That admonition is equally applicable to organizations as it is to individuals. We don’t really have to go all the way back to the age of the dinosaurs to find examples to prove the point.
In the real world of today the idea of adapting in business applies to attracting, engaging, and retaining customers in the digital age of marketing requiring companies to adopt a true integrated multichannel strategy that is fueled by customer data and enabled by interactive marketing technology. Fail to recognize that truth and your organization will continue buying yellow page ads with diminishing returns on your investment.
Rotary clubs and who don’t adapt to the emerging forms of communicating will become museums of past good deeds; their primary community service project will be attending each other’s memorial services. Just as welcoming women into our organization a quarter century ago reinvigorated Rotary by expanding our membership with younger people; people who will take us to new heights.
A review of the demographics of the kind of people who communicate with social media reveals some interesting statistics. More than 66% of adults are connected to one or more social media platforms. Those who have completed some college, represent the majority on social media sites like Facebook. Among Facebook users, 57% have completed some college, and 24% have earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree. People 45 and older make up 46% of Facebook users.
Those folks don’t sound like a bunch of high school kids texting each other. I would suggest the people who are using social media are more and more the people we want as customers (members) of Rotary. We need to figure out how to use these important tools to engage these people precisely because they are our future.
If you don’t have a Facebook profile it is time to get one.