There is no denying that the use of social media sites has exploded over recent years. Social media has become an integral part of marketing and generating business. Such is the practice that we find all the top networking sites becoming more popular and rightly so, with ever increasing footfall and people flocking the sites to create a virtual presence. In the networking world too, this is a prevalent practice. Many are blinded by the idea of social media marketing, and end up spending an awful amount of time trying to create a presence on websites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn etc. However, the question is, does it really help?
It would be foolish not to use the huge market available on the internet. However an irrelevant market will do no good to the business or the service provider. One would need the right audience, right people to know about the goods and services on offer. Websites like FB, Twitter etc. draw people from every sphere, with varied interests, social sphere, occupation and demands. How would it make sense for an hotelier to spread word about his business to a social community which consists of poets, students, doctors, clerks etc? Or for that matter, talking about witch craft to law students? In other words, what is lacking is the platform which offers a combination of people who have to offer a service or a product and people seeking that service. A combination like that would be ideal to nurture and talk about what you have to offer, as your audience is an educated (in your specific field) lot, who have similar interest, and for all you know, are looking for exactly what you have to offer.
This brings us to the next more important thought. Where do we market ourselves? To begin with, we need to identify who are the people in need of the service and who will benefit from them. We do have certain potential platforms, which I feel, are not yet used to the hilt. For example, look at the Long Island Auto Exchange, a website dealing with used cars for sale and purchase. This is a place where you will only find people visiting who either need to sell their cars, or are looking to buy one. There are several other business directories which offer a platform for the buyers and sellers to meet, however interaction is very limited. Opening the gates of communication could lead far better result in terms of capitalizing on the warm leads and converting them into potential business in future. One could take it a step further by allowing them an opportunity to interact, so that they may communicate with people from the industry and in turn make the most of the interactions by generating more potential business. While this is unconventional, this could be the way forward.
