I am just beginning to research and use social networking sites. Earlier this year, I created a FaceBook page, a LinkedIn account, and recently signed up on Twitter, though I have yet to post a “tweet”. FaceBook has allowed me to reconnect with many high school friends, but I do not collect “useless friends” as Seth Godin refers to them, I only accept people with whom I had enjoyed a close relationship in years past. I haven’t paid much attention to my LinkedIn account, though I do believe it could be a valuable tool for self-promotion and job seeking. Personally, I do not understand the popularity of Twitter, and really don’t find it very interesting, but I will continue to pay attention to it.
As for my proposed business, I think FaceBook and Twitter could be helpful if I could target and spread my message among like-minded individuals, to create awareness of the business and direct people to the website.
One key to successful business promotion via social networking is, as Seth stated on his blog, figuring out who has clout: “Bloggers don’t have impact because they have a lot of readers, they have a lot of impact because of who their readers are. If you knew which of your followers had clout, you could invest more time and energy in personal attention.” When an organization creates a Board of Directors, they want to have the most influential people in the community serve on the board, so they can in turn get more awareness, more contacts, and more positive reinforcement through the board member’s personal relationships.
I also very much agree with what Seth said in regard to FaceBook and other kinds of social media, “what matters (in business) is real relationships.” As any successful salesperson will tell you, the key to making sales is establishing a good relationship with your customer, and allowing them to think of you as a trusted friend, rather than a salesperson.
Week #5 Assignment – Social Networking by Miguel A. de Jesus
Based on what you saw in the videos, read in our textbook and Seth's blog, plus any other reading about and personal experiences with Social Networking write 5-10 sentences telling us:
What Social Networking sites do you visit/use? o I use Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. I find the following website useful in terms of developing my knowledge and contacts: www.twellow.com and www.Twittinsecrets.com. A very important consideration when using social media sites is to be sensitive to the needs of the reader, and not your own personal agenda; i.e. it is best to to promote are advertise your own “stuff”.
Seth Godin has been a master marketing "thought leader" for quite a while. His book, “Tribes” is an excellent and fast read that helps to illustrate the impact of social media. A few key concepts in this book are:
1.We are all leaders, with or without titles assigned to us. 2.There is an explosion of social media tools available like Facebook. LinkedIn, Craigslist, Ning, Meetup, Twitter, Squidoo, Basecamp and email available, to help lead the “tribes” that are seeking leadership, or aleast guidance.
Laura Lippay’s 101 video focused on rankings, which is very important to getting top rankings in the organic side of the Google search engine. Her key points covered optimization as follows. These are the areas she focused on to optimize your site:
a. Site Structure b. Link Relationships with other sites and pages. How many do I have? c. Content: Quality and original content is important! d. Information Design: where is the content located on my page. e. Code: Light clean pages are a requirement. White hat and Black hat SEO are important considerations when developing your content. Black hat should be avoided. f. Traffic and Popularity: How connected are you to what your fans or followers are “looking” for?
What do you think about it?
These are great are quick and brief communications tools for business and personal development. Communicating family and all events and activities that build the spirit.
How could you use it for promoting your business?
I currently send information that can serve people in their personal development, and promote ideas that may also serve their business or career development.
I visit a number of social networking sites. They include, digg, facebook, linkedin and twitter. I enjoy using the sites as I get the kind of information I like. I think the best sites for promoting a business would be twitter and linkedin. Linkedin is great for networking with clients, customers and partners while twitter is nice because you get the power of direct messaging to your subscribers without having to pay anything. The only problem with twitter is the amount of noise making it difficult for the user to get what they want without being careful to screen out the things they don’t need.
The post I found the most interesting, having only read about 20 of them, what the one called “Launching Brands in Public.” It talked about how companies need to use the internet and social networking, in this case Squidoo’s “Brands in Public”, not to fight the public and try to take down videos and posts that might be negative to a company, but instead to gather all of the “stuff” that is posted on the internet into a central place where the company can respond to “no-so-good stuff” and promote what they have to offer. I will definitely be using that site to gather information about products and companies that I might be interested in and see how they handle themselves.
Another post that I found interesting was “Win the fight, lose the customer.” In this post Seth discusses how a company can respond to an upset customer. He believes that a company has to choose between appeasing a customer with a complaint and proving the customer is wrong. I’ve read dozens of stories on sites like consumerist.com where someone will complain about a product or service that they received and how to company or person responds to that complaint. Some companies seem to just know how to get it right while others want to fight their customers and in the end it just makes the company look worse than it really should. I also agree that sometimes you do have to fire the customer because no matter what you do you can’t please everyone and it might be cheaper in the long run to lose that customer.
I’m not sure if businesses should use social networking too much. As a consumer I do like to hear some things from my favorite companies but too much information is not a good thing. Again just like dealing with complaints, some companies understand how to use social networking to tease the customer and leave them wanting more therefore driving them into the store or onto their website, while other companies just can’t seem to get the networking down right and end up looking lost and confusing their customers.
The social networking site that I visit the most is facebook.com, I like it better than myspace.com because it puts everyone’s comments together on one page rather than on a personal page, it also has fun games. I haven’t looked too much into it but I know that facebook.com has an advertising page that you can join but I don’t know too much about that. I have seen other companies use it by making a page and sending out friend requests. I also think that I can post on my wall the website address and get the people who are already my friends to check it out but that wouldn’t be that many people. I think that reading Seth’s blog is a resource for small business owners that cannot be ignored. So far every blog of his that I have read has had interesting and useful information. Today he talked about what an asset actually is by using amazon.com as an example “ What are Amazon's assets?…they primarily have two: a brand that people trust, and a one-click shopping relationship with 50 million people. On top of that, they have an archive of information about those people, what they like and what they don't, that makes it hard for someone to switch to another store easily.” This is just one example of some of his ideas that I like there are many more. I think that social networking can properly be used to promote a business if you follow some basic rules. Such as not spamming. One proper way that Seth talks about in his blog (9/23/2009) is that people will talk about your company good and bad and that you can’t control it but “You can organize it by highlighting the good stuff and rationally responding to the not-so-good stuff.” I think that this is a proper use for social networking.
I used Amazon.com quite a bit. It is the one I trust the most probably because I have used them quite a bit. I also sell DVDs on there. They have a very easy process. Amazon.com is a great place to start your business particularly if you are selling merchandise that have UPC or ISBN code already. If it is in their database then they already have their own description and images available. All you have to do is enter in the UPC or ISBN code and they do the rest. This makes it easy for sellers so they don't have to waste a lot of time with their own imagery. The other thing about Amazon.com is that you don't have to pay fees upfront when you post your item. They only take a fee out once you sell it. They also let customers rate their transactions with you which can build trust on your service over time. Amazon.com has different seller accounts. The individual seller account is free and is the one I mention above. If you want your own store account with your look, you will have to pay a monthly fee.
