Or Should I say :
Mashing Up Online Marketing?
The Web has created a bunch of labels that we all use. And smart marketers (self included) reinvent labels to persuade our buyers to buy into our techno wizardry. As if it is something new.
And the most powerful word in marketing some say is free. But then NEW is a close second.
Web Two Point Oh Defined
If someone were to ask me, “what is Web 2.0” ? I would reply that it is in all its glorious-ness, ease of use, it is about the conversation, it is about user generated content. It is about consumer empowerment.
That sounds so touch feely doesn’t it?
On the Internet, a more democratic relationship is created. The user is as important as the provider. The serf surfs the World Wide Web and has a new relationship to the elite world.
Wow, this sounds so 2.0. However it was written in 1999. With each new generation of Internet user marketers reinvent words to foster interest.
However, forums and social nets have been around since day one. Even before the World Wide Web (WWW; yes, there was a time when there was an Internet and no WWW). Today’s Social networks can be traced back to BBS systems that were delivered thru slow modems on Prodigy and Compuserve.
One particularly prescient invention was FidoNet, a network for BBSes that allowed systems to transfer data (messages, files, etc.) in bucket-brigade fashion to sites around the world.(Note: This is like 1988!)
And the same “rules” applied then as they do now. Get into the conversation.
Sidebar: I recently read that one of four people visited a social network site per month in 2006. 25% of people have been to a social site? That could include just following the link from a friend invite from YouTube, MySpace,Plaxo,Facebook or Linked In. And let us not forget Digg and Stumblupon. The latter two most marketers would agree produce nothing but bandwidth bills, and lower ROI per visitor. When you sell advertising this is of huge concern. Let’s face it some of these Social Sites are nothing more than sexy link farms!
The more things change the more they stay the same…
Forums have been around forever and that is all that 2.0 really is. A more sophisticated cooler forum (with cooler graphics and widgets). And as the above paragraph pointed out, it may not be as lucrative as we are being told.
In fact, Max Kalehoff recently wrote a piece called. Email Blows Away All Other Social Networks:
A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project survey found that 91% of Internet users between the ages of 18 and 64 send or read e-mail, far more than any social network.
In fact, email is so dominant that it’s the single open-source backbone of nearly every social network. Think about it: Most social networks require your email address to sign up. Then they try to upload your email address book in order to communicate with your contacts. I can’t think of a social network I belong to that doesn’t ask me for my email address every time I log in. In fact, I find myself turning off the default email notifications in most social networks I sign up for!
Gabbing For Dollars
I believe that the marketing of today (2.0), including real estate, has forgotten the reason for getting into the conversation. It is to lead a client into your sales funnel . Not just to gab!
We create websites, blogs and get into commenting everywhere and anywhere in a haphazard attempt to enter the conversation.
Of course some people already get this and they are called spammers. This is not what I am saying. The conversation is about leadership. And it is about finding your voice.
Adding to the conversation at the place where you post will always add value. And if you think about that little forum, blog or even you tube commentary as a mini billboard, then you will soon have hundreds of mini advertisements all over the web.
The reader should say,” Wow, if they are giving that much away for free in a commentary, I can only imagine what they are giving away when you go to their site and when you work with them.”
I will soon post what I believe is a sensible approach to commenting next.