According to Mr. Jones – the
current popularity of social networking sites are causing companies with recognizable mainstream brands to rethink and/or
consider their advertising strategies on these types of sites – whether they
want to advertise there or not.
Social networks – by their
nature – are viral. As people interact,
anecdotal experiences of certain brands will have an effect on these brands
that can not be underestimated. Word of
mouth in a venue as fluid and widespread as the internet can be the greatest
boost or bane to a brand. The best
practices for brand marketers should now include social networks in their strategies.
The author continues with
some advice and strategies to help a brand “get social”. Some suggestions include adding widgets or
other means for users to be both interactive and creative with the brand.
This paragraph is probably
the most relevant to the type of marketing that I would do for my particular
site.
2. See the Forest and
the Trees – Pay attention to the
smaller, niche social network sites, where people are gathering around their
areas of interest and hobbies. Brand opportunities around these newer
micro-social sites will increase as they begin competing and winning attention
from the large, noisy social sites.
I plan on researching more
niche social networking areas such as “mommy” groups or other family-oriented
groups and trying to develop a strategy to reach more of these potential
customers. Depending on the types of
groups/sites these potential customers are using – this may entail nothing more
than a signature file that I would use at the end of a posting or response I
might make, to offering coupons or other incentives to new customers. I had done some of this in a limited capacity
on the past – mainly in terms of linking on family-friendly and family-oriented
sites. I can see how a social
interaction would be a positive advertising strategy for my particular product
line – especially since a lot of my sales come from repeats and word-of mouth
referrals already.