I have always been infatuated with the charm, kindness, and person first focus of “mom and pop” businesses. For example Dave’s Dogs of Santa Barbara, Ca goes out of their way to know their customers, remember their name, and create whatever hot dog they desire. This homey feel, is becoming rare as our country continues to turn to the corporate, big box, business model. I have founded Mira Mead Media LLC as way that small business can create a social media footprint within a rapidly changing online environment. The core belief of my company is that “the person is more important than the thing”, meaning that in every post and interaction the well being of the client and customer must be the central focus. The goal of Mira Mead Media LLC is to provide morally competent and positive social media support to allow small businesses and non profit organizations to engage with their customers online.
a. As a business or corporation. How can you be more morally competent in terms of your relationship with your audience (customer) in an online/social media environment?
In order to be morally competent, it is critical that any business understands it fundamental values and morals. This must occur before any relationships can be built with a client or online audience. Mira Mead Media LLC is founded on the belief that all posts and interactions must be true, positive, informative, safe, and professional. Intrinsic to this is its “person first” mentality, meaning that no matter what is at stake we think about the overall well-being of the customer, employees, and casual onlookers. As the owner, I must be honest, reliable, competent, compassionate with both the client and the consumer. I must also be forward thinking in terms of social justice, and receptive towards changes that will inevitably happen within my industry.
In spite of the fact that much of the social media environment is ruthless and fast-paced, I believe that there is a place for the small businesses to create an online bodega experience. As rapidly as technology changes, so does the support that the small business client needs in order to connect effectively with social media customers. According to business2community.com (2016), understanding your audience’s preferences, interests, and choices will help refine and facilitate engagement and reach your ultimate goal. For example, one of my clients a family run nursery, with deep roots within the community was struggling to effectively create a social media presence because they did not understand the basics of web analytics or what their customers wanted online. Creating a viable social media campaign which highlights their belief that their customer is part of the nursery family, offering gorgeous images of their plants and merch, and providing monetary incentives in the form of personalized e-coupons has allowed them to expand their online reach over 3000%. It has also provided them with a moral advantage over the local big box nursery, namely that at their core they care deeply about the well-being of the customer.
My vision for my Mira Mead Media LLC is to hire competent Trailblazers who are eager to keep up with technological changes in the business world, as well as embody socially just and ethical principles. By first establishing “people first” ground rules within the business I believe that my relationship with my customers will reflect what the company morally stands for.
One of our fundamental beliefs as a social media company is to never engage in political, religious, ethnic or cultural themed, or potentially controversial posting. Business2community. com notes that staying away from biases is especially important in avoiding large-scale PR disasters and potentially job threatening mistakes. Mira Mead Media LLC realizes that something as simple as making a wrong tweet or a controversial post can be the end of a social media marketing career, and more importantly, can put the company you work for at risk of irreversible “image” damage. Staying positive, informative, and honest is vital to maintaining and supporting small businesses on social media.
b. How can you utilize social media and create a conversation or relationship with your audience? You may also discuss marketing techniques.
Social media is a powerful tool that connects people from all over the world instantaneously. Not only can you share personal photos, videos and music to public platforms for your friends and family to view within the blink of an eye but global news and current events can be viewed worldwide at any time of the day. Social media acts as a positive and helpful tool for many users but at the same time can be used to completely destroy those in the public eye within seconds. In an era where “cancel culture” is the norm, businesses must be extra attentive to posts and online interactions to make sure that on a global scale we are running an ethical business. Understanding that your audience can be comprised of diverse backgrounds who have a variety of experiences is crucial towards running a successful and healthy business.
My hope for Mira Mead Media LLC is to harness the power of social media’s reach to create dynamic change for small businesses and nonprofits locally. In the same way that giant corporations seek to monopolize the dialog, my hope is the Mira Mead Media LLC will personalize the conversation to the needs of the local community. This means that Mira Mead Media LLC will need to spend time developing a relationship with the client, as well as the broader community. It is important to remember that every customer wants to feel valued and important. Engaging with your customer is essential, for both my business and the clients I represent. Examples of positive audience engagement includes asking questions, hosting contests, offering coupons, presenting local persons who use the product, or using poll features to keep morale up and sustain interest. Conversely, forcing sales pitches are a fast way to make your users disinterested or annoyed.
