Why Your Potential Customers Want To See You Social Networking
Excerpted from Noah Weiner's blog "Web New Point 0"
It’s a burning question on small, medium, and large business minds while considering getting started with Social Media:What use can my company make out of Social Networking?Before rolling down that slippery slope, take a breath. It ... deserves answers about what you want to get out of Social Media in the first place. But that might lead you to an easier answer if you turn it on your audience: What does my marketplace want out of Social Media?
That answer is easy. They want useful information. Far more than looking for someone to spend money with, your audience uses social media to gain and share in information, insight, and the exchange of topic-specific content. Give your audience some useful content.
When it comes to getting started down the path of sharing your industry specific knowledge as a resource with your potential customers, you might find that a traditional blog becomes the simplest way for you to step into the Social Media mix.
Do you know your space? Are you passionate about your industry? Do you find yourself in a position to educate and enlighten people curious about the subject matter you know? You’re ready to blog. From your reader’s perspective, a blog is nothing more than a rich source of topic-specific information, followed very much like a magazine subscription.
It doesn’t matter how narrowly focused your subject matter is (in fact, often the more narrow the better), even if there’s only a small population of interested readers out there, they are your population. This can be an ideal entrance into the space of Social Networking.
Write topic-specific content about what you know. Share some of your passion. Forget the marketing message. Be valued for the information you are willing to share. That’s what builds a solid audience of followers in Social Media. You have to be willing to do social media activities as much for the sake of others as you might think you are doing it for yourself.
Setting up a blog can be completely free. I just encourage you to do it. Without going down a path that could unravel into days of discussion, here are a few quick guidelines to getting started:
1: Plan out some topics to write about before you get started.
2: Write some posts before launching the blog.
3: Don’t stop blogging. There is only one thing worse than not having a blog, and that’s starting one and letting it die. And this rule applies in all areas of Social Networking.
You can learn as you go. It really need not become an all consuming effort. The rewards in Social Networking come from *doing* good Social Networking in the first place.
My Take
Compelling case and great tips for the busy business owner who feels challenged by the complexity of venturing into a new marketing arena.
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