Technology and, more specifically, social media, has changed the way people communicate with each other. Face-to-face contact is slowly declining as each new item in Best Buy, or new app in the Apple store makes it easier to communicate in any way other than speaking to each other.
The CAGC is in the beginning stages of creating a stronger social media presence. In doing so, we hope to create increased interaction with politicians, the media, and the general public. Our goal is to spread awareness and our initiatives to wider range of individuals, creating increased energy literacy among the general public, which we hope will shorten the divide between the industry and the general knowledge of the public. We feel as though social media can be a powerful tool, and we are going use various platforms to see if we can produce some results. We invite you to do the same, and to follow along with what we’re doing on our various platforms.
The following is a recent column from our summer communications intern Lucas Silva.
As someone who’s matured into a young adult in this age of texting, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. it’s nearly impossible to think of what it would be like without all of this technology at my fingertips. It’s actually kind of sad to think of what we’re losing here. Don’t get me wrong, I love technology but when I take a step back and think about it, and realize I’m locked into my phone at all times of the day, I kind of wish I was born 20 years earlier.
With that being said, despite the negative impact it may have, it does bring great value. It fosters rapid growth because the movement of ideas, thoughts, information, knowledge and concepts has been accelerated to a whole new level. One of the keys to successful business operations is effective communication. This technology allows for faster and more efficient communication than ever before.
Just like anything else, it has its pros and cons. It is ultimately up to each individual person to weigh them on their own and come to their own conclusions.
Having been a part of the generation that grew up with all this new technology is one of the reasons why I’ve been brought on board by CAGC as their communications intern. A large part of my responsibility will be to create and actively use social media to target an audience that hasn’t been previously reached by CAGC.
As a journalism student at Mount Royal University, it has been stressed to me to be familiar with social media and learn how to use it effectively in order to expand my readership. Social media is such a large component of journalism today, which is contributing to the fall of the newspaper. It’s firmly planted itself as a part of the working world and it’s simply inevitable until it’s used by each and every company.
I’ve been tasked with using my experience with social media that I’ve acquired through everyday life and school and to use it to help from a business perspective. Social media clearly holds value from this perspective. If it’s used with a unique approach and creativity, you can absolutely grow a company’s brand and expand your audience.
The fact that face-to-face, traditional communication is being pushed out is disappointing to some but there’s no questioning the power of social media. Spreading an opinion or a view to the entire world is possible with the push of a button.
As mentioned above, with myself included, the younger generations are constantly tuned in to their phones, computers, tablets, etc. This creates an opportunity for companies to reach these younger generations through that technology.
Another thing that social media offers that former means of communication with audiences doesn’t is the ability to interact. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube all allow for the audience to reply, comment, like, question, or agree with what is being broadcast by the business.
Having a website, publishing a magazine and/or newsletter, email blasts, or former means of communication allow for interaction, but it is a process – a process that takes time and effort, often acting as an inconvenience for the audience members; therefore, many people simply don’t want to put in the time to interact.
With social media, that’s really no longer the case. It takes minutes, if not seconds to reply to a tweet, a Facebook or LinkedIn post, or a YouTube video. Simultaneously, any audience member, from a number of different devices, can engage and interact with a business. This holds incredible value.
This engagement with your audience can grow your brand and expand your reach. The more people you engage through social media, the bigger your audience can get.
With all of this technology available, is it still worth it to publish a weekly or monthly paper and/or magazine? Well, every business will be different but at this point, I would say yes. Publishing hard copy items still hold value but just with a different audience.
Completely avoiding the old-fashioned approach, when it’s yet to be completely abolished, isn’t the best approach. Yes, the newspaper industry is flailing, and the hard-copy days are slowly coming to an end, but it’s not quite done yet.
In any industry there will still be a particular audience that prefers to have a hard copy in their hands. Completely avoiding that audience, or abandoning that audience you’ve already created, would not be in your best interest.
The ability to be versatile and attract different kinds of audiences through different means of communication is ultimately what you should be targeting. The growing technology offers value in different ways than the old-fashioned approach does but, if used together to attract different kinds of people, the value can be multiplied.
The platforms I look to be developing and keeping active while I’m here at CAGC, will be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, and Blogspot. They’ve already been created but have yet to be used on a regular basis with a creative approach. My goal is to evolve them into becoming effective means of communication with the ability to target different audiences.
I invite you to partake in interaction through our social media platforms that are listed below and, if you have any ideas, thoughts, questions, concerns, and/or suggestions that you don’t want the public to view, feel free to email me at lucas@cagc.ca.
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Canadian-Association-of-Geophysical-Contractors-CAGC/166335486730528
Twitter – https://twitter.com/CAGCSeismic
LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3696242&trk=hb_side_g
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/CAGC001
Flickr – https://www.youtube.com/user/CAGC001
Blogspot – http://cagc1900.blogspot.ca/
Google+ – https://plus.google.com/113810303907486123916/about/p/pub
Thank you, and we hope to see you join us online.
From the Brainy Quotes website:
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
– GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
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