Any discussion about creating trust from the client and public must recognize that privacy is a critical tool to social media campaign success. In general, for online users to enjoy using online media campaigns, they must be reassured that their information will stay private. This means that their data will not be given out to sister companies or used without their permission. It must be emphasized that keeping your customers safe and their information private is incredibly important. If there is an unfortunate breach in privacy, the best option is to be transparent and take responsibility. Topdogsocialmedia.com (2017) notes that honesty is perhaps one of the simplest and most straightforward skills of all. Being caught in a lie, even one that is small, will lead to your credibility failing and your customers will no longer trust your business. Again, taking the approach that the person is more important than the thing is vital in situations where trust has been violated so that the relationship can be repaired.
c. What awareness and learning component do we need in terms of business and social media use?
Lorrie Thomas Ross suggests that “Awareness is a big key to what we think about marketing and how we help people build awareness for public relations. Blog posts to graphics, podcasts to TEDtalks, communication is crucial. It is essential to combine information and education when running media campaigns. In marketing its the concept that allows us to connect with our audiences.” Any business focused on social media must find ways to balance information with education in an interesting and ethical way. Unlike the ShamWow infomercials of the early 2000’s which over promised and under produced, social media companies must always provide an honest and realistic product presence. Hyping or giving fake information online is a sure fire way to destroy media credibility with clients and their followers.
It is critical to understand that each user is an actual person, buying your goods and supporting your company. Employing a “person-first” mentality is absolutely necessary in order to run a successful online business.. The customer is always right” may be an outdated term, but “the customer is always first” is how Mira Mead Media LLC is run. Our philosophy is that you cannot meet negativity with negativity. For example, if a customer leaves a bad review, our policy is to approach them with calm and understanding. We employ an active listening approach to determine how to mend the relationship.
Empathy and compassion for unhappy or dissatisfied people is a tool most businesses need more training on. Part of hosting social media campaigns is to model the type of positive interactions we want to have. This means that we have to be sensitive to an array of personal struggles experienced by our clients and their customers.
Most businesses would benefit from sensitivity training that would focus on creating awareness of mental health struggles, struggles with chronic illness, awareness for disabilities (visible and invisible/cognitive) and awareness for those in the LGBTQIA+ community. Creating a space where companies can learn about and explore these issues is one of the pillars of Mira Mead Media LLC.
In conclusion, creating a social media presence that is far reaching, yet feels like it is tailored to the individual is going to help small businesses and nonprofits connect with their community in a positive way online. Removing the burden to create posts for worldwide consumption will allow Mira Mead Media LLC to provide fresh, relevant, and needed content to the local market. Careful consideration must be given to each post being certain that we can answer yes to questions like is this post true, is this post ethical, is this post educational, is this post relevant. Offering realistic goals and outcomes to small business owners will also build trust with social media as a viable platform for their company. In doing so, focusing on the well being of the social media user, we will change the configuration of social media to include the emerging “mom and pop” media market.
Please check out the following references.
Thank you to the creators who published works below.
T. A. (2016, June 14). 7 Fundamental Ethics of Social Media Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/social-media/7-fundamental-ethics-social-media-marketing-01571504
Brown, J. (2013, August 8). 9 Prime Rules For Running A Successful Online Business. Retrieved from https://addicted2success.com/startups/9-prime-rules-for-running-a-successful-online-business/
(2018, February 18). Is Ethical Marketing Extinct? Retrieved from https://topdogsocialmedia.com/ethical-marketing-extinct/
Photo (n.d.). Dave’s Dogs 805. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/davesdogs805/
Ross, L. T. (2019, September). Lorrie Thomas Ross – MarkEDing: Marketing’s new connective success strategy. Lorrie Thomas Ross – MarkEDing: Marketing’s new connective success strategy. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxqqvIPwyMs&t=620s
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