I think this is a great way to build a customer base and then migrate them to your only personal business website, but the key is to provide good and fast customer service. Always put the description of the condition of the item you are selling exactly what it is. Tell the customer exactly what they are getting. Honestly is key here. If you are not, it is possible they can come back and give a negative rating for you. You don't want that. It will appear on Amazon.com for all to see. The positive responses will show as well. Their responses are helpful to build trust on your service.
After looking throught the assignment and several online auction and classified ad URLs, I mainly use Ebay as my source of great deals and finds. I Love Amazon and CL but lately the quality and pricing that they offer doesn't match ebays ability to have great quality products through "Powerselling" stores. Craigslist has been notorious for phishing and spamming schemes by capturing your email for lists. Amazon has been flooded with cheap sellers and not so quality feedback system. The book for this class although at a cheap price was ordered on August 21st and shipped on September 3rd and got here a week later. That's horrible, but I cannot give them critical feedback. I also like the idea of bartering directly with retailers for items that they are overstocked on. I recently obtained a few pool cues brand new at less than cost prices. I think a perfect idea to build a customer base with ebay is to get used to online auctioning and start relatively simple to develop good rapport with ebay feedback. Once over 100 quality sales, I would naturally learn a process of shipping and invoicing to a seller. Ebay also uses link structure and SEO that can create "backlinks" for our main site from ebay. Pretty cool huh?
I use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – for Twitter I should say I created an account but never posted anything. I have used Orkut a lot in the past – it is the Google social networking that has became very popular in Brazil but not many people have heard about it in the US. I was wondering why Orkut is so popular in one country but not very popular in the other, and here is a good article about it - http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-brazil-loves-orkut/3082/.
I like social networking as a way to connect to friends and family that live out of town/country. Since it is impossible to see everyone often, I like to see their pictures and videos; it makes me feel closer to them. What I don’t like about social networking is that some comments and posting are not very useful to me – for example when someone send me a ‘virtual Starbucks’ or a ‘best friend contest’ on Facebook. I don’t get it.
I do think that social networking can be very useful for business. One example is a friend of mine in Chicago that make handbags – he posted a video on Facebook showing his hand making process - here is the link if you get interested http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/Diego-Rocha-Handbags/124263827699. LinkedIn is also very good for networking and connecting with old co-workers. Companies do need to be careful to not overwhelm customers/followers with too much information on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Seth mentions on his blog “Social norms” that we attract people like us and I totally agree with that. “If you're not attracting the people you want to be attracting online, perhaps you're not acting the way they do”. And that is one rule that apply for interpersonal relations as well as online – If you don’t like the way a person look or talk to you, you don’t hang out with them. In the same way, if you see a website that doesn’t connect to you, you will most likely not come back to that webpage.
The other blog that I like is “Are you in the tribe?” - Seth mentions the importance of the exclusive online community – “a small hurdle to get the right people in the door” – I don’t necessarily agree that you have to buy his book to be a member, but on the other hand, it is a good strategy to select only those who have a common interest (in this case, the book); better than having a large and open group of people that are not committed to the community.
I use craigslist to 1 - look for jobs from other peoples' posts 2 - post my ads to attract customers (Translating services and Chinese lessons) 3 - look for things to buy 4 - post ads to sell my stuff 5 - look for rental properties
I think craigslist is great as it identifies spams and warn users to avoid trouble. I think safety is what a lot of people concern about when doing business on internet.
I found posting on craigslist very effective there has not been a time when no one replied to my ads. I have tried posting actual flyers at coffee shops or handing out ads myself. Not as effective as posting on craigslist.
I think to make your postings on craigslist more effective. One should always include pictures if applicable. Also include both phone number and email for people to contact you based on their preference.
I use each type of social network for a different purpose. As well, each sight is used differently for both personal and business purposes. Though these sites can be a big time killer and possibly a waster there is many more positives that outshine these negatives.
We will stick with Twitter on this. I could promote my business by tweeting about great deals or events that our customers should be excited about. We can also post links to sites that support our culture and businesses goals that are interesting and tweet them. This way we don't have to create similar sights but just use them to our advantage.
Twitter is also another great way for our employees and volunteers to stay connected to our customers in a real way.
Seth said, "What matters is where are the real relationships?" This makes sense with your sphere of influence or trusted corporate circle; but for staying connected to your customer base Twitter provides a free commercial sent to their phone often producing good thoughts and inspiration about your company.
"Networking is always important when it is real." I can't agree more. Unless you are going to use Twitter and actually respond and build a relationship that stores up a "stock of faith" in your company with the customers you are probably wasting your time.
What do you think about his ideas? In the most part I agree with him that you can develop deep network relationships and probably should. But I disagree about the uselessness of having as many friends as possible. This is personal marketing opportunity that must be taken advantage of.
It depends which social sight you are talking about whether it is proper to use it for business or not. When it comes down to it; as I excel and advance in my career and life I see a mixing of the two. I still believe that there should be a business and personal sight separated for each use.
I have used eBay (USA and UK), Amazon and Wal-Mart. I have visited Bid or Buy occasionally and only been to the classifieds through these links.
I like the ‘thrill’ of getting a great price and the variety of items offered on a global scale but dislike the time-consuming search of auctions. I like the simplicity and fixed price of the stores. And the classifieds, which are simple to use too but also have the variety of the auctions, are great and I may use them in future. eBay and Amazon would serve my business well, I could get an eBay Store or have an auction up for several weeks and reach potential customers globally. I could use the classifieds to drive business to my site, however, as per Shannon Lewis – Entrepreneur, using the forum would be more beneficial and there would be a lot of work in posting an advert every 48 hours plus it would only be regional.
I think that pictures of your item are a basic marketing necessity, people are less inclined to buy an item sight-unseen. A to-the-point description is important so that customers know the specs about what they are buying. And finally, doing your research regarding the right pricing is needed because customers might not be willing to wait for shipping to save a few dollars and they also would rather pay a few dollars more to buy the item from a store instead of a stranger online.
I use Amazon.com for merchandise purchases, Craigs List for work search and miscellaneous purchase items, and Expedia, Travelocity for travel purchases.
After trying numerous others or independent smaller retailer sites, I find these the most efficient, user friendly, fast and customer satisfaction-oriented.
I could share these sites with my customers when making recommendations for products or to advertise with these sites for my own business, perhaps offering a special rate with a coupon code.
