by Paul Barnes
Over 100 years ago, when the American frontier was still being settled, stories of people and regions booming and busting were the norm. Some made fortunes, some lost everything, but all had at least one thing in common:
A gunslinger's willingness for risk.
Then, the fortune-seeker's frontier was a huge expanse of land west of the Mississippi River -- the Wild, Wild West. Today, marketers have a new frontier: the unsettling world of social media.
Hold onto your hat, Partner, because this place is HUGE.
Just as railroads brought unprecedented numbers of people to
the American West; computers, and more more recently smartphones and tablets,
are bringing a planet of people to social media. Budget-toting digital marketing professionals
can't be blamed for blasting ad dollars onto the internet.
Fire away they must.
Social media gobbles up some 10%
of every advertising dollar spent and, according to BIA/Kelsey (an ad tracking
firm in Chantilly, VA), its appetite won't be satisfied anytime soon.
Projections are for this type of advertising to grow at a ridiculously rapid
annual rate of 18.6%
over the next four years.
So, what is a gunslinger to do?
A good start might be to consider a few things:
- Make sure your aim is straight
- Don't use all your ammunition in the first shoot-out
- Hit the biggest targets first
Among the most powerful social communities are FaceBook,
Twitter, YouTube, Pintrest, Google+, LinkedIn, and readers of your own (yes,
your own!) blog.
Use these social media platforms to inform, educate, and
network with the people and/or businesses you are most likely to serve.
"Show 'em what you got," and make it easy for them to connect with or
-- better still -- order from you. Take the good ideas and best practices you
see from others out there, and then adopt them to develop and improve your own.
And ride on ... the wild, wide world of social media awaits!
