Well, the first question we have in our mind before getting into anything is - WHY? And obviously many of you would be thinking the same. Let me give you something to think about real seriously.
Before we get into ‘businesses or ROI or strategies and tactics, let’s try to get some insight of ourselves. Let’s start on a more personal note.
When we find ourselves in weird situations, be it a natural calamity or anything similar, what are the things that come to our mind first? We think about what’s really important. You know what I mean.
Family, Friends, Home, Community, Security, My Relationships.
Isn’t it amazing how in awkward situations our thoughts ALWAYS go to these things? To the things that are REALLY important? And let’s find the MAGIC here. We know a fact now. Why social networking is so popular today? Because, all those REAL important things are EXACTLY what social network is all about.
Because Social Network and Web 2.0 are truly bringing the world closer. We are all getting more and more connected. We are building relationships with people around the world, and we’re doing it at an amazing pace.
This is a huge tidal wave………. And if you and your business are not positioned in front of that wave, then you’re going to be left behind. This is a FUNDAMENTAL shift on the internet and even in the wider world.
There are billions of conversations taking place, and many of them are either going to be talking about your business, or they’re going to talking about your competitor’s business. Or even worse, they might be listening to your competitor talk about YOUR business!
Which of the above do you want should happen?
Now, let’s face some hard facts from Alexa.com:
Let’s start with Facebook: it seemed to come out of nowhere, and now it has almost as much traffic as Google.
Lets now take a look at Myspace vs Google: It’d come as a shock to know - Myspace actually beat the mighty Google during much of 2007.
And did you realize the YouTube has almost twice as many monthly page views as Google?
Here are a few more facts which are going to make you sit up and take notice……..
According to Comscore, a highly trusted global internet research company, in a typical month:
- Just under 2/3rds of everyone who goes online worldwide, visits Myspace
- And 29% of them visited Facebook
- 35% of them visit YouTube
- And 27% of them visit Wikipedia
And importantly, all these are not just bunches of kids or college-goers. Well over half of all MySpace visitors are older than 35. And a huge percentage of the growth at Facebook is coming from adults. Now over 100,000 Facebook users are 64 or above of age group!
Is IT Too Late?
This is the weird thing….lots of people actually think that it’s too late to get the jump on Social Network or Media. They think that they needed to get onboard months or years ago to have the first mover advantage. Well, the truth is, most marketers and entrepreneurs haven’t even BEGUN to understand how to use them, let alone hitting their true potential. Now, I’m not claiming that you are going to build the next Amazon.com or eBay, but you CAN have first mover advantage if you beat your competitors in the Social Networking world.
Fortunes are being made, right now, by those who are capitalizing on the potential of Social Networking.
Now, let’s move on to how our 'SNet' can do that for you.
In today’s world both the customer/client and your own work force is becoming more and more dispersed and virtual or global teams are becoming norms. As a result of that, entrepreneurs and corporate houses are looking for ways on how to connect with their audience fast, to increase their presence; and the workforce for the collective effort to meet that.
'SNet' delivers the network based, real time communication and collaboration solution with the human touch, to today’s entrepreneurs and corporate houses.
Using 'SNet', one can establish a virtual office environment, marketplace, discussion board or community where people can easily locate and communicate with colleagues, friends, customers, suppliers and others.
'SNet' consists of all the basic features to meet these goals. It meets the need for business force to connect and communicate instantly on issues that are critical to business success. S Net provides the basic user capabilities:
- Sharing of objects.
- Conversation (and this is the plus point of Web 2.0).
- Awareness.
- Building relationships (very much dependent on conversation).
Sharing of content or documents capability gives the extra edge to today’s businesses. The interaction and collaboration of audio, video, applications, office documents etc provides the ground to know each other well and share vibes as well.
In our second version, we’ll also include an application sharing tool, IM client and electronic whiteboard, among the other enhanced features.
SNet allows its users to get into a conversation or dialog through the blogs, messages and group threads. The IM Client options, that to be included in the 2nd edition, will provide the users to text chat with each other. A conference chat can be created as well. But even right now, blogs and groups do provide the ground to share knowledge and thoughts and create awareness. This also provides the platform to build relationships – be it with your prospects or clients or internal work force or suppliers etc.
Awareness allows users to identify people’s ideas, current trends and happenings, online status and presence, various developments etc. And honestly, Information Technology, the BUZZ word of the world, is all about awareness and to be informative.
SNet allows seamless communication between users that helps in interaction, conversation, sharing of thoughts and content – which works as the foundation and also the simulator while building relationships and establishing your network. It creates the bond between the users. Using S Net, both your prospects or clients and workforce, know each other well and can watch almost every move made by the other which brings them even closer.
It’s this simple….. People like to buy from people that they already know, like, and trust. And your social network, using S Net, will give you the kind of presence so that people already KNOW you, LIKE you, and TRUST you before they even hit your product site or listen to your sales pitch. It’s not rocket science. It’s all about using human psychology with technology.
The Big Names are not really important in what all that I’ve told you but it’s important to understand the nature of today’s minds and understand what they like? Millions of dollars are spent by corporate houses and entrepreneurs, year after year, to understand and get involved with their audience. Now, haven’t I given you more than a hint about the nature of your audience and what they like and how they want to interact today? I believe you know that by now. So, why don’t you act NOW?”
Now is your choice to come FORWARD and grab the advantage of Social Network to be miles ahead of your competitors.
Best regards,
Palak