Doing more with less is significant. In my opinion, during this recession and time of exhausted, wasteful habits past, it is best for the business owner to get back to the way all businesses were started-with a personal greeting face-to-face, telephone and hand-shaking, and letter writing with a customized thoughtful and sincere marketing approach. Also giving a lot of things for free to people now will be a big hit, or at least to make them think they are getting a lot for free with extra friendly and warm hospitality and going that extra mile to make the client feel they are very important.
I visit youtube and Craigslist. I think youtube is laid out pretty nice, I could spend hours on youtube. I also use Craigslist since it’s free. You would be able to post your services of any kind or anything for sale with out paying for using their website. I purchased a cell phone from ebay last week and we don’t have that model in us and I have only seen pictures of it. So, I searched youtube and I found a clip about the phone. My point is that a lot of companies are putting their funny commercials on youtube, and it is a very effective and costless way to promote your site and product. A friend of mine actually rent out rental properties and he has been successful using Craigslist.
My favorite part was when Tom Peters smiles about the fact that a lot of friends on facebook are worthless relationships. I agree with when he said “Networking is always important when it is real, and it's always a useless distraction when it's fake”; I think the bottom line is if you are going to create a relationship on any social networking site then you must create a real friendship, as he said “I have real relationship with thousands of people around the world, there are people I have never met, who I can email in New Zealand, who would let me sleep in their living room for three days if I was in town” “because we have exchanged worthwhile ideas”
eBay is a very popular site. I have friends that always look on eBay before they go to a local store to purchase the item. I am not that hooked on the phenomenon though millions are! eBay has become a household word where anyone can practically sell anything. Weird Al Yankovich’s “eBay Song” is a testament to the ingenuity of the sellers and stupidity of the buyers! I personally know a lady in Japan who purchased hundreds of dollars of merchandise on eBay and sold them in her thrift store called American Recycle Store. Her venture was quite profitable!
Wish I started eBay…
I purchase gifts for my grandchildren in New York from Amazon (free shipping). I have used Craigslist, too. I sold a commercial cutting table ($150+), empty cardboard boxes ($120+), and old pieces of wood for $20. I think I underpriced my wood… The car I tried to sell was overpriced…I still have it. :(
Any media can help a startup business. The cheaper the better! The paper and electron periodicals (e-zines) offer a service for the right price: FREE. Several articles and videos identified different marketing tips to include
- A well-written ad; - Place a photo with your ad; - Ensure you do not price yourself out of the market – research prior auctions for your product; - Be reasonable on your shipping fees; - Do not argue with a customer – eat the loss even if you were right. There are exceptions, but negative publicity can cause unknown harm to your enterprise.
The online buying/selling auctions and other businesses are doing a fantastic volume. A lot of people are not frequenting the lights and glitter of an high-priced brick-n-mortar store, especially when they can save some money in this tight economy…and save gas, too!
I have visited and made some selling and buying from eBay and a few purchases from Amazon. Both these websites are good.
eBay sells all sorts of goods both old, rare and new items. They also offer cheaper quality goods, which are sometimes better than in retail stores. I usually use this website to sell my old stuff. When the customer receives the item, they usually leave a positive feedback. The tip is to have as many positive feedbacks as possible. These positive feedbacks will serve as a guide for other people and help them decide whom to buy from. In my previous purchases, positive feedbacks helped me in deciding which seller could offer the best deal. I think in business, this information is very important.
I've used several online auction, stores and classified ads over the past few years.
Craigslist and eBay being the two main sites in particular. I've enjoyed using both sites but have become particularly fond of Craigslist recently because of not having to rely on a middle man such as with eBay. It’s directly seller to buyer or buyer to seller. Well, at least that's what it is in its honest form. At times you'll see big business thriving through Craigslist and solely relying on selling their goods throughout the site. At one point in time, that's how I helped pay most of my bills. I took it as a simple hobby at first, and then ultimately it took off as a means of income. I think the advantage eBay has over Craigslist is that eBay can reach a larger target market with ease, while Craigslist doesn't require you to stay within your area, but that's where the convenience of the product lies.
As far as my business goes, Craigslist would be the best vehicle to market our business because we offer a service more so than a tangible object that can be shipped through eBay.
As far as marketing tips go for eBay, it’s just a matter setting up the right keywords and setting up your auction to appeal to customers instead of simply just posting it online.
At the moment, I am only using myspace. It's still on my list to join more. I do visit YouTube and other sites.
I think myspace is more appropriate for personal use other than business. YouTube is great. We are even thinking of possibly conducting a remote presentation between California and Louisiana via YouTube.
I think I could use sites like LinkedIn to promote my business by writing a good post for my business and having positive comments from others. As for YouTube if we have clips, it would be a great publicity as well.
I am not sure if it's because I am in Shanghai or I am having bad connections. I couldn't open Seth's bio or blog or video. However, I sourced from Lawrence Farry's comments on Seth's quotes - This point also speaks to Godin’s video comment which I paraphrase: “The internet is like a giant cocktail party… What really matters is, ‘Where are the real relationships?’… The internet allows a whole lot of fake networking to take place.” This comment also emphasizes substance and purposeful activity over getting noticed and misdirected activity. Using social networking sites to cultivate real and meaningful relationships is the proper way to use social networking for business.
I think that internet is a virtual networking site. It really depends on how people utilize it. There are sites that focuses on personal relationship. There are site that you can utilize for business development. There are dating sites that allows people to meet from two different ends of the world. But how do you know sometimes it is the person who you are speaking with. It could have been a ugly woman you speak with while you see a handsome man's photo. You can not believe in all of them. But it is a great way to spread the words and take as my own reference.
I think it is the proper way to promote business using social networking web sites.
Marjorie Stine Week 5 Assignment Most recently I have been visiting Facebook and LinkedIn. I see the benefit of these sites for personal use. On Facebook I am able to keep in touch with my nephew and I have been able to reconnect with friends that I had lost touch with. I use LinkedIn as I am currently looking for a job and I have been able to make some contacts via this site. What I don’t fully understand is how these sites are being used for business purposes, particularly large companies. I am hoping I will learn this in this class. I thought Seth’s comments in his video made a lot of sense. That the benefit is in real relationships. He indicated that he believes it is worthless to have lots of friends on Facebook if they aren’t real relationships. I liked the idea that the internet is like a giant cocktail party. I am looking forward to understanding how having a business presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. can sell products and services.
