The Now Revolution: Making your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social

I started my Blogworld experience with a talk by Jay Baer.  Jay discussed the 4 challenges for businesses as well what companies need to do to get on board and involved with Social Media.

I am going to start with my some key points from the talk and then show you how these same ideas can be applied to those wanting to create online courses, or those with membership sites.

Key Points

• Every customer is a reporter.  This is the challenge for companies.
• Specifically the 4 challenges are:
  • Verification – the need to check to make sure complaint really happened?
  • Contemplation – the reaction time is now smaller for companies to respond to complaints
  • Coordination of all parties – to verify, contemplate, react then get back to customer
  • Public – all laundry is seen, always
  • Consumers are now in charge of the game.  The power is intoxicating.  But it is a Frankenstein that has been created.
  • Companies need to get faster, smarter and more social – with speed and authenticity
  • Every technological advance means we need to get faster
    • Phone – fax – web – email – social media
    • We have changed our businesses to respond to each of these shirts, but not to social media
    • Social media has rules – except none are written down
    • Social Media – it isn’t improv
    • Hire for passion, train for skills
    • Humanising Highway – Ignoring – Listening – Responding – Participating – Story Telling
    • You earn the right to promote by being helpful first
    • Every company will be social because customers demand it
    • There are changes to protocol (what we need to change) and paradigm (how we will change)

Jay’s concerns for companies that don’t get Social Media are the same concerns I have for those delivering online courses or membership sites.  Sure, I know we get social media.  I know we all understand the tools.  But what I see so often are teachers not responding to their students needs.  And this is a concern because our students will act just like the consumers Jay mentioned.

I really liked the idea of the Humanising Highway.  And that same list can also be used as the evolution of online courses.

1. Ignoring:  These are the courses built for one purpose – to create passive income.  There is no place for students to participate and connect with themselves or each other
2. Listening:  The next step up is the course that does provide a place for students to connect with each other – namely a forum.  The online teacher in this stage of the highway isn’t participating – just listening
3. Responding:  The next step up does include some interaction between the teacher and the student.  In this stage teachers are involved partly with forum but most of the responding comes from Question and Answer Coaching Calls
4. Participating:  In this stage the teachers and students are participating together.  Both parties are connected.  The students are learning not just from each other but also from the teacher.  The teacher is more of a guide, supporting the students through the learning process and also learning themselves
5. Story Telling:  This is the pinnacle for all teachers and it should be everyone’s aim for online courses as well.  Once you reach this stage you are not just participating with your members.  You are curating their ideas, and shaping your content to suit their individual needs.  Your course content is changed regularly to include examples of your students work as well specific ways to help students.

Just like consumers, you online members of students are the ones in charge.  They are expecting courses with more interaction with teachers, and more engagement with the content.  They are expecting a course that puts them the learner first.

They are expecting a course that matters to them.