Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Community Factor - Social Media

I have been trying to figure out something that probably has been blatantly obvious to the rest of the world, what is all the buzz about social media? Why is it growing like it is? It finally dawned on me; it allows anyone to create a community in minutes. Simple, right. Why is that important? You ask good questions, I will tell you. When it comes to marketing whether it is local or global, the rule of thumb is he who has the biggest list wins. The key is that the list should be targeted and focused. By joining a social media site such as Facebook and Twitter you become part of a large group of millions of users. Once you are a member you create subgroups or interest groups such as a Fan Page on Facebook. Once you have this Fan Page up you can get your friends to promote it for you and before long you can build a more focused list. At this point you have an opportunity to monetize your time and effort.

The whole key is building clusters of groups with similar interests or communities. Then add value and content to keep this community engaged. Once you do that you can start to share what you have to offer by way of products, seminars and services. Literally, when done well, you can be selling on the internet in weeks and months instead of years.

What kind of community do you want to build? What kind of community are you a member of? Now how can you apply this to what you do and how you do it?

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Where in the world . . .

It's been over three months since I posted. What' up with that? Well to be honest with you life got in the way. I am sure that happens to a lot of people who have great intentions of blogging on a regular basis.

So here I am in September, and I am getting the itch again. Yes I must post! First, let me share that the beauty of being a business owner is the flexibility it offers you. I have spent the summer taking care of my kids which included spending the summer dealing with specialists and labs to help deal with some medical issues. Why share that here? Because I was still able to maintain some business and take care of my family.

Second, being a business owner lends itself to the fast pace of life. After David was diagnosed, it became apparent to me that school this year was not an option. Hence, I will now be a business owner who homeschools her boys. They are thrilled, and I must admit, it is a blast. We are finding a grove, and I am planning my meetings around our family schedule.

So the moral for my post, if there is one, is stay flexible and be open. I am working on rearranging my business to fit my life, not trying to have my life fit my business.