I usually visit facebook and youtube both allow me contact with my friends and share videos and messages and I think they offer a chance to add the opportunity to do business adding links or promotion. I think Seth is great marketer and his ideas rose up businesses and big companies have got success on its progress.Ebay is an example of this Seths'thougts.Social Networking shoul be use in an intelligent way on internet and get a good results for business because it is a potencial market around the world, and for do business is great road.
PEDRO RODRIGUEZ I usually visit facebook and youtube both allow me contact with my friends and share videos and messages and I think they offer a chance to add the opportunity to do business adding links or promotion. I think Seth is great marketer and his ideas rose up businesses and big companies have got success on its progress.Ebay is an example of this Seths'thougts.Social Networking shoul be use in an intelligent way on internet and get a good results for business because it is a potencial market around the world, and for do business is great road.
PEDRO RDZ said... PEDRO RODRIGUEZ I usually visit facebook and youtube both allow me contact with my friends and share videos and messages and I think they offer a chance to add the opportunity to do business adding links or promotion. I think Seth is great marketer and his ideas rose up businesses and big companies have got success on its progress.Ebay is an example of this Seths'thougts.Social Networking shoul be use in an intelligent way on internet and get a good results for business because it is a potencial market around the world, and for do business is great road.
I think it is a good site for professional networking.
How could you use it for promoting your business?
I use it to keep people up-to-date on what I am doing and hope they will pass my info along if they know of someone who is looking for a designer.
Quoting at least two different comments from Seth's video and blog:
What do you think about his ideas?
If you are using social networking for professional networking, then I agree with Seth that quality of connections is more important than the quantity of connections.
What is the proper way to use Social Networking for business?
If you have announcements such as “specials”, “coupons”, or “new product” you would like to get out to your followers, then I think social networking could be beneficial.
I currently use Facebook, however, I have also used myspace before as well. Seth Godin said in the video, “Networking is always important when it's real and it's always a useless distraction when it's fake.” I completely agree with him. I think Facebook is a great tool for keeping in touch with family and friends who have either moved away or you have lost contact with. He also says on his blog, “A lot of these fans and followers are faux.” I also agree with that. One downside of Facebook it that it has a popularity contest element to it with people competing for high numbers of friends. At my old workplace, I was in charge of developing social networking for the business. Facebook offers quite a few methods for promoting businesses such as advertising and creating a page for your business. I created a page for my old workplace and clients were able to become fans of the business. We were able to utilize the social networking site to broadcast special updates and deals for the business and send them directly to our fans. The business page also allowed for clients to post messages to the business. This opened another method of communication that would help foster a more personal B2C relationship.
Seth Godin also said in the video, “...are there people out there who I would go out of my way for and who would go out of their way for me?...The way you get there is by going out of your way for them. And by earning the priviledge of one day having that connection be worthwhile.” I agree with Seth's statement to a certain extent. I recognize the benefits of social networking and the value in helping one another out. I want my business to have a reputation for going the extra mile for its clients/affiliates/colleagues, but I don't want that action (of going above & beyond) to have strings attached to it. While I wouldn't mind reaping the benefits of practicing business this way, with others responding in kind, I don't want there to be a hidden agenda as a foundation for my actions and relationshps. I want my business to offer services that go above and beyond regardless of whether the other party will respond in kind.
I do not use Social Networking sites. I have visited other people’s and band’s MySpace pages, and looked at the front pages of some people’s Facebook. I think that Social Networking sites are highly invasive into ones privacy, and I cannot understand the cavalier attitude of people who post so much information about themselves on the web. But, that is their own business, and I think that people can do what they want to do despite the hidden dangers of such pervasive information dissemination. I believe that our society has developed into such a narcissistic society, that everyone believes that they must have at least some measure of fame no matter how small, in order to feel normal. I think that it stems from the Paris Hilton “want to-be” crowd. This woman has done nothing, yet is enormously famous. I guess that since I am a “nobody”, I may as well get my two minutes of fame on the internet as well. I hear all of the excuses. “I use facebook to keep in touch with my family and friends”. “I never play those stupid games on facebook; I just use it to keep in touch.” Meanwhile, as I walk through the main library half of the people are playing “Farmville” and checking out the “profiles” of someone they have only “met” online. Maybe we are approaching the point where we are more satisfied with virtual reality rather than real-reality (I cannot believe that I am forced to hyphenate the root of the same word). I long for the days when we actually had real “social networking”. I guess that idea is just as “out” as the 8 track tape player. Okay, business is another story. My business model relies on this societal sickness at hand. I believe that I can capture the hearts and minds of the Social Networking scene by providing something useful in the midst of “CaféWorld” and Vampire Wars”. Maybe an online game or application, paired with a portal for independent films and music that tracks with your facebook and other social networking sites. This requires more thought and more experience with these sites. Maybe something that is real and as useful viral growth. Quoting from Seth Godin’s video: “Networking is always important when it is real. And it is always a useless distraction when it is fake.” Quoting from Seth Godin’s blog: “A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time.” “The lesson: spend your time coming up with better ideas, not with more (faux) followers.” I think that Seth Godin’s ideas are quite sound. We put way too much emphasis on the quantity of our quantity in our web social networks instead of the quality. I have heard people say, “I have XXX number of friends on my facebook”, like they are bragging about all of nothing. How many of those “friends” are real. The proper way to use Social Networking for business is to create real relationships that allow you to earn the privilege of those connections to one day be worthwhile.
I do not tweet, I’m barely linkedIn, however it was a new years resolution to start up a facebook page. I did, and was able to reconnect with my half brother that I have not spoken to in ten years and a niece and two nephews I barely know. If for this reason alone I do enjoy ‘social networking’ but truth be told I am a firm believer in real human contact. I was listening to Seth Godin’s words and it is what I have been saying all along – online networking is a bogus way to engage.
“It’s worthless to have lots and lots of friends on facebook because they are not really your friends”.
“What matters are the real relationships”
I believe what Seth says about online communities/networking and agree as well as have experienced his perception of social networking for business. It’s like going to a Chamber of Commerce gathering – everyone hands out business cards in hopes of a referral, but nobody follows up with a phone call or a hand written note or something that makes you stand out from the rest. I have developed good working relationships with strangers based on my follow up with our relationship and doing something for someone without the thought of getting it back. I don’t believe this is called social networking I believe it is a human trait that is overlooked and brushed aside with technology. Technology is good if you use it to enhance your life and experiences but if you rely on it for quality of life it can be a very two-dimensional experience.
