Social Networking and Web2.0 are both buzzwords which you probably see a lot of these days. Unless you have been living under a rock the last several years, you are probably well aware of social networking websites - their goal is to bring together people who have common interests. Some of the better known social networking sites are MySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook.
For website owners, there is something to be noted here - wherever there are people, there is an opportunity to generate traffic for their website. The idea here if you want to generate traffic is to build a community of people who may be interested in the products or services you provide and getting them to visit your site in order to learn more. For business lead generation, there are a few obstacles to overcome along the way.
One challenge is that you will be reaching an audience which skews very young via these websites; most users of social networking sites are of 30 years of age or younger. If yours is a product or service aimed at corporate buyers on the other hand (few of which are in this age group) then you will have a hard row to hoe trying to get leads on MySpace. It all depends on who your target market is.
Also, social network users tend to be a hard sell - you have to be careful here and not just come off as a salesperson. Introduce your product or service subtly instead of just trying to advertise in the traditional sense. You have to have the right product and be able to motivate your fellow social networking users.
My colleague Nick Schoonen has a blog (rczero.com) which is target towards remote control enthusiasts - remote control planes, cars and so on. He also has a plan to monetize the site; while I won't get into that here, I will mention that he has been very successful at using social networking to drive traffic to his site. The reason that he has been such a success at this is that the audience he is going for is more or less the same one as is to be found on these social networking sites.
Let's suppose that your service was rubbish removal. It's pretty hard to imagine setting up a community on Myspace all around rubbish removal and hope to get people to your site, because people frankly aren't interested in that unless they have a need for it right at that moment.
When you are making efforts at business lead generation, social networking sites are not as cost effective as many other strategies you could be using. I would suggest trying out other strategies before using social networking to drive traffic to your site.
For website owners, there is something to be noted here - wherever there are people, there is an opportunity to generate traffic for their website. The idea here if you want to generate traffic is to build a community of people who may be interested in the products or services you provide and getting them to visit your site in order to learn more. For business lead generation, there are a few obstacles to overcome along the way.
One challenge is that you will be reaching an audience which skews very young via these websites; most users of social networking sites are of 30 years of age or younger. If yours is a product or service aimed at corporate buyers on the other hand (few of which are in this age group) then you will have a hard row to hoe trying to get leads on MySpace. It all depends on who your target market is.
Also, social network users tend to be a hard sell - you have to be careful here and not just come off as a salesperson. Introduce your product or service subtly instead of just trying to advertise in the traditional sense. You have to have the right product and be able to motivate your fellow social networking users.
My colleague Nick Schoonen has a blog (rczero.com) which is target towards remote control enthusiasts - remote control planes, cars and so on. He also has a plan to monetize the site; while I won't get into that here, I will mention that he has been very successful at using social networking to drive traffic to his site. The reason that he has been such a success at this is that the audience he is going for is more or less the same one as is to be found on these social networking sites.
Let's suppose that your service was rubbish removal. It's pretty hard to imagine setting up a community on Myspace all around rubbish removal and hope to get people to your site, because people frankly aren't interested in that unless they have a need for it right at that moment.
When you are making efforts at business lead generation, social networking sites are not as cost effective as many other strategies you could be using. I would suggest trying out other strategies before using social networking to drive traffic to your site.
About the Author:
Author: David B. Ascot can improve your site's sales lead generation figures so you'll make more sales with proven methods for effective online lead generation.
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