evolutionary changes.”
Stage 4: Late Majority (34% of adopters) – Skeptical
“They are very price sensitive and require completely preassembled, bulletproof solutions. They are motivated to buy technology just to stay even with the competition and often rely on a single, trusted adviser to help them make sense of technology.”
Stage 5: Laggards (16% of adopters) – Status Quo
“They tend not to believe that technology can enhance productivity and are likely to block new technology purchases.” They will only accept a technology when it has become mainstream or traditional.
Why do I bring this up?
Although social media marketing strategies may not be for everyone, social media is here to stay. We no longer have to look for news, news finds us. Soon (if not already) we will no longer have to look for products, but products will find us. In order to stay on top, businesses must be willing to adopt appropriate innovations for your business. And if you are naturally a “late majority” or a “laggard”, than consider bringing someone on your team to challenge the status quo.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great point here Hannah!
If I have learned anything over the these past couple of years while immersed in blogging, social media, and the general craziness and constant motion of the Internet…it's that you simply can't feel comfortable in the status quo. If you aren't learning something new, trying something new, or ready for something new…you're in trouble.
For bloggers or businesses, falling asleep with the status quo means you'll wake up way behind.
Here is an informative article at Mashable that I just stumbled upon:
http://mashable.com/2010/01/11/social-media-integ…
It is entitled The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration, for those who are not in the "laggards" category!