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Week 5 Assignment – Social Networking
I am just beginning to research and use social networking sites. Earlier this year, I created a FaceBook page, a LinkedIn account, and recently signed up on Twitter, though I have yet to post a “tweet”. FaceBook has allowed me to reconnect with many high school friends, but I do not collect “useless friends” as Seth Godin refers to them, I only accept people with whom I had enjoyed a close relationship in years past. I haven’t paid much attention to my LinkedIn account, though I do believe it could be a valuable tool for self-promotion and job seeking. Personally, I do not understand the popularity of Twitter, and really don’t find it very interesting, but I will continue to pay attention to it.
As for my proposed business, I think FaceBook and Twitter could be helpful if I could target and spread my message among like-minded individuals, to create awareness of the business and direct people to the website.
One key to successful business promotion via social networking is, as Seth stated on his blog, figuring out who has clout: “Bloggers don’t have impact because they have a lot of readers, they have a lot of impact because of who their readers are. If you knew which of your followers had clout, you could invest more time and energy in personal attention.” When an organization creates a Board of Directors, they want to have the most influential people in the community serve on the board, so they can in turn get more awareness, more contacts, and more positive reinforcement through the board member’s personal relationships.
I also very much agree with what Seth said in regard to FaceBook and other kinds of social media, “what matters (in business) is real relationships.” As any successful salesperson will tell you, the key to making sales is establishing a good relationship with your customer, and allowing them to think of you as a trusted friend, rather than a salesperson.
Week #5 Assignment – Social Networking
by Miguel A. de Jesus
Based on what you saw in the videos, read in our textbook and Seth's blog, plus any other reading about and personal experiences with Social Networking write 5-10 sentences telling us:
What Social Networking sites do you visit/use?
o I use Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. I find the following website useful in terms of developing my knowledge and contacts: www.twellow.com and www.Twittinsecrets.com. A very important consideration when using social media sites is to be sensitive to the needs of the reader, and not your own personal agenda; i.e. it is best to to promote are advertise your own “stuff”.
Seth Godin has been a master marketing "thought leader" for quite a while. His book, “Tribes” is an excellent and fast read that helps to illustrate the impact of social media. A few key concepts in this book are:
1.We are all leaders, with or without titles assigned to us.
2.There is an explosion of social media tools available like Facebook. LinkedIn, Craigslist, Ning, Meetup, Twitter, Squidoo, Basecamp and email available, to help lead the “tribes” that are seeking leadership, or aleast guidance.
Laura Lippay’s 101 video focused on rankings, which is very important to getting top rankings in the organic side of the Google search engine. Her key points covered optimization as follows. These are the areas she focused on to optimize your site:
a. Site Structure
b. Link Relationships with other sites and pages. How many do I have?
c. Content: Quality and original content is important!
d. Information Design: where is the content located on my page.
e. Code: Light clean pages are a requirement. White hat and Black hat SEO are important considerations when developing your content. Black hat should be avoided.
f. Traffic and Popularity: How connected are you to what your fans or followers are “looking” for?
What do you think about it?
These are great are quick and brief communications tools for business and personal development. Communicating family and all events and activities that build the spirit.
How could you use it for promoting your business?
I currently send information that can serve people in their personal development, and promote ideas that may also serve their business or career development.
I visit a number of social networking sites. They include, digg, facebook, linkedin and twitter. I enjoy using the sites as I get the kind of information I like. I think the best sites for promoting a business would be twitter and linkedin. Linkedin is great for networking with clients, customers and partners while twitter is nice because you get the power of direct messaging to your subscribers without having to pay anything. The only problem with twitter is the amount of noise making it difficult for the user to get what they want without being careful to screen out the things they don’t need.
The post I found the most interesting, having only read about 20 of them, what the one called “Launching Brands in Public.” It talked about how companies need to use the internet and social networking, in this case Squidoo’s “Brands in Public”, not to fight the public and try to take down videos and posts that might be negative to a company, but instead to gather all of the “stuff” that is posted on the internet into a central place where the company can respond to “no-so-good stuff” and promote what they have to offer. I will definitely be using that site to gather information about products and companies that I might be interested in and see how they handle themselves.
Another post that I found interesting was “Win the fight, lose the customer.” In this post Seth discusses how a company can respond to an upset customer. He believes that a company has to choose between appeasing a customer with a complaint and proving the customer is wrong. I’ve read dozens of stories on sites like consumerist.com where someone will complain about a product or service that they received and how to company or person responds to that complaint. Some companies seem to just know how to get it right while others want to fight their customers and in the end it just makes the company look worse than it really should. I also agree that sometimes you do have to fire the customer because no matter what you do you can’t please everyone and it might be cheaper in the long run to lose that customer.
I’m not sure if businesses should use social networking too much. As a consumer I do like to hear some things from my favorite companies but too much information is not a good thing. Again just like dealing with complaints, some companies understand how to use social networking to tease the customer and leave them wanting more therefore driving them into the store or onto their website, while other companies just can’t seem to get the networking down right and end up looking lost and confusing their customers.
The social networking site that I visit the most is facebook.com, I like it better than myspace.com because it puts everyone’s comments together on one page rather than on a personal page, it also has fun games. I haven’t looked too much into it but I know that facebook.com has an advertising page that you can join but I don’t know too much about that. I have seen other companies use it by making a page and sending out friend requests. I also think that I can post on my wall the website address and get the people who are already my friends to check it out but that wouldn’t be that many people. I think that reading Seth’s blog is a resource for small business owners that cannot be ignored. So far every blog of his that I have read has had interesting and useful information. Today he talked about what an asset actually is by using amazon.com as an example “ What are Amazon's assets?…they primarily have two: a brand that people trust, and a one-click shopping relationship with 50 million people. On top of that, they have an archive of information about those people, what they like and what they don't, that makes it hard for someone to switch to another store easily.” This is just one example of some of his ideas that I like there are many more. I think that social networking can properly be used to promote a business if you follow some basic rules. Such as not spamming. One proper way that Seth talks about in his blog (9/23/2009) is that people will talk about your company good and bad and that you can’t control it but “You can organize it by highlighting the good stuff and rationally responding to the not-so-good stuff.” I think that this is a proper use for social networking.
Week #5 Assignment – Auction/Store Site
I used Amazon.com quite a bit. It is the one I trust the most probably because I have used them quite a bit. I also sell DVDs on there. They have a very easy process.
Amazon.com is a great place to start your business particularly if you are selling merchandise that have UPC or ISBN code already. If it is in their database then they already have their own description and images available. All you have to do is enter in the UPC or ISBN code and they do the rest. This makes it easy for sellers so they don't have to waste a lot of time with their own imagery.
The other thing about Amazon.com is that you don't have to pay fees upfront when you post your item. They only take a fee out once you sell it. They also let customers rate their transactions with you which can build trust on your service over time. Amazon.com has different seller accounts. The individual seller account is free and is the one I mention above. If you want your own store account with your look, you will have to pay a monthly fee.
