Social Networking

Social Networking has taken the globe by storm. It has become one of the most powerful tools in the world to get one’s message out there.

We are social beings and we now have a selection of channels to communicate through globally.

The user figures are astounding in social networking, with for example 800 million on Facebook, almost 200 million with twitter, Sina Weibo in China with 140 million registered users, Linked In with 100 million professionals, MySpace with 60 million users, Google+ which was first launched in June of this year is seeing user numbers reaching 50 million already.

To date these social networking forums have proven themselves very powerful in achieving results through people power and opinion. Take for example, the ramping up of the partnership between Diageo and Facebook. As reported in http://www.businessandleadership.com/ Diageo are embracing “advocacy” and suggests that Facebook has helped increase their sales by 20%, with their collective Facebook fan base growing from 3.5 million to 12 million in the past 12 months, while Smirnoff has become the number one beverage alcohol brand on Facebook worldwide.

Another example of the power of social networking as reported last week in the Irish Times, is an annual dog meat festival in eastern China, in which thousands of dogs are killed and eaten to mark a military victory 600 years ago, has been banned after public outrage at the slaughter of man’s best friend. A Weibo user launched an online campaign denouncing the dog-eating carnival. His posts were retweeted a staggering 100,000 times.

What does all this mean for your business? Basically the potential audience for your product/service is much, much bigger and what’s more this social networking audience is active, informed and ready to consider what you have to offer. All you need to do is set it up, keep updating and informing you’re customers about your business. The days of depending on the local market are not over but your potential market audience just got a lot bigger and you can sell to them directly in their own home at a time of their convenience.

Digital Marketing

“For the flower to bloom, you need the right soil as well as the right seed. The same is true to cultivate good thinking.”

- William Bernbach