You’re speaking at IHRSA this month on ‘exciting trends impacting your business right now’. Is the implied sense of urgency intentional?
Absolutely! Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, the founder of a start-up or a vetted business owner, you need to stay 10 steps ahead of your competition and prepare for what’s going to be coming down the road over the next few years.
Technology changes so fast: it’s important that you familiarise yourself with new developments now so you don’t fall too far behind. Knowing about the trends puts you in the driver’s seat.
You host a weekly radio broadcast with a panel of technology experts. What are the hot issues?
When we use technology to streamline everyday living, we tap a huge opportunity. However, as with everything else it comes with a cost. Our relationships and emotional wellbeing may suffer, and there may be ethical implications too: it seems that today, most of the digital debates on my radio show have to do with digital safety, ethics, tech addiction and cyber-identity.
But we’ve also discussed how to turn your dog into an internet celebrity, so the issues aren’t always weighty!
What would your advice be to ‘digital immigrants’ – those who didn’t grow up with social media and so on – on how to adjust to the new hi-tech world?
First of all, yay to us digital immigrants! I’m one of them: I grew up without cell phones, wrote my college papers by hand and knew how to read a road atlas. So my message is that it’s never too late to begin.
Also, technology changes so quickly that today’s experts may well feel like novices tomorrow. My advice is therefore this: Dive in, realising that you’ll feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed for a bit. Identify areas you really want to focus on and ditch the others. Then revel in the glory when, after just a few months, you’re the tech-savvy person in your business!
You address many of these issues in your book, Dot Complicated: Untangling Our Wired Lives. What prompted you to write it?
I wanted readers know it’s OK to have mixed feelings about technology, to acknowledge the massive changes we’re going through and to try and figure it all out – together.
Personally I love technology. It makes our lives more convenient and brings us closer to the people and things we love. We now laugh and mourn together, meet new people and get in touch with old friends we thought we’d never hear from again. Technology and social media and have brought people together in a way we once could only imagine.
Except when they don’t! The tech that should draw us closer to one another can also act as a wedge. Its virtues and iniquities can leave people feeling overwhelmed, confused and insecure.
Digital technology is still in its infancy. So OK, we’ve built it. Now we have to create the societal awareness that goes with it.
Tell us about the ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO), which happens when someone sees photos posted of an event they weren’t invited to. Could clubs use FOMO in their own marketing?
Personal stories engage people, and the ‘I did it, so can you’ way of marketing is particularly effective in the fitness industry. Use social media and testimonials to demonstrate that exercise, fitness and healthy living are great for people of all ages, shapes and sizes. Use social media to promote your programmes, health-related contests and giveaways. And encourage your members to use it to share stories about their workout successes.
But remember that FOMO isn’t always a good thing. You don’t want to use it in such a way that people actually feel left out. The goal is to invite them in.
More and more clubs are going to be employing Millennials – young people who grew up with social media. Your advice for managing them successfully?
They tend to be entrepreneurial, with a skillset that’s valuable to any business, so empower them. Don’t squash their creativity. Millennials want to be heard.
Try to create a work environment that they feel comfortable participating in. Let different people take over your social media, test new marketing campaigns and try other things. Have a quarterly ‘new business idea’ challenge. And use data and performance metrics to provide feedback, similar to the kind your members receive when they use a piece of equipment.
Clubs are also very eager to attract more of this group as members. Again, your advice?
To begin with, post a survey to find out what Millennials are looking for in a club. You don’t have to accommodate every whim but I’m sure that, at the very least, they’d appreciate some charging docks and free wifi in the locker rooms.
How, in general, has technology changed the relationship clubs have with their members?
Clubs now have an opportunity to connect more deeply with their customers, even after they’ve left the club and are going about their daily lives. Operators should take advantage of this new, ongoing relationship by, for instance, using social media to provide prospects and members with interesting, useful information.
Finally, what aspect of the global technological revolution do you find most promising?
I really do believe that the expansion of technology will revolutionise health – from transplants using 3D printed organs to online networks of physicians for people, such as those in rural areas, who are most in need of healthcare. If there’s anything that technology is really going to disrupt, it’s how we stay healthy and how we heal.