I think this is a great way to build a customer base and then migrate them to your only personal business website, but the key is to provide good and fast customer service. Always put the description of the condition of the item you are selling exactly what it is. Tell the customer exactly what they are getting. Honestly is key here. If you are not, it is possible they can come back and give a negative rating for you. You don't want that. It will appear on Amazon.com for all to see. The positive responses will show as well. Their responses are helpful to build trust on your service.
After looking throught the assignment and several online auction and classified ad URLs, I mainly use Ebay as my source of great deals and finds. I Love Amazon and CL but lately the quality and pricing that they offer doesn't match ebays ability to have great quality products through "Powerselling" stores. Craigslist has been notorious for phishing and spamming schemes by capturing your email for lists. Amazon has been flooded with cheap sellers and not so quality feedback system. The book for this class although at a cheap price was ordered on August 21st and shipped on September 3rd and got here a week later. That's horrible, but I cannot give them critical feedback. I also like the idea of bartering directly with retailers for items that they are overstocked on. I recently obtained a few pool cues brand new at less than cost prices. I think a perfect idea to build a customer base with ebay is to get used to online auctioning and start relatively simple to develop good rapport with ebay feedback. Once over 100 quality sales, I would naturally learn a process of shipping and invoicing to a seller. Ebay also uses link structure and SEO that can create "backlinks" for our main site from ebay. Pretty cool huh?
I use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – for Twitter I should say I created an account but never posted anything. I have used Orkut a lot in the past – it is the Google social networking that has became very popular in Brazil but not many people have heard about it in the US. I was wondering why Orkut is so popular in one country but not very popular in the other, and here is a good article about it - http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-brazil-loves-orkut/3082/.
I like social networking as a way to connect to friends and family that live out of town/country. Since it is impossible to see everyone often, I like to see their pictures and videos; it makes me feel closer to them. What I don’t like about social networking is that some comments and posting are not very useful to me – for example when someone send me a ‘virtual Starbucks’ or a ‘best friend contest’ on Facebook. I don’t get it.
I do think that social networking can be very useful for business. One example is a friend of mine in Chicago that make handbags – he posted a video on Facebook showing his hand making process - here is the link if you get interested http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/Diego-Rocha-Handbags/124263827699. LinkedIn is also very good for networking and connecting with old co-workers. Companies do need to be careful to not overwhelm customers/followers with too much information on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Seth mentions on his blog “Social norms” that we attract people like us and I totally agree with that. “If you're not attracting the people you want to be attracting online, perhaps you're not acting the way they do”. And that is one rule that apply for interpersonal relations as well as online – If you don’t like the way a person look or talk to you, you don’t hang out with them. In the same way, if you see a website that doesn’t connect to you, you will most likely not come back to that webpage.
The other blog that I like is “Are you in the tribe?” - Seth mentions the importance of the exclusive online community – “a small hurdle to get the right people in the door” – I don’t necessarily agree that you have to buy his book to be a member, but on the other hand, it is a good strategy to select only those who have a common interest (in this case, the book); better than having a large and open group of people that are not committed to the community.
I use craigslist to
1 - look for jobs from other peoples' posts
2 - post my ads to attract customers (Translating services and Chinese lessons)
3 - look for things to buy
4 - post ads to sell my stuff
5 - look for rental properties
I think craigslist is great as it identifies spams and warn users to avoid trouble. I think safety is what a lot of people concern about when doing business on internet.
I found posting on craigslist very effective there has not been a time when no one replied to my ads. I have tried posting actual flyers at coffee shops or handing out ads myself. Not as effective as posting on craigslist.
I think to make your postings on craigslist more effective. One should always include pictures if applicable. Also include both phone number and email for people to contact you based on their preference.
I use Twitter, Facebook and Skype.
I use each type of social network for a different purpose. As well, each sight is used differently for both personal and business purposes. Though these sites can be a big time killer and possibly a waster there is many more positives that outshine these negatives.
We will stick with Twitter on this. I could promote my business by tweeting about great deals or events that our customers should be excited about. We can also post links to sites that support our culture and businesses goals that are interesting and tweet them. This way we don't have to create similar sights but just use them to our advantage.
Twitter is also another great way for our employees and volunteers to stay connected to our customers in a real way.
Seth said, "What matters is where are the real relationships?" This makes sense with your sphere of influence or trusted corporate circle; but for staying connected to your customer base Twitter provides a free commercial sent to their phone often producing good thoughts and inspiration about your company.
"Networking is always important when it is real." I can't agree more. Unless you are going to use Twitter and actually respond and build a relationship that stores up a "stock of faith" in your company with the customers you are probably wasting your time.
What do you think about his ideas?
In the most part I agree with him that you can develop deep network relationships and probably should. But I disagree about the uselessness of having as many friends as possible. This is personal marketing opportunity that must be taken advantage of.
It depends which social sight you are talking about whether it is proper to use it for business or not. When it comes down to it; as I excel and advance in my career and life I see a mixing of the two. I still believe that there should be a business and personal sight separated for each use.
Week 6 – Online Auctions, Stores and Classifieds
I have used eBay (USA and UK), Amazon and Wal-Mart. I have visited Bid or Buy occasionally and only been to the classifieds through these links.
I like the ‘thrill’ of getting a great price and the variety of items offered on a global scale but dislike the time-consuming search of auctions. I like the simplicity and fixed price of the stores. And the classifieds, which are simple to use too but also have the variety of the auctions, are great and I may use them in future. eBay and Amazon would serve my business well, I could get an eBay Store or have an auction up for several weeks and reach potential customers globally. I could use the classifieds to drive business to my site, however, as per Shannon Lewis – Entrepreneur, using the forum would be more beneficial and there would be a lot of work in posting an advert every 48 hours plus it would only be regional.
I think that pictures of your item are a basic marketing necessity, people are less inclined to buy an item sight-unseen. A to-the-point description is important so that customers know the specs about what they are buying. And finally, doing your research regarding the right pricing is needed because customers might not be willing to wait for shipping to save a few dollars and they also would rather pay a few dollars more to buy the item from a store instead of a stranger online.
I use Amazon.com for merchandise purchases, Craigs List for work search and miscellaneous purchase items, and Expedia, Travelocity for travel purchases.
After trying numerous others or independent smaller retailer sites, I find these the most efficient, user friendly, fast and customer satisfaction-oriented.
I could share these sites with my customers when making recommendations for products or to advertise with these sites for my own business, perhaps offering a special rate with a coupon code.
