I think one of the ways to find your customers online is to participate in forums and by leaving remarkable comments to other top blogs as well.
This is how I find my visitors to my blog. Since I have a niche blog which is concentrated on topics of entrepreneurship, personal finance, investments, and self-motivation, I usually go to forums and other blogs and start leaving my footprints.
Another thing is to participate in contests and media exposures. It should be both online and offline.
“Are American teenage girls really as shallow as we paint them?”
I think this is one of the most brilliant things I’ve heard about teenageers for a long while. It makes me sick when people stuff teenagers/youth/whatever-they-want-to-call-us (whatever “us” means) into tiny (and often not so positive) little boxes.
Phenomenal piece. This is something I've been dancing around in my conversations with brands who are interested in engagement with @20SB.
I'm doing a lot of thinking lately around my small financial planning practice to these ends. If you saw the regulatory rules around 'advertising' in my industry it would make you cringe, but I firmly believe that any professional interested in building trust with his community and clients must leverage these mediums to do so. The industry is so caught in the archaic days of demographic data and blind mass marketing that 'prospecting' has essentially been put into a box in which cold-calling and seminars are about all that's allowed. I think that's an unattractive state of affairs for both planners and clients.
Marketers assume they understand the target audience. I agree with you that teenagers are definitely one of the most poorly classified groups. We should not be targeting “teens” any more than we should be targeting “moms.” We target moms of babies, moms in the suburbs, moms with jobs, etc. And for some reason we just target “teen girls” as if they're all at the mall with their parents credit cards.
I'm shocked that more brands aren't trying to work with 20SB, who I would consider the next generation of influencers (after the mommy bloggers).
The financial planning practice sounds like it's a bit stuck. It seems like marketing would be very important for the finance industry, considering that people are still wary of where they put their money and who they trust. We really have to move from prospecting which worked so well in the '90s to relationship marketing.
It's funny. Most of the posts that are created in the wide variety of social networking sites are basically useless. Sure, they make people feel good but, for the most part, these sites are rapidly becoming, for better or worse, the next target for marketers of all types. However, are these site really suited to marketing either local or worldwide? Can you really target your market in ways that generate targeted leads? Do we need better tools to allow marketers to take full advantage of these amazing additions to our armamentarium?
Twitter is a perfect example. Millions of people leave tweets trying to sell all kinds of stuff but their efforts are seen, at best, for a split second. Is this truly the way to spend your valuable time even if you are able to “target” your followers?
Perhaps what we are learning most from SM is more about targeting as opposed to SM as the medium. When I hear people talk about SM as the ONLY way to market, I immediately tune them out. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of SM, but the “SM only” crowd missed the point that SM is part of the mix, not all of the mix. The reason the Facebook ad model seems to work is the targeting mechanism, not the fact the advertiser has a fan page.
Perhaps what we are learning most from SM is more about targeting as opposed to SM as the medium. When I hear people talk about SM as the ONLY way to market, I immediately tune them out. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of SM, but the “SM only” crowd missed the point that SM is part of the mix, not all of the mix. The reason the Facebook ad model seems to work is the targeting mechanism, not the fact the advertiser has a fan page.
Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I think one of the ways to find your customers online is to participate in forums and by leaving remarkable comments to other top blogs as well.
This is how I find my visitors to my blog. Since I have a niche blog which is concentrated on topics of entrepreneurship, personal finance, investments, and self-motivation, I usually go to forums and other blogs and start leaving my footprints.
Another thing is to participate in contests and media exposures. It should be both online and offline.
“Are American teenage girls really as shallow as we paint them?”
I think this is one of the most brilliant things I’ve heard about teenageers for a long while. It makes me sick when people stuff teenagers/youth/whatever-they-want-to-call-us (whatever “us” means) into tiny (and often not so positive) little boxes.
Continue asking these questions! Social media is definitely a game changer. Excellent post.
Monica,
Phenomenal piece. This is something I've been dancing around in my conversations with brands who are interested in engagement with @20SB.
I'm doing a lot of thinking lately around my small financial planning practice to these ends. If you saw the regulatory rules around 'advertising' in my industry it would make you cringe, but I firmly believe that any professional interested in building trust with his community and clients must leverage these mediums to do so. The industry is so caught in the archaic days of demographic data and blind mass marketing that 'prospecting' has essentially been put into a box in which cold-calling and seminars are about all that's allowed. I think that's an unattractive state of affairs for both planners and clients.
Sounds good. Not sure I see the connection to the post, but I appreciate the comment!
Ambrose,
Marketers assume they understand the target audience. I agree with you that teenagers are definitely one of the most poorly classified groups. We should not be targeting “teens” any more than we should be targeting “moms.” We target moms of babies, moms in the suburbs, moms with jobs, etc. And for some reason we just target “teen girls” as if they're all at the mall with their parents credit cards.
Thank you!
DShan,
I'm shocked that more brands aren't trying to work with 20SB, who I would consider the next generation of influencers (after the mommy bloggers).
The financial planning practice sounds like it's a bit stuck. It seems like marketing would be very important for the finance industry, considering that people are still wary of where they put their money and who they trust. We really have to move from prospecting which worked so well in the '90s to relationship marketing.
Thanks for the comment!
It's funny. Most of the posts that are created in the wide variety of social networking sites are basically useless. Sure, they make people feel good but, for the most part, these sites are rapidly becoming, for better or worse, the next target for marketers of all types. However, are these site really suited to marketing either local or worldwide? Can you really target your market in ways that generate targeted leads? Do we need better tools to allow marketers to take full advantage of these amazing additions to our armamentarium?
Twitter is a perfect example. Millions of people leave tweets trying to sell all kinds of stuff but their efforts are seen, at best, for a split second. Is this truly the way to spend your valuable time even if you are able to “target” your followers?
Just a thought….
Perhaps what we are learning most from SM is more about targeting as opposed to SM as the medium. When I hear people talk about SM as the ONLY way to market, I immediately tune them out. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of SM, but the “SM only” crowd missed the point that SM is part of the mix, not all of the mix. The reason the Facebook ad model seems to work is the targeting mechanism, not the fact the advertiser has a fan page.
Perhaps what we are learning most from SM is more about targeting as opposed to SM as the medium. When I hear people talk about SM as the ONLY way to market, I immediately tune them out. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of SM, but the “SM only” crowd missed the point that SM is part of the mix, not all of the mix. The reason the Facebook ad model seems to work is the targeting mechanism, not the fact the advertiser has a fan page.