Social Networking Sites and Web 2.0 Tools Are Everywhere!
Posted Under: Resource Reviews,Social Networking
This morning I became convinced that social networking sites and Web 2.0 tools are truly everywhere!
It’s almost common place to expect to see references to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace on cable and national network newscasts. I suppose it was just a matter of time to hear references to the major social networking sites on the local news program. It was also no big shock to hear both the CNN pundits and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News request a follow on Twitter and Facebook during their Sunday morning talk shows.
Shortly thereafter, however, I changed the channel to the local (Kansas City) news channel (KCTV 5) to catch up on the local information and weather. As luck would have it, I changed channels just as a special feature segment started.
The topic: Low-cost Marketing Techniques for the Small Business Owner. During the segment, the reporter was interviewing Mr. Jerry Smith with the Marketing Action Club located in the KC Metro area.
Mr. Smith was quick to point out that during these tough economic times, even small businesses need to keep a substantial marketing effort alive. Failure to do so could result in the customer-base losing contact and confidence in their businesses’ viability.
He specifically pointed out five different low or no-cost methods to maintain a reasonable marketing effort to keep your message in front of your target audience. To my surprise (only because of where it was mentioned) these included:
- Article marketing using sites such as Ezine Articles;
- Social networking presence on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn;
- Blogging;
- Email marketing campaigns; and
- Local networking clubs.
Even though I interact with numerous references to the first four tools online each day, it brought a smile to my face to both see and hear it on a live local TV news cast. I commend Jerry Smith and his Marketing Action Club for a great set of basic tools and insightful message.
All of these tools are indeed low or no cost options to assist anyone (small store-front business, network marketing business or home business) get there message out to their target audience and help build a web marketing presence.
Always remember, however, to use the proper approach and be sure to provide information that helps the prospect or customer find a solution to their problem and just don’t “pitch your product or service”.
Reader Comments
Hey Jim -
Nice post. I hope your readers especially pay attention to the last paragraph of your article. If you want to attract high-quality prospects and get them to pay attention to your message, then keep the focus on what’s most important the them!
One of the things I tell all the small business clients I work with is that the marketing tools & tactics are actually the easy part. It’s the planning and preparation work (i.e., the proper approach you refer to) that make the tools & tactics effective. The core principles of marketing will never go out of style even if Social Networking turns out to just be another fad.
We recently put on a TeleSeminar on Practical & Accessible Marketing Ideas for Small Busines. Audio replay is available if you like…
http://www.marketingactionclub.com/teleclass-recording-practical-marketing-ideas/
By-the-way, it’s nice for Jerry to know now that at least somebody was tuned in that Sunday morning.
All my Best!
Kevin Dervin
Marketing Action Club
Hello Kevin,
Thanks for stopping, reading and commenting. I thought it was pretty cool to see someone from the KC Metro area on KCTV 5 talking about social media, Ezine Articles, blogs and such.
A lot of people have the perception that if you hop on the “Net” and build it, they will come. Though it can and does happen there is a substantial amount of work that makes it happen.
Thanks for the link. One of the purposes of this blog site is to help my readers access useful information; sometimes generated by me; others linking out to other sites with great content.
I’m glad Jerry now knows he had at least one viewer
Best,
Jim