Being Social takes on a whole New Meaning
January, 19th 2012
Plenty of people consider themselves to be social; meaning outgoing, unafraid to delve into conversation with a complete stranger or meet new people no matter where they are. Defined on the website, Dictionary.com, the adjective means: Pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations. Those are the traditional understandings of the word. But now, one can’t mutter the word “social” without instantly attaching it to the word “media.” Sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn are keeping people more connected with one another than ever before. Consider, according to Mashable, the largest independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology, social networking now eats up twice as much of our online time as any other activity. According to new stats from Nielsen, sites like Facebook and Twitter now account for 22.7 percent of time spent on the web; the next closest activity is online games, which make up 10.2 percent. The stats also show the degree to which social networking is displacing other forms of communication, with e-mail as a percentage of online time plunging from 11.5 percent to 8.3 percent from June 2009 to June 2010. Instant messaging also saw a signiἀcant drop in share, with a 15 percent decline from last year. When utilized for business purposes, any one of these sites can be a tremendous tool for both vendors and buyers alike. A little less than a year ago, the OFFPRICE Show had a Twitter feed but didn’t have many followers and made even less updates. We were on LinkedIn, but that’s about it. We didn’t have a Facebook page and Google+ didn’t exist yet. Quickly realizing the beneficial effects of a trade show being active through the variety of social channels, we’ve made wholesale updates to all the platforms and encourage all of you to stay updated about all things off-price by following, liking or adding us to your circles. Consider, the OFFPRICE Show now has more than 800 followers on Twitter, boast over 800 likes (growing rapidly!) on Facebook, have our own group on LinkedIn while being in several apparel industry company’s circles on the rapidly growing Google+. We feature several vendors daily on Facebook and e-publish the OP Journal each day through Twitter, getting the stories from those who we follow. If there’s something we can be doing to help promote the show and increase its exposure to help all of our vendors and buyers, believe me, we’re either doing it or pursuing it. Social media platforms are an excellent way for vendors and buyers to stay in touch and keep connected all year long, culminating in the four-day OFFPRICE Show each February and August. But don’t over look the importance of face-to-face interaction in this digital age. No matter how slick of features the social networks add every day, nothing will ever replace meeting an exhibitor in person and writing up an order right there on the show floor. When the OFFPRICE Show was launched in 1995, it was all about the deals and helping stores’ bottom lines. 17 years later, that hasn’t changed one bit…the way we go about doing it has changed, but the backbone of the show remains four days in February and four days in August. Connect with us on our social networks and we’ll tell you that and all kinds of other great things, all year round. Can’t wait to see everyone at The Sands Expo in Vegas!
Todd