Social Networking and Face-to-Face Marketing

In a latest problem of Commerce Present Govt, I learn an attention-grabbing article about Magic Stick, the winner of the TSE 2009 Innovation Award. Magic Stick is a small gadget, in regards to the dimension of a pc reminiscence stick that you simply carry with you. While you see somebody additionally carrying a Magic Stick you’ll be able to electronically trade contact data. You every intention, push a button and voila you’re networked.

Welcome to the age of Excessive-Tec social networking whose first victims could very nicely be the handshake and a enterprise card.

Twitter, Fb, Net 2.0, SecondLife, LinkedIn, Flickr, LibraryThing, Ning, Jaiku, EventPeeps, are right here to remain. There’s nothing we will do about it nor ought to we for worry of being labeled Luddites. We should always embrace social networking as a constructive know-how to assist us construct our private networks.

This dialogue is paying homage to a time – a decade in the past – when the world was a twitter (oops) about one thing referred to as a digital commerce present and the way this heralded the dying of face-to-face advertising and marketing as we knew it. What occurred to digital exhibitions was that they grew to become an integral a part of bigger face-to-face occasions offering yr spherical publicity to merchandise, providers and training. What was feared to be an enemy grew to become a strong ally. The identical, I’m guessing, will occur to social networking websites.

Head to head advertising and marketing wants all the assistance it may possibly get to maximise its potential and if know-how may also help, then all the higher. However know-how can’t exchange the ability of assembly a vendor or buyer and speaking about points eye-ball to eye-ball. Assembly head to head is how we type opinions of individuals and the establishments that make use of them. Once we can combine the know-how to boost our interpersonal contacts then we turn into winners on this model new – very outdated sport of networking. Listed below are a couple of ideas as you go about constructing a productive and worthwhile community.

o Networks aren’t mailing lists – Social scientists inform us that every of us has roughly 200 individuals in our community. While you misuse the know-how and construct lists that embrace hundreds of contacts you’re clearly misusing the instrument.

o Discover your six levels of separation – Every of your 200 individuals additionally has a community of 200, every of their 200 has 200 as nicely. Should you take 200 to the sixth energy the quantity is barely greater than six billion which coincidentally consists of everybody on the planet. Studying learn how to faucet into these sub-networks opens you to limitless potential. Should you look rigorously yow will discover anybody you need to contact by way of your six levels of separation.

o Do not abuse your community – this is very easy if you merely use your community for industrial functions. The individuals in your community are people you could have made a private contact with. They’ve households, worries and goals. When you’ll be able to deal with your community as an extension of your self and deal with these individuals as people you can’t lose.

o Keep in contact – there’s not a lot level assembly somebody at a commerce truthful, exchanging data and never staying in contact. Deal with your community as a dwelling respiration factor that wants consideration or it should merely wilt and die.

o Make it a 24/7 behavior – do not simply constructed your community in occasions of want. Try to be continuously searching for alternatives to develop your sphere of affect.

o Give one thing again – In case your community is a dwelling entity then it wants meals to outlive. The meals you present is in your willingness to offer again. This implies being continuously looking out to supply recommendation, contacts or a pleasant phrase to your 200 individuals.

Social networking is rapidly discovering its place within the face-to-face advertising and marketing smart circle world. While you mix the ability of your interpersonal abilities to construct your community after which combine know-how to report the expertise and keep contact you could have a profitable mixture.