How to Use Online Networks to Market Your Business
Posted in Entrepreneur Career
Although word of mouth is still an effective source for business referrals for both consumers and local businesses, virtual networks is also an efficient way to reach highly-qualified prospective customers, establishing perceived competence with them, and reinforcing your brand. Online networks are also a powerful tool for market research, and can even aid you in getting profit if you know how.
Research your market - Listen more of the market than you talk about it. Participate in communities, for instance, so companies can learn about consumer interests and reactions with a candor rarely found in focus groups and surveys.
Create competence - If you intend on becoming an expert on your field, social networking give you a much more accessible outlet than the media. You can create a mailing list, speak up in discussion forums, or write your points-of-view on a blog, in which you can reach hundreds or even thousands of people. As long as you say something useful, original, and profound, you will get quoted and linked to. This would reach even more people.
Build and reinforce your brand - Put your brand on every e-mail signature or on every blog entry, and every social networking profile. These are opportunities to reinforce your brand.
Present the "human" side of your brand - Networked markets demand openness from the companies who want to sell in these markets. A happy employee is a more powerful brand evangelist than almost anyone in Marketing department, and can be used to push your brand to a higher level.
Associate your brand with a non-profit cause - People then to be more willing to gather around a cause than a company. Just make sure that the non-profit cause, either by creating your own charity group or associating yourself to a prominent cause-oriented group, is indeed a heartfelt move rather than a mere marketing tool.
Practice microtargetting - If you have identified a particular, narrowly-defined group to target, identify a virtual community where they are already gathered or you can create you own. Then, seed it with your closest relationships, and watch it grow.
Ignite a word-of-mouth buzz - Promoting a new product or service by mere word-of-mouth-especially coming from a satisfied customer-is one of the most effective ways to establish your competence. The buzz can flow through social networks, and leaders of these networks can become powerful evangelists of your brand if they are satisfied with it.
