Social Media and marketing 2.0 seem to be the big buzz words these days. But what do they mean, how do you get started and is this important for my business? These are all questions that our clients are grappling with as they look to stay on top of the changing face of marketing and still be relevant to their clients. 

For those who attended the Women Business Owners presentation by Seth Godin, you will recall that part of his message was the how is less important than the who. Facebook, twitter, blogs, and many other vehicles are really just tactical tools to creating and maintaining relationships with customers.

The key is relationships.

Are your customers online? Do they go online for information? When they want to do research on a product, service, look for references, find contact information, assess credibility, do they look to the Internet?

If the answer is yes, then you need to be online.

If your customer is online, you can have a one way conversation with them with a simple webpage. Now step that up a bit. Think about what that might feel like as a customer. How many people would trust, seek out, and advocate for a friend that only spoke at them, rather than with them?

Relationship is King. Two way conversations, discussion forums and opportunities for feedback allow customers to feel connected. Connections create communities. Communities create advocates.
Would not it be great to have potential customer come to your website for information, ask a question, and have one of your customers provide the answer rather than you? Consumers are very savvy today and trust complete strangers before those with a vested interest in selling to them.

MM