Social networking has taken the world by storm. It has become one of the most powerful tools in the world for getting your message out there. People now have a selection of channels to communicate through globally.
Some 800 million people are registered on Facebook, almost 200 million are on Twitter, Linked In has 100 million professionals, MySpace has 60 million users, and Google+ which was first launched in June of this year is seeing user numbers reaching 50 million already.
To date these forums have proven themselves very powerful for achieving results through people power and opinion.
Take for example the partnership between Diageo and Facebook. Diageo are embracing advocacy and the drinks company has suggested that Facebook has helped increase their sales by 20 per cent. Their collective Facebook fan base has grown 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 social networking success is an annual dog meat festival in eastern China, where thousands of dogs are killed and eaten to mark a military victory 600 years ago. The festival has been banned after public outrage at the slaughter of the animals. A Sina Weibo (a Chinese micro blogging site ) 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 bigger when marketed online as a support to your advertising in the press.
All you need to do is set it up, and keep updating and informing your customers about your business.
This along with steady advertising in newspapers will help gain interest and better inform your customers.
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.
