With the entire buzz surrounding the emergence of social networks such as FaceBook, MySpace and now Twitter, you may be wondering if there’s some way that you can harness the power of these tools to grow your business.
Many businesses struggling with old school marketing techniques will be amazed to learn that Social Networking is the Internet’s fastest growing traffic generator, with new users signing up at a phenomenal pace. What is even more interesting to businesses is that the users join these networks not just for consuming information, but to actually interact create their own online content in a manner that was just not possible with traditional media.
Leveling the business playing field
The important lesson that online social networking seems to be that businesses now have control over the process of communicating with prospects and customers has shifted from mainstream media to the business owner. Social networking allows smaller businesses to communicate simple meaningful content to their target audience, without having to conform to the rigid advertising guidelines of newspapers, TV or radio…or paying a hefty price for the service.
A massive benefit that social media provides to businesses is the leveling of the business playing field. With the internet taking over as the dominant communication platform the elite marketing departments can no longer bludgeon smaller companies out of the media, by sheer financial clout.
Consumers opting out of mainstream media
Consumers, tired of being subject to highly exaggerated sales pitches in mainstream media are eagerly turning to social media networking, where they have the opportunity to read, comment and share information about products and brands they really care about in real time.
How does social networking represent an opportunity for your business? It all boils down to drawing members of your target audience into a circle of interaction where you communicate with each other on a regular basis. Implementing a careful communication strategy on these lines has the potential to explode the traffic to your website and increase the recognition and popularity of you brand. The reason why this occurs is that internet users love to “click”, with the result that messages fly back and forth between members of a social network group with the result that page views and impressions escalate.
Organisations with a tight base of customers especially benefit from social media networking and using social media for business growth.
Breaking down communication barriers
In the pre-internet age companies used mainstream media to talk down to their customers using high profile brand advertising designed by slick advertising professionals in their corporate ivory towers. There was barely any opportunity for the customer to talk back to the owner of the brand. This was a major communication barrier which has been changed by social media networking. The online revolution has given everyone a megaphone to amplify their views on a product or brand whether flattering or critical.
Unfortunately many businesses have not picked up the gauntlet and responded to this major shift in the business environment. These organisations continue to rely on traditional mainstream advertising and marketing techniques that bleed them to death. They haven’t yet woken up to the realization that marketing on the information highway is a two way street and consumers have an equal right to share the traffic.
