The Rallying Power of Digital

As I watched the latest update emerging from Hong Kong, apart from trying to understand the cultural, economic and political nuance, I was fascinated about the role that technology has played. Media experts suggest the recent protests in Hong Kong were organised, documented, and shared, both by demonstrators and the authorities, in ways not seen before.

Using messaging apps, online forums and live streams, activists mobilised groups of up to two million people to protest locations, with frequent updates as events progressed, and then documented and broadcast every moment as it happened.

Rather than with weapons, eruptions of violence were met with a recording mobile phone as a first response, immediately broadcasting and exposing live action to a global audience.

The Digital Shift…

With the aid of technology, digital connectedness has become part of the pattern and rhythm of our lives.

Bots to reply to your messages any time, any place. Live stories immediately broadcast worldwide; with a click we seamlessly like and share with friends and colleagues from Canberra to China to Colorado.

At any time you can tune in and chime into the global conversation of news, share prices, celebrity gossip, groundbreaking research and ideas.

And it’s Online Influence

When it comes to using social media for business or personal brand growth, there are very few audience segments that are not influenced, or will not be influenced, by these trends.

And you can expect your seamless, global communication and connection will become both easier and more amplified through the advancement of artificial intelligence, 5G mobile capability and experimentation with new technologies like augmented reality.

These shifts are forcing brands to consider their digital strategies – how they profile themselves, interact with their target audience and position their products and services in order to grow. Even how they mobilise and rally large groups of people.

So what’s your next move? How will this affect your business? How has your industry changed? Keen to know your thoughts.

 About Kirryn Zerna

I’m on a quest to help ideas, leaders and brands stand out (without selling out) in this age of online influence. I’m a conference speaker, a masterclass presenter and creator of the Stand Out Effect: a modern-day quest to uncover what makes brands stand out without selling out. What’s unique about me is that I understand the nuance of business from a large corporation to a small business and can translate the challenges and opportunities of the power of social media in each context. I draw on deep experience of working within corporate and public sector environments, and I also have had the privilege of working with over 1,300 small businesses and entrepreneurs through state and federal funded programs in the last year.

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