Recently my stepdaughter, Sarah, asked me to come along with her to shop for a wedding dress. I was honored. Sarah is 24 years old, very bright, and like most people her age, totally at home in the online world. When I asked her which bridal shops she had chosen to visit, she told me that she had selected them based on the reviews she had read online. If a bridal shop had more than 1 or 2 negative reviews, she crossed it off her list. Likewise, if a bridal shop had good recommendations, she moved it to the top of her list. (And most surprising to me, if a bridal shop was not listed on any of the review sites, then it didn’t make her list at all.) In the course of our conversation, she told me that all of her friends looked to the review websites such as Yelp.com and Kudzu.com, as well as social networks like Facebook, to find restaurants, clubs and fitness centers (not a surprise), as well as doctors, dentists, hair salons, and yes, bridal shops (more of a surprise).
Our conversation opened my eyes to the power of reviews and recommendations, especially among people in Sarah’s age group (and younger). Even though I am constantly online throughout the day, my first inclination in choosing a bridal shop would not have been to go to the review sites. I would have done a Google search for nearby shops and then checked out their websites. After that, I might have thought about checking reviews, but it wouldn’t have been my first inclination. And it certainly wouldn’t have been my first thought when looking for a doctor, but that’s exactly how Sarah chose hers. Apparently I’m a bit stuck in the Information Age, while Sarah is at home in the Recommendation Age.
Business owners take note: If you aren’t paying attention to your digital presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and so on, someone like Sarah is. Or not. We have entered the Recommendation Age where it’s not who you know, but who knows YOU and is willing to recommend your brand, product or service.
-Michele Rempel, Mandatek
