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There’s little doubt blogging is big these days. Some people blog because they like to let their opinions be known, and the bigger the audience the better. One blogger describes himself as a vocal upstart and a bit of a trouble maker.
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Written by Karen Fenton
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 Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, Twitter, Blogging.... These terms are constantly being tossed about at work, in the media, and around the family dinner table. What is all this about? I understand the usefulness of these tools for staying in touch with people, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that they are very powerful marketing tools.
The web became commonly used in the late 1990's as the number of computers in homes began to climb dramatically. Over the last decade it has become standard practice to "surf the web" for goods and services. This is great news for providers of goods and services as they become adept at reaching potential customers across the globe as well as across the street.
Personally, I think in the last three or so years, it has become progressively difficult to filter through all the information available via the internet. There is so much information accessible, it can be hard to distill that information down into something useful. For the average consumer it can feel like a constant onslaught of meaningless sales pitches.
Consumers are people, and like it or not, people are inherently social and make many decisions on a "gut level" that is hard to define. Subjective variants such as trustworthiness, image and perceived expertise are an important part of the decision process of consumers. As the personal aspect of online business was becoming lost, the pendulum has swung to meet the social aspect of consumerism.
Through things like Twitter, social networking and blogging, a face is being returned to the voice of web marketing. Great web design and content will always be critical, it's part of that gut level first impression, but the new avenues opening up on the web reveal the personality of an online presence. They give consumers something by which to distinguish the choices available to them.
If you are wondering how to use the social aspects of the web for your business, I suggest you first explore the avenues as a consumer. Subscribe to some blogs on topics of interest. Follow your favorite critic or news personality on Twitter. Join a social network and start to get a feel for how these tools work. Experience them from the consumer's perspective. I think you'll see why they are so powerful. |
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