There’s a social network for THAT?!

In this era of social networks, headed by sites such as Facebook and MySpace, it seems as if there’s a network for, well, everything.  I’ve seen ads for social communities surrounding everything from horses to weddings to wine and beyond.  But this seems like a good way to get your company involved with Web 2.0, right?  Umm, maybe not. 

To me, this raises some questions: 

Do some things really need social networks?  The answer to this is a resounding “no.”  For example, the leader of the social marketing team I’m on mentioned this community for cat litter.  Now seriously, why does cat litter need a social community?!  I definitely don’t think it does.  I mean, is this cat litter that great that people are dying to join the community and participate in discussions about this and watch kitty-litter-related videos?  I think you can answer that.  I would suggest making this group more general – people would definitely join a social community about cats…and maybe the cat litter company could sponsor the site and offer coupons or something.  Think about whether or not your company’s product would benefit from having a social network surrounding it:  Would this draw new customers?  Would this reinforce positive feelings in current consumers?  Would this just be a huge waste of time and money?

Should you just use an existing site such as Facebook or MySpace?  In most cases, I would say “yes, it would make sense to just create a group or a page off of Facebook or MySpace.”  For example, maybe the kitty litter people could’ve just created a Facebook group for free rather than wasting money on creating a page for their own network.  Millions of people are already members of Facebook and MySpace, and might be interested in becoming fans of your product, so this is always a good resource to tap.  The Facebook-MySpace realm is also a good place to test out whether or not it would make sense to create a separate social network site for your company or its product – if you get a ton of people to join your group, then maybe it would make sense to have your own site specifically devoted to this.

Is this market overly saturated?  It sure seems that way.  I think this cat litter site marks the exact point where social networks outside of the mainstream jumped the shark, so to speak.  There’s another reason right there to shy away from making your own social network – with way too much out there, it makes your social network more difficult to search for and find.

Corporate Word of the Week:

Viralize (v.) – A verb meaning “to make viral.”  Note that this is not an actual word and makes it seem like you’re trying too hard to sound smart.

ex. – Let’s use YouTube to try and viralize the new corporate video.

Your company makes what?

So when I heard about an internship opening at IBM, I thought to myself, “But I don’t know anything about computers!”

Yeah, so come to find out, IBM hasn