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In this article by Entrepreneur.com they talk about the difference between the physical world and the digital world. They explain the difference by saying
"In today's day and age, we live in two different worlds. There is the physical world, in which we are physically present (you sitting at your desk right now) and the digital world, where we are mentally present (you reading this in your mind on a digital device)."
If you think about it our lives are now intrinsically linked between the two.
I was sitting with my partner in a cafe last weekend and the discussion came up about us going away for the weekend. We then did what anybody would do, we carried on a conversation about this trip, but with each of us searching on our mobiles. I was checking the flights, my partner was checking the AirBnBs. This is how much our lives are intertwined, the physical and the digital world.
"Over 8 billion individuals reside in the physical world, and over half of those people have access to the digital world. It's more apparent than ever that power comes from attention. With the growth of the digital world, it's a game of online attention. This has led reality TV stars to become president. Redditors can single-handedly try to overthrow the financial system (i.e., Gamestop).
With FaceTime, Zoom and social media messaging, most conversations and connections are taking place in the digital world. Our entertainment, hobbies, work and life have all been replaced with internet solutions."
Social media has become our business and social life. This is a fundamental shift in human consumption. When we want to buy something from a holiday to a $100,000 accounting system, we move from the physical to the digital world. It's a totally natural thing to do now, B2B and B2C buyers.
CareerArc did a study in 2021 that said that 96% of job hunters use social media to find a new job. Does this surprise us? Of course not, what surprises us is that the figure isn't 100%.
Moving from the physical to the digital world isn't just something buyers do, it's something your employees and your future employees do. It's something your suppliers and your future suppliers do and it's something your investors and your future investors do.
Social media country
"Within the digital world, there is social media country. Social media platforms are like countries. Social media platforms have more users than some countries have citizens. Just like countries have different cultures, laws and ways of running, social media is the same way. For example, when you first go onto TikTok, you may feel like a foreigner, because you're not aware of the culture of the platform. There's a bit of culture shock as you navigate the culture and subcultures within TikTok."
The mistake we all make is that we think we need to understand how the platform works. For example, if you want to understand how Linkedin works then you get a Linkedin trainer. No!
The trick is to understand the language and the culture, not how the platform works.
In fact, what you need is to understand how to be social. If you understand what it takes to be "social" you can walk from Linkedin, to Instagram, to Twitter as there is a common language and thread.
We call it being able to walk digital corridors and have digital conversations.
Your companies and your power in social media country
"For perspective, think about when you are on an airplane: You see physical land and all of the tiny houses and people that make it up. Whenever you look at a computer screen or explore a new social media platform, you're getting a glimpse into the digital world. The more you consume, the faster you can see the big picture and understand the landscapes and all they contain in the digital world.
Before the explosion of the digital world, our media attention was concentrated in the physical world, typically in the morning and evening. Companies would fight for limited time slots, and commercials were the ultimate advertising method to reach your target audience. Consumers turned on their televisions and consumed content when they woke up in the morning, as well as when they got home from work.
Now, content is available almost everywhere at any time throughout the day. Instead of people watching hours of television after school or work, they are spending that time consuming content on their smartphones or device."
You and your business have crossed into the digital world and this isn't about creating a static Linkedin page and having employees on social media. The rules have changed.
This is about you as a business exhibiting your digital credentials and using digital as a way for you to retain your employees, for you to retain your suppliers, for you to retain your customers and for your to retain your investors. It is also about how you use digital (social media) to get new customers and grow your revenues. It is for you to use digital to get your future employees, suppliers and investors.
We all know that everybody has migrated to digital. So how are you going to exploit it?