When is it Time to Change the Status Quo?

This post focuses on only one aspect of business, change or the need for change with the introduction of social media.  Change is a difficult decision because a majority of people do not like change.  A lot of businesses are changing their approach in reaching customers and are venturing out into new social media markets.  While others are weary of this change and keep doing the same thing.  There are three contradicting approaches to businesses.

The first is don't fix what isn't broken; keep doing the same thing until it no longer works.  These are the businesses who have steady sales and wait to change something until they need to.  This is a dangerous approach where you are waiting for something to go wrong before you fix it.  Instead of repairing a small leak they wait until it bursts and turns into a flood.

The second approach is stay with the times; do what the other businesses are doing.  Once your competitor(s) is successful on Twitter or Facebook you join in social media as well.  With this approach you remain close to the competition but always a step behind.  That wait gives you the extra time to see how the new strategy is working for the competition so you can adopt their strategy, alter it, or ignore it.

The third approach is to be a trend-setter and a first mover.  This approach is being the first to get and use the latest technology or strategy.  They might be unproven and risky but that extra risk may hold a great reward.  By being the first mover you will have a step up on the competition, one in which they might never catch up.  With this or any approach it is important to not only adopt the new (social media) tools but to stay current with the changes and evolution of those tools.

So which approach works best, that will depend on your industry and companies preference.  Each approach has its pros and cons, some more than others.  But in this current environment of constant change keeping everything the same is at the very least not going to improve your business.  You don't need to make a big change, in fact it is better to continually make numerous small changes. People tend not to like change especially a large change, many small changes help ease the transitions.  There is no perfect business, formula, or strategy each and everyone can be improved and refined.  By remaining content with the status quo you are hurting your chances for growth and improvement.

A similar blog post talking about change (or lack of) from Inoveryourhead.net

Which strategy does you or your company use?  Is their another approach?  When should or do you make a change to how you or your company operates?  This post mostly applies for marketing, advertising and sales, what other areas would fit?


Photo Credit to Chapendra