Doing more with less is significant. In my opinion, during this recession and time of exhausted, wasteful habits past, it is best for the business owner to get back to the way all businesses were started-with a personal greeting face-to-face, telephone and hand-shaking, and letter writing with a customized thoughtful and sincere marketing approach. Also giving a lot of things for free to people now will be a big hit, or at least to make them think they are getting a lot for free with extra friendly and warm hospitality and going that extra mile to make the client feel they are very important.
I visit youtube and Craigslist. I think youtube is laid out pretty nice, I could spend hours on youtube. I also use Craigslist since it’s free. You would be able to post your services of any kind or anything for sale with out paying for using their website. I purchased a cell phone from ebay last week and we don’t have that model in us and I have only seen pictures of it. So, I searched youtube and I found a clip about the phone. My point is that a lot of companies are putting their funny commercials on youtube, and it is a very effective and costless way to promote your site and product. A friend of mine actually rent out rental properties and he has been successful using Craigslist.
My favorite part was when Tom Peters smiles about the fact that a lot of friends on facebook are worthless relationships. I agree with when he said “Networking is always important when it is real, and it's always a useless distraction when it's fake”; I think the bottom line is if you are going to create a relationship on any social networking site then you must create a real friendship, as he said “I have real relationship with thousands of people around the world, there are people I have never met, who I can email in New Zealand, who would let me sleep in their living room for three days if I was in town” “because we have exchanged worthwhile ideas”
eBay is a very popular site. I have friends that always look on eBay before they go to a local store to purchase the item. I am not that hooked on the phenomenon though millions are! eBay has become a household word where anyone can practically sell anything. Weird Al Yankovich’s “eBay Song” is a testament to the ingenuity of the sellers and stupidity of the buyers! I personally know a lady in Japan who purchased hundreds of dollars of merchandise on eBay and sold them in her thrift store called American Recycle Store. Her venture was quite profitable!
Wish I started eBay…
I purchase gifts for my grandchildren in New York from Amazon (free shipping). I have used Craigslist, too. I sold a commercial cutting table ($150+), empty cardboard boxes ($120+), and old pieces of wood for $20. I think I underpriced my wood… The car I tried to sell was overpriced…I still have it. :(
Any media can help a startup business. The cheaper the better! The paper and electron periodicals (e-zines) offer a service for the right price: FREE. Several articles and videos identified different marketing tips to include
- A well-written ad;
- Place a photo with your ad;
- Ensure you do not price yourself out of the market – research prior auctions for your product;
- Be reasonable on your shipping fees;
- Do not argue with a customer – eat the loss even if you were right. There are exceptions, but negative publicity can cause unknown harm to your enterprise.
The online buying/selling auctions and other businesses are doing a fantastic volume. A lot of people are not frequenting the lights and glitter of an high-priced brick-n-mortar store, especially when they can save some money in this tight economy…and save gas, too!
I have visited and made some selling and buying from eBay and a few purchases from Amazon. Both these websites are good.
eBay sells all sorts of goods both old, rare and new items. They also offer cheaper quality goods, which are sometimes better than in retail stores. I usually use this website to sell my old stuff. When the customer receives the item, they usually leave a positive feedback. The tip is to have as many positive feedbacks as possible. These positive feedbacks will serve as a guide for other people and help them decide whom to buy from. In my previous purchases, positive feedbacks helped me in deciding which seller could offer the best deal. I think in business, this information is very important.
I've used several online auction, stores and classified ads over the past few years.
Craigslist and eBay being the two main sites in particular. I've enjoyed using both sites but have become particularly fond of Craigslist recently because of not having to rely on a middle man such as with eBay. It’s directly seller to buyer or buyer to seller. Well, at least that's what it is in its honest form. At times you'll see big business thriving through Craigslist and solely relying on selling their goods throughout the site. At one point in time, that's how I helped pay most of my bills. I took it as a simple hobby at first, and then ultimately it took off as a means of income. I think the advantage eBay has over Craigslist is that eBay can reach a larger target market with ease, while Craigslist doesn't require you to stay within your area, but that's where the convenience of the product lies.
As far as my business goes, Craigslist would be the best vehicle to market our business because we offer a service more so than a tangible object that can be shipped through eBay.
As far as marketing tips go for eBay, it’s just a matter setting up the right keywords and setting up your auction to appeal to customers instead of simply just posting it online.
Social Networking - Bei Lu
At the moment, I am only using myspace. It's still on my list to join more. I do visit YouTube and other sites.
I think myspace is more appropriate for personal use other than business. YouTube is great. We are even thinking of possibly conducting a remote presentation between California and Louisiana via YouTube.
I think I could use sites like LinkedIn to promote my business by writing a good post for my business and having positive comments from others. As for YouTube if we have clips, it would be a great publicity as well.
I am not sure if it's because I am in Shanghai or I am having bad connections. I couldn't open Seth's bio or blog or video. However, I sourced from Lawrence Farry's comments on Seth's quotes - This point also speaks to Godin’s video comment which I paraphrase: “The internet is like a giant cocktail party… What really matters is, ‘Where are the real relationships?’… The internet allows a whole lot of fake networking to take place.” This comment also emphasizes substance and purposeful activity over getting noticed and misdirected activity. Using social networking sites to cultivate real and meaningful relationships is the proper way to use social networking for business.
I think that internet is a virtual networking site. It really depends on how people utilize it. There are sites that focuses on personal relationship. There are site that you can utilize for business development. There are dating sites that allows people to meet from two different ends of the world. But how do you know sometimes it is the person who you are speaking with. It could have been a ugly woman you speak with while you see a handsome man's photo. You can not believe in all of them. But it is a great way to spread the words and take as my own reference.
I think it is the proper way to promote business using social networking web sites.
Marjorie Stine Week 5 Assignment
Most recently I have been visiting Facebook and LinkedIn. I see the benefit of these sites for personal use. On Facebook I am able to keep in touch with my nephew and I have been able to reconnect with friends that I had lost touch with. I use LinkedIn as I am currently looking for a job and I have been able to make some contacts via this site. What I don’t fully understand is how these sites are being used for business purposes, particularly large companies. I am hoping I will learn this in this class. I thought Seth’s comments in his video made a lot of sense. That the benefit is in real relationships. He indicated that he believes it is worthless to have lots of friends on Facebook if they aren’t real relationships. I liked the idea that the internet is like a giant cocktail party. I am looking forward to understanding how having a business presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. can sell products and services.
