Of course, such circumstances comprise a fantasy. Businesses operate in dynamic environments: ever-changing on multiple levels. It follows then that business entities must not only adjust accordingly to changing environments, but must also try to anticipate and prepare for forthcoming changes. This need is especially pronounced in the exploding world of social media. Embracing social media as a means of advertising, promoting, and communicating with customers--both actual and potential--is a must for most, if not all, businesses. A failure to incorporate social media tools into organizational strategy represents a failure to seize an opportunity--and may render the organization susceptible to being surpassed by competitors who not make the same mistake.
So, who am I, and what makes me qualified to muse about the topic of businesses incorporating social media tools? I have spent much of my life involved in a family-owned, multi-store art retail business located in Ocean City, Maryland and Rehoboth, Delaware. I began helping my parents when I was very young--probably no more than six years old (Just ask my father about child labor laws--he'll tell you that the law is that "all children must work"). While I at times complained about what I perceived to be oppressive work conditions (ah, the overworked, underpaid child/teenager!), I was able to see years later the vast benefits that came to me from being immersed in the inner workings of a retail business.
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| A photo from 2006 of me with my wife, Katrina, in front of Ocean Gallery Fine Art Centers, Inc. |
After years of involvement with the business, I chose to leave the operation and return to school at age thirty-nine for a change of pace and a new career/life direction. This year is my third year of a four-year, joint JD/MBA program through the University of Maryland Carey School of Law and the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. Admittedly, I had never envisioned being back in school at my age (especially with a wife and two young daughters in my life). But the move was the right one for me. My family had had a great run with the business for the better part of five decades. However, for the past several years, I had seen trends that spelled trouble for small-scale retail operations like my family's--and for brick-and-mortar retail operations in general.
Before leaving the business in 2010, I had pushed my parents initially to embrace the internet, and later, to incorporate social media outlets. The business had its first website in 1998--albeit a rudimentary, self-designed model. It was initially designed for entertainment and promotion more than anything else. At the time, we did not recognize what is almost universally recognized now--that people visit websites for three primary reasons: to gather information, to be entertained, and to purchase things. While we initially offered some whimsical entertainment and some limited store information, we did not sell items on the website. A print framed with glass is not something that can be easily shipped (remember, there was a reason that Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com by selling books).
Over the years, we improved our website, eventually adding some of our products and upgrading content. Social media was the next step, and we were better prepared to seize upon the opportunities it presented than we initially had been with the proliferation of internet users. To this day, I continue to help out my family on the side (in between business case studies and legal case books), advising them as to how to make the most of social media outlets. I plan to use this blog to reflect not only on my family's personal experiences with the incorporation of social media to our business and marketing strategies, but to identify and discuss relevant trends involving social media and the internet in the business world at large. I hope that you will join in as I ramble on, and that the ride will be an enjoyable one for you.
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