A New Generation Marketer

This is a guest post by Billy MacDonald, co-founder of Siphon Marketing.

Over the past few years both social media and web browsing phones have grown from being used by only a few to becoming a part of everyday life for most. We live vicariously through social media, establishing connections that otherwise would not have been made and capitalizing on them to become great business assets. Even more so, personal devices have become an attachment to who we are and many of us feel disconnected without them. Everything that connects us to the world and those people we share our life with fits in our pocket and is readily available.

Now, having this attachment out at all times is becoming much more acceptable and even encouraged. Although many places such as movie theatres and high school classrooms understandably do not allow the use of cell phones, many other settings are becoming accustomed to people feverishly typing or searching their phones when it would previously be considered rude or unacceptable.

As human beings, we are naturally impatient. When we want something, we don’t want to wait, we want it right then and now. Real-time access and feedback is what helps our world move faster and become more efficient. This applies to both giving and receiving information. So, while at networking events, speaking engagements, sporting events, or even at the office desk, having your cell phone available and actually being able to use it allows us to connect with more people.

At recent presentations I’ve attended, tweeting and other forms of sharing have been supported even though the potential for paying less attention inevitably exists.

So, why is this accepted?

It is because not only can the people in the room join in on the conversation, but anyone else connected with those people can too. This helps expand awareness of the particular event and promotes whoever is sponsoring it.

Before, letting people tweet, text, check-in and share their thoughts would have been considered offensive because their attention would be divided. Now, although attention is still divided, it is broadcasted across various networks for others to see and in turn give their own attention to also. This expands the reach of any event where cell phone use is allowed so that others can either join in, or at the very least be made aware of other things going on where they are not physically present.

So – next time you get a little angry at someone whose eyes and hands are focused on their mobile device, don’t be angry, but be happy that they are promoting the event, and ultimately your brand, to the countless number of connections they have.

Billy MacDonald is the Co-founder and Inbound Marketing Specialist for Siphon Marketing. Siphon helps get found by prospective customers through search engines and designs and builds website which sell their products and services. Billy specializes in search engine marketing and frequently speaks and presents for groups on social media for business and search marketing. He can be found on Twitter @BillyMacDonald.