The Upcoming Generational Coup

The following is a guest post from Buzz Bishop. I love getting his guest posts, because he always has such an interesting take on social media, it never fails to make me think.

My grandfather taught me a great lesson about being a successful salesman.

Whenever he would call on a client, he didn’t just talk to the manager.  He talked to the clerks, to reception, to the assistants. You see, the man in the corner office may be the boss today, but the ones on the bottom rungs will be the boss tomorrow, or will move to another company to be the boss.

By talking to the rest of the staff, my grandfather was effectively growing his business by creating relationships that would be valuable in the future. Sure, the assistant wasn’t going to be buying his widgets today, but 3 yrs later he was buying them by the bushel.

The same thing is happening with the internet. We have two generations, one that didn’t grow up with it, and one that is.

The managers in power, making decisions now, didn’t grow up with this internet, and don’t understand how to use it – but those below are powering it up for a generational coup the likes of which has never been seen before.

If your company doesn’t have a social media strategy, a way to reach out and touch your audience and become a part of their lives, they’re going to forget you ever existed.

The youth of today (and youth can now mean anyone under 30) are constantly connected. They’re online all the time. They tell their friends what they’re feeling and doing, not day by day, but second by second.

The train is steaming down the tracks and if you don’t quickly buy a ticket, this train won’t just pass you by, it will roll right over you.

Look at the bottom rungs of your demographic ladder, that’s your future. You can’t grow your business the way it’s been growing for decades, your farming methods need to change.

Buzz Bishop is a radio host with 95Crave and tech columnist with 24hrs.  He’s a new media advocate constantly rallying against old media traditions to bring them into the new media world.