February 26, 2010

Who are we and what is the point of this blog?

Hi internet world! Since this is a brand new blog, you might be asking yourself, "What is this blog all about?" This blog's purpose is to help inform individuals, companies, and organizations on how the internet can and is being used to get a message across. Whether that message is "Save the Rainforest" or "Buy my Product," the tactics involved in letting the world know about that message are very similar.

Everybody is talking about how social media is changing the way people communicate. People have written blogs, books, and articles about this topic for good reason. Some people still don't get the picture! Companies that don't embrace modern internet marketing techniques are not reaching as many consumers that they could be reaching otherwise. Instead, many continue using outdated tactics such as print ads, cold calls, spamming, and radio and television commercials. Consumers have learned to avoid unwanted advertisements through caller id, email filters, DVR boxes, and satellite radio.

Today the best way to reach your target market is to have them reach out to you. How is this possible? If you have a large presence on the internet, it will be easy for people to find you. While many internet users use search engines to find information, more and more they are getting referred to information from their peers on social networks. Because of this, many companies are expanding their web presence to these social networks to converse with their followers, fans, and subscribers. This way, when a company has an important message for their customers (Ex. 50% all purchases on Tuesday), they can send that message instantly and easily to users who requested it on the company's profile (within a given social network).

According to the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman, "100 billion status-updates per day are processed through Facebook's News Feed servers." Many of those stories are about a user's interactions with a company or organization. For that reason and many others, it is critical for companies and organizations to get involved in this growing and evolving world of social media.