I usually visit facebook and youtube both allow me contact with my friends and share videos and messages and I think they offer a chance to add the opportunity to do business adding links or promotion. I think Seth is great marketer and his ideas rose up businesses and big companies have got success on its progress.Ebay is an example of this Seths'thougts.Social Networking shoul be use in an intelligent way on internet and get a good results for business because it is a potencial market around the world, and for do business is great road.
PEDRO RODRIGUEZ
I usually visit facebook and youtube both allow me contact with my friends and share videos and messages and I think they offer a chance to add the opportunity to do business adding links or promotion. I think Seth is great marketer and his ideas rose up businesses and big companies have got success on its progress.Ebay is an example of this Seths'thougts.Social Networking shoul be use in an intelligent way on internet and get a good results for business because it is a potencial market around the world, and for do business is great road.
PEDRO RDZ said...
PEDRO RODRIGUEZ
I usually visit facebook and youtube both allow me contact with my friends and share videos and messages and I think they offer a chance to add the opportunity to do business adding links or promotion. I think Seth is great marketer and his ideas rose up businesses and big companies have got success on its progress.Ebay is an example of this Seths'thougts.Social Networking shoul be use in an intelligent way on internet and get a good results for business because it is a potencial market around the world, and for do business is great road.
February 22, 2010 11:14 PM
What Social Networking sites do you visit/use?
www.linkedin.com
What do you think about it?
I think it is a good site for professional networking.
How could you use it for promoting your business?
I use it to keep people up-to-date on what I am doing and hope they will pass my info along if they know of someone who is looking for a designer.
Quoting at least two different comments from Seth's video and blog:
What do you think about his ideas?
If you are using social networking for professional networking, then I agree with Seth that quality of connections is more important than the quantity of connections.
What is the proper way to use Social Networking for business?
If you have announcements such as “specials”, “coupons”, or “new product” you would like to get out to your followers, then I think social networking could be beneficial.
I currently use Facebook, however, I have also used myspace before as well. Seth Godin said in the video, “Networking is always important when it's real and it's always a useless distraction when it's fake.” I completely agree with him. I think Facebook is a great tool for keeping in touch with family and friends who have either moved away or you have lost contact with. He also says on his blog, “A lot of these fans and followers are faux.” I also agree with that. One downside of Facebook it that it has a popularity contest element to it with people competing for high numbers of friends. At my old workplace, I was in charge of developing social networking for the business. Facebook offers quite a few methods for promoting businesses such as advertising and creating a page for your business. I created a page for my old workplace and clients were able to become fans of the business. We were able to utilize the social networking site to broadcast special updates and deals for the business and send them directly to our fans. The business page also allowed for clients to post messages to the business. This opened another method of communication that would help foster a more personal B2C relationship.
Seth Godin also said in the video, “...are there people out there who I would go out of my way for and who would go out of their way for me?...The way you get there is by going out of your way for them. And by earning the priviledge of one day having that connection be worthwhile.” I agree with Seth's statement to a certain extent. I recognize the benefits of social networking and the value in helping one another out. I want my business to have a reputation for going the extra mile for its clients/affiliates/colleagues, but I don't want that action (of going above & beyond) to have strings attached to it. While I wouldn't mind reaping the benefits of practicing business this way, with others responding in kind, I don't want there to be a hidden agenda as a foundation for my actions and relationshps. I want my business to offer services that go above and beyond regardless of whether the other party will respond in kind.
I do not use Social Networking sites. I have visited other people’s and band’s MySpace pages, and looked at the front pages of some people’s Facebook.
I think that Social Networking sites are highly invasive into ones privacy, and I cannot understand the cavalier attitude of people who post so much information about themselves on the web. But, that is their own business, and I think that people can do what they want to do despite the hidden dangers of such pervasive information dissemination.
I believe that our society has developed into such a narcissistic society, that everyone believes that they must have at least some measure of fame no matter how small, in order to feel normal. I think that it stems from the Paris Hilton “want to-be” crowd. This woman has done nothing, yet is enormously famous. I guess that since I am a “nobody”, I may as well get my two minutes of fame on the internet as well.
I hear all of the excuses. “I use facebook to keep in touch with my family and friends”. “I never play those stupid games on facebook; I just use it to keep in touch.” Meanwhile, as I walk through the main library half of the people are playing “Farmville” and checking out the “profiles” of someone they have only “met” online.
Maybe we are approaching the point where we are more satisfied with virtual reality rather than real-reality (I cannot believe that I am forced to hyphenate the root of the same word). I long for the days when we actually had real “social networking”. I guess that idea is just as “out” as the 8 track tape player.
Okay, business is another story. My business model relies on this societal sickness at hand. I believe that I can capture the hearts and minds of the Social Networking scene by providing something useful in the midst of “CaféWorld” and Vampire Wars”. Maybe an online game or application, paired with a portal for independent films and music that tracks with your facebook and other social networking sites. This requires more thought and more experience with these sites. Maybe something that is real and as useful viral growth.
Quoting from Seth Godin’s video:
“Networking is always important when it is real. And it is always a useless distraction when it is fake.”
Quoting from Seth Godin’s blog:
“A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time.”
“The lesson: spend your time coming up with better ideas, not with more (faux) followers.”
I think that Seth Godin’s ideas are quite sound. We put way too much emphasis on the quantity of our quantity in our web social networks instead of the quality. I have heard people say, “I have XXX number of friends on my facebook”, like they are bragging about all of nothing. How many of those “friends” are real.
The proper way to use Social Networking for business is to create real relationships that allow you to earn the privilege of those connections to one day be worthwhile.
Daniel Jentzsch
I am trying to respond to
Juliana Schmidt
This blog post does not allow this to happen with her profile.
I will try again later.
I do not tweet, I’m barely linkedIn, however it was a new years resolution to start up a facebook page. I did, and was able to reconnect with my half brother that I have not spoken to in ten years and a niece and two nephews I barely know. If for this reason alone I do enjoy ‘social networking’ but truth be told I am a firm believer in real human contact. I was listening to Seth Godin’s words and it is what I have been saying all along – online networking is a bogus way to engage.
“It’s worthless to have lots and lots of friends on facebook because they are not really your friends”.
“What matters are the real relationships”
I believe what Seth says about online communities/networking and agree as well as have experienced his perception of social networking for business. It’s like going to a Chamber of Commerce gathering – everyone hands out business cards in hopes of a referral, but nobody follows up with a phone call or a hand written note or something that makes you stand out from the rest. I have developed good working relationships with strangers based on my follow up with our relationship and doing something for someone without the thought of getting it back. I don’t believe this is called social networking I believe it is a human trait that is overlooked and brushed aside with technology. Technology is good if you use it to enhance your life and experiences but if you rely on it for quality of life it can be a very two-dimensional experience.
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