How to Use Social Networks to Rapidly Build Your Markets…
By Geoff Morris
The list of social networks has multiplied over the last year or so. What started out as a few lists to try and get in touch with old friends, or long-lost classmates, has grown into a multi-million dollar industry. For instance, you have Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook, Plaxo, YouTube, and countless others cropping up all of the time.
The trouble is, are they as useful as their owners suggest, or are they just another part of present day society where computers and mobiles phones are taking over so much of our lives, without giving much back in return?
It is all too easy to write off social networks as just another time-wasting activity of kids and teenagers, spending countless hours talking nonsense and small-talk until the early hours rather than using their computers as an aid to their homework.
However, in truth, they are as important a part of modern communications as the phone was half a century ago.
In an ideal world - which is probably the target objective of social networks - not only will they be a superb medium for people to meet and socialise out of their working environment for whatever purpose - be that dating, of any other socialising activity - but there is an unseen power that will shortly be at anybody’’s fingertip that will be a boon to keeping a rapidly increasing economy.
In any economy, there is a market for a product or service, and there are consumers of those products or services.
Can you imagine how efficient a marketing based economy would operate, if it were to be possible to have an actual method of describing all products and services available, with a matching table of ready consumers?
That may well be the sort of environment that we are heading towards, but in the mean time, we are slowly and shakily moving towards such a scenario, which at present is far from perfect.
We have a situation today where there are a growing number of social networks available, some purely for socialising - almost like time-filling for kids, and others for users with time to kill- but an increasing number of others who perform a supplier to consumer role, and yet others who perform a business to business role.
The secret is to be able to identify from the ever increasing plethora of social networks, as to which one falls into what category. Choose the wrong one, and whatever you would hope to achieve by using that site will be totally wasted on you.
Choosing the right one to meet your actual needs is very important. Not only would you be able to direct your bulletins towards a clearly identified market, but advertising on such sites would be so highly targeted, that advertising returns would return a fantastically high returns on your investment.
Social networks are here to stay, and as they improve, and identify their purpose more clearly, they have the potential of really ramping up any section of the economy in almost previously unheard of levels of efficiency.
The power of social networks of course, is in its power to spread the word virally. Unlike a sales pitched email, in theory it would only take one satisfied customer to write a short review on his or her social network, and the message is out.
This person may have 47 other contacts, and some of those may have thousands, and so the message could in theory get sent to thousands upon thousands of contacts.
In an era of totally changing buying habits, then social networks can help many suppliers overcome the obstacles of buyers to move away from conventional shopping, towards more and more on-line consumer outlets.
About The Author
Have you seen the power that social networks can do to
promote your online business?
Want some help with building your networks, then sign up to a Twitter account
now. Log in, look for me, Geoff Morris, and start to follow my ”Tweets” to help your business.
http://geofftrader.webprosperity.com
