I followed the US Presidential election closely, and was really interested how Barack Obama used the new tools of communication through the primary process and on to his landslide victory. Obama had a message of hope that inspired a nation, but I do not believe that without the new tools of communication that are available today, he would have ever found enough people to listen to the message.

In other words, the new social tools, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and others are a big part of the reason that Barack Obama is now the President of the United States.

These graphs show the striking differences:

The way we search information and find the businesses that we want to do business with is changing fast.  We want to have relationships with the brands we are involved in. We want to know the brands are represented by people we can trust.  As Shane Gibson, Professional Speaker and President of Knowledge brokers International says, “Sales is the art of creating an environment where an act of faith can happen.”

I hired Shane and his company AFTER I followed his blog, podcasts, and videos for some time to make sure his values were aligned with my own.   I found him. He did not market to me. All he did was provide a valuable resource where I could get to know him and his company. My mind was mostly made up by the time I interviewed him.

This is an important lesson in understanding the power of using these new tools.  Social media simplifies communication, and gives a voice to anyone who chooses to use it.  Because of that, the tools are transforming traditional marketing, leadership and businesses.

Prior to these new tools,  it was difficult or expensive to find an audience.  The advantage went to large companies who could amplify the message they wanted spread by buying advertising, or tightly controlling the messages sent out through PR departments.

Tying that back to Obama. I do not believe that he would have had a chance to win the Presidency 15 years ago. Without the invention of the new communication technologies, even with his strong message of hope and change, he would not have beat the advantage of the “establishment” or the existing power structure.

I was convinced in the power in these technologies and felt that this is something that our company needed to utilize. We contacted Vancouver social media consultant Kate Trgovac to help us nail down a strategy by choosing the right social media spaces for us. We then asked Steve Jagger and Rodney Bartlett of Reachd in Vancouver to take our staff through three days of intensive training on how all of the social tools work, and how they can work together.

I would highly recommend that any company interested in social media hire an expert to help them understand the medium. The learning from Kate, and from Reachd was invaluable!

My big takeaway is that the most important part of using these tools is to be authentic. Not everyone will be interested in what you say, or the way you do business. The goal is not to dull your message so that everyone likes it. The goal is to be yourself. That way, the people who find resonance with your message  will find you in the same way I found Shane.

For BuildDirect, the tools and the principles of of social media fit perfectly with who we are as a company. Transparency is one of our key tenants as we transform the building supplies industry. We are really lucky. We have great people committed to the vision of a better way to do business. We care about our customer’s success and it shows in our testimonials, in repeat business, and referrals.

Training our people how to use these new tools gives them  ALL a voice in the conversation with customers and helps make us better each day. It pushes leadership to all levels of the company, and allows every single person in our company to make a difference immediately.

The most important thing we ask of them ….is to be authentic.

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Here’s a guide to where you can find BuildDirect on social media spaces:

Twitter:

BuildDirect: http://twitter.com/BuildDirect

Me: http://twitter.com/JeffBooth

Co-founder Rob Banks: http://twitter.com/robertbanks

Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BuildDirect/30927260237

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BuildDirect

Get Satisfaction:

http://getsatisfaction.com/builddirect

Flickr:

http://flickr.com/photos/builddirect/

Related posts:

1. Our Social Media Strategy
2. Interesting analogy on how social media works
3. Social Media Revolution
4. Why Twitter is a Must for Business
5. BuildDirect and Robert Banks featured on Mashable