The social networking and social marketing landscape has only begun changing the ways we communicate and also what we communicate. Years ago nobody cared what we where doing during every minute of the day. But now it seems important to know what others are during before work, during work and after work with websites like Facebook and Twitter.

People who normally might be timid and quiet all of a sudden want to let the world know they just walked their dog or that they just ate their lunch. Large fortune 500 companies are conducting business and communicating with customers right through sites like Twitter. People would rather find the cable company account on twitter and vent to them than picking up the phone and calling customer service. A customer service call might be between you and that other person but on Twitter the whole world can see your instant complaint. So it is in the best interest of the company representative that is in charge of that Twitter account to resolve that issue as quickly as possible to not tarnish their reputation. Social networks allow news to spread and travel very quickly. Much quicker than prior forms of communication.

Social networking and communication is moving at a speed that is faster than companies can keep up with. People would now rather communicate directly through an online tool than to pick up the phone. We are only seeing the beginning of this cultural phenomenon. A person can fire up a Facebook page and almost instantly be reunited with people they would never even think about communicating with. I had a cousin halfway across the planet send me a message. I haven’t spoken with this person in over fifteen years. The power of social platforms have been immense and are continually changing they way anyone and everyone interact with each other online.

It is no shock that the social media marketing landscape has changed the playing field of business to business and business to consumer. Years ago you had only a few options to get in front of whom ever you needed to get in front of, phone and mail. The choices and possibilities now are endless with the surge of popularity of hiding behind the computer and reaching out to decision makers on social marketing sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.

Are friend requests the new cold calls? are face to face meetings slowly going away? I think a few years down the road we might see this evolve into the new communication way. More and more people contact us directly through a LinkedIn account or even Twitter. Entire conversations about possible new business relationships right through the messaging tool of a social networking website. Finding a decision maker on Facebook or LinkedIn is not difficult, at all. Crafting the right message when you fire off a friend request is important. You usually have only one chance to get this right so it home with it. Sites like LinkedIn offer a templated message that appears by default. I suggest you tweak it out to show your personality. Present yourself like you would in person. Years ago it would take some really interesting perseverance to cold call a company and get the person you actually want to speak with over the phone. Social networking and social marketing has made that step a bit easier but you have to be smart about how you approach it.

as more and more younger generations flood the workforce we will slowly see a stronger shift in the way business relationships are initiated at first. It will still be many years of cold calling and direct mail but someday everything will be digital. We already see the clients that initiate business talks using a social networking site want to continue to communicate through that particular website. Some might shift over to emails but regular face to face meetings and often times phone calls are non existent.

Are you one of those people that use Twitter (or Tweet) in the car? or update your status on Facebook while you are out and about? Your not alone. Thousands of people are addicted to letting people know they are about to make a sandwich or that they just walked out the door. With such important information being presented real time companies and businesses everywhere are trying to capitalize on the ability to be able to connect with people real time.

What is your favorite style of use on the various social media marketing platforms? Do you write in a blog that you like to share or do you just like to interact on a very non-business friendly level and let the audience know every single move your making as you do it. There are many different ways to approach the social marketing landscape. It is important for everyone one and every business to realize that there is no exact science to how you should approach the social landscape. Different things work well for different individuals and organizations. Some principals will always apply, and that is to always take a tasteful approach. Don’t abuse the social platforms or you will be banned. Nobody likes to get spammed. building a business and self promotion is fine, it comes with the territory. It is important to change things up from time to time and try different tactics. Often times you might find something else that works a bit better.

We want to know what is your favorite approach? How do you use the social marketing platforms to stay ahead and be active? What do you dislike that others do?

Recently president of Brick Marketing, Nick Stamoulis wrote and article on Marketing Pilgrim outlining the vast difference of communication efforts between Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y individuals. If you own a business or have worked at a company where these three generations share work space and lines of communication you will know that there are probably many different challenges that occur on any day when it comes to communication. All three generations are slowly starting to overlap the amount of social marketing used for communication but the frequencies and skill levels are still very far apart. Lets take a look and see how the three generations vary.

Baby Boomers have spent a great deal of their life using face to face, mail and telephone communication efforts. This is what they have grown custom to and to adopt vastly new lines of communication is going to be difficult to integrate into their daily lives. Gen X are a bit more savvy when it comes to technology. Gen X is mostly worried about creating a healthy balance in their daily life pattern and tend to use IM, cell phone and email mostly for communication. Gen Y are very much into texting, IM and email for most of their communication efforts. Gen Y are idea factories and just want their ideas to be considered and valued by other employees.

Management at many different sized and shaped companies has been willingly trying to find a happy medium for everyone to be able to communicate efficiently. If a Gen Y’er is trying to IM a Baby Boomer who never has their IM on and check their email just a few times a day the lack of communication can quickly disrupt performance in the office. Once employees start to get frustrated in the workplace it simply just gets worse, especially if management ignores the signs. Is the speed of technology the problem? When the Baby Boomer generation was at the age of a Gen Y’er things where much different and technological advancement did not occur so quickly. When they did everyone had much more time to adapt and apply the new type of communication to their daily lives. Now with social networking websites creating new gathering places and platforms for communication the generation gaps are starting to take a toll.

To read more on this topic please click here and visit Marketing Pilgrim to read the full article about the workplace hurdles in communication.