| The rise of social networking software has brought a | | | | & what they don't want. You'll have done it just |
| completely different approach to market research. | | | | by allowing visitors to participate and by giving them |
| Whereas before we needed costly marketing firms | | | | the opportunity to share with others. You don't need |
| and tedious surveys, today we can easily use the | | | | all that expensive and time consuming market |
| exciting new technology of social networking | | | | research of the past anymore. Have you ever |
| software to gather market information for us. | | | | wondered about the success of Amazon? They have |
| Below article will take a look at the key changes | | | | a lot of social features on their site, with great |
| social networking software has brought and will give | | | | marketing potential. If you have ever ordered |
| you an idea of what you might be missing out on - | | | | something from Amazon, just to find yourself buying |
| especially as a small business - if you are not yet | | | | another book or dvd because they show you that |
| using this exciting technology. | | | | page where they show the stuff that other |
| In order to understand the key change, let's briefly | | | | members are buying who also purchased what you |
| take a look at the success of Google. | | | | just bought - you'll know what I mean. Any webshop |
| The web counts more than 150 million web pages. | | | | should have that capacity. This software is actually |
| There are websites about everything. Can we see | | | | easy to get your hands on! |
| this as a network? Up to this point, it is just a huge | | | | By making your site socially interactive for your |
| compilation of web pages. When those websites | | | | visitors, you will be applying the insight that has made |
| start linking to each other however, that is when | | | | Google and Amazon successful. You'll soak up what |
| they are creating a network. They have understood | | | | the visitors want and you'll be throwing it right back |
| that by linking to each other, they will have more | | | | at them. If you listen to them, extract the value |
| visitors - even if they haven't consciously understood | | | | from the network that is forming itself around your |
| this. By linking to each other, the quality of all the | | | | products, the network will love you for it. |
| websites inside the network increases. It is | | | | Using social networking software for your site can be |
| comparable to a shopping outlet - by putting them | | | | done in as many ways as there are social networking |
| together in a huge building complex, the value of a | | | | scripts. A great way to start is by giving people a |
| single store becomes much higher. | | | | forum, or by setting polls. If you are more ambitious, |
| Google understood this and provided a great tool for | | | | you could create an entire community with your |
| people to find their way around the net. Rather than | | | | brand all over it. If you own a website selling shoes, |
| providing a portal to websites based on human | | | | you could build a shoe review site, allowing people to |
| research (like yahoo did), it created an algorithm with | | | | comment shoes. I know a lot of women who would |
| the intention of ranking websites based on (amongst | | | | spend a lot of time on such a site! |
| other criteria) the amount and quality of the links to | | | | You could use technology like on the Amazon |
| the websites. These links have off course been | | | | website to measure the popularity of the products |
| created by human beings, who decided that | | | | you sell. You can have the script automatically show |
| something was worth linking to. This ensures the | | | | top user rated items on the front page of your site. |
| quality of the sites Google is listing, as it assumes | | | | If your website is getting a lot of hits, you could give |
| that the people who have created the links are | | | | them a small marketplace where they can sell second |
| rational human beings who won't link to something | | | | hand products within your niche! The possibilities are |
| that is not useful. | | | | endless. |
| So how does this apply to social networking | | | | As the web is becoming more and more polluted by |
| software, and how can we learn from this insight? | | | | link-builders and e-marketers who are all trying to |
| Google discovered that the key ingredient to the | | | | please the search engines, Google will without a |
| quality of something is the value that people give to | | | | doubt look more and more towards social networking |
| it. Google decided to soak up what the internet | | | | sites to calculate the ranking of the sites. It is already |
| visitors were looking at, and then threw it right back | | | | more and more difficult to build a couple of hundred |
| at them, neatly organized in the form of search | | | | links to a website in order to make Google think you |
| results. This is a fantastic business insight...It listens to | | | | are important. Building a social network with an active |
| people, and then gives people back what they want. | | | | user community might seem a little more hard work, |
| The more popular something gets, the more links it | | | | but it can not be faked. If you do it right and listen |
| will receive, the higher it goes in the results of | | | | to your community, not only will you have returning |
| Google! | | | | visitors and customers - you will be listed all over the |
| So how can we use this insight using social | | | | Google first page results for your niche. Search for |
| networking software? | | | | any product nowadays and you'll see that the top |
| Imagine you own a website selling shoes. You could | | | | organic results are sites which have one thing in |
| decide to neatly structure your shoes on your site, | | | | common: they are all social networks. They are either |
| optimize it for SEO, etc. Every week you could add | | | | user review sites or social bookmarking sites. |
| some shoes and add some promotions. You could | | | | Choosing the right social networking software is |
| create an emailing list, and build up a firm basis of | | | | crucial. Are you looking for a few components to add |
| customers. You can look into Google "insights for | | | | to your site, or do you want to dominate the entire |
| search" to check out the latest trends to see which | | | | market by building a separate, single standing social |
| products are hot and try to sell them... | | | | network? If you need inspiration, take look at the |
| Imagine though, if you added social features to that | | | | website of Amazon to see how they use social |
| site. You could add the possibility for users to review | | | | networking software for commercial purposes. |
| the items on the site, and have the item with the | | | | Another example is the website of the Virgin Group, |
| best reviews of the most people appear on top of | | | | which is using social community software to enhance |
| the site (just like Google moves the best results on | | | | their brand an image. |
| top). Other visitors will see this and you'll end up | | | | When social networking is used correctly, powered |
| selling more of it. You'll find out which shoes people | | | | by the correct software, it will not only save you the |
| don't like so you can easily remove them. You could | | | | cost of a considerable amount of marketing research, |
| create polls or shoutboxes, encouraging people to | | | | it will also spread your name in a viral manner and |
| participate and have fun on your site! | | | | skyrocket your brand as a dynamic and customer |
| In a nutshell, all of a sudden you will have a dialogue | | | | oriented company. |
| with your market. You'll know what they want | | | | |