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Secrets to Success
Deborah Cole Micek
and John-Paul Micek
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New media requires new ad strategy
Last of two-part series
LAST week we discussed why social networks are the way for business people to reach their mature audiences and how a small community rather than the large social networks can be more efficient, since they have specific niches designed for business people.
Here are a few examples of such sites:
» ActiveRain.com This is for real estate professionals and currently has more than 6,500 members.
» Ryze.com is a business-to-business networking community with more than 450,000 members in 200 countries.
» WAYN.com is a travel-related social-networking site that has grown from 45,000 members to more than 4.1-million in just the last year. Alexa.com, which lists data on Web traffic to other Web sites, shows that each visitor to WAYN averages 9 page-views per visit. Wouldn't you want to join in this social network if your business is travel-related?
SOCIAL networking, like blogs or blogging for business, has become a phenomenon that breaks out of group boundaries.
It is a new type of behavior that is being adopted throughout society, and as it does so, savvy business people are learning to leverage these new territories.
The mistake many business owners and marketers are making when they first step beyond business blogging to other areas of new media is that they focus on techniques and technology.
The key to attracting your target audience is to focus on people, participation, and persuasion.
Old interruption marketing and mass-media-style advertising will not work in this new marketplace. You have to be able to engage and build rapport with individuals instead of going after a whole group of people based on assumptions.
As the Internet becomes more social with every passing day, the online marketplace is more closely mirroring the off-line world. That means that skills of influence and persuasion are quickly becoming just as important online as off.
You can get all the technology and techniques right and still get pitiful results.
Yet the businessperson who only gets 20 percent of the technology right while focusing 80 percent of his or her energy on persuasion and emotional engagement will reap all the rewards.
WE'D like to know what you are doing to move beyond the technology and hype of blogs, podcasts, and other new media to market more effectively. Are you already using social networks? If so, how are you doing? Please share the social network/s that you have found to be effective.
John-Paul Micek is the lead business coach at RPM Success Group Inc. Reach him at
JPM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.
Deborah Cole Micek, chief executive officer of RPM Success Group, is a business success coach and life strategist. Reach her at
DCM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.