Yesterday, I was involved in a conference call with our local ReachLocal rep, Jessica Cooper, looking at a new product ReachLocal has rolled out related to social networking. Admittedly, this is a new medium that is changing at very rapid pace. It’s hard to get a hold of a strategy, learn how to work it and make it pay off before the next new thing comes along and changes the game. However, one thing is certain about social networking: it provides connections and connectivity can be fuel for some marketing strategies if you know how to use them.
On Facebook, which is one of the most dominant social networking sites, I see only a handful of cosmetic surgeons or cosmetic dentists actually working it. And, when I check in with them, they tell me that their efforts in social networking are resulting in better relationships and new business. Conversely, I see a lot of people trying halfheartedly and, worse, getting an account started and not participating. Clearly there is room for improvement here, market-wide.
Facebook, Twitter, blogs... these are all content driven ways to get new information on the web about your practice and the benefits of your services. In fact, you can use these mediums to marshall a lot of conversation, buzz and awareness if you have an organized approach to it. The reason why people are not doing it in mass yet is that they do not understand the new wave of communication on the Internet. So, here is a warning... If you think of the Internet as only web sites and email, you are looking at only the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole other, much bigger chunk of Internet usage floating below the surface.
The product (ReachCast) I saw from ReachLocal yesterday does two things as I can see it. It provides a platform for the use of social media with an easy to use dashboard for distributing and monitoring the effects of content on social mediums. In short, it is like a control panel that tells you how you are doing everywhere, not unlike stat reports from Google Analytics. In doing this, I think the real genius of the platform is revealed. It is easy for you, the consumer, to understand the value of social media as a marketing tool. I have found through years of introducing new ideas to my clients, that the biggest obstacle is the client’s lack of understanding of the value of a strategy. Social media is the example de jour right now. So many are not doing it or doing it poorly because they do not understand it. The ReachCast dashboard will help you understand the potential.
With that understanding in place, you just need to have strategies in place to use and manage content through the available channels. You add content. You measure. You react to what you learn. You add more content. And, so on, and so on. Dog Star Media has been waiting for a product like this to come along and streamline the use of social media so we can be an effective strategy and content provider. Now that this is in place, we are gearing up to be our clients’ content provider as a new service. Using the ReachCast platform, we will help guide clients through the everchanging landscape of social networking and help them use the Internet for marketing to its greatest potential.
Here is an example of the sort of detail you will get. “Hello, ReachCast people!” I know you are see me writing about you thanks to your Radar feature on your dashboard. This is how ReachCast users are able to track all mentions of their business on the Internet no matter where it shows. You can have this, too, to understand what is being said and written about you across all online medias.
This month, I will be talking to all my coaching clients about ReachCast this week. If this is something that interests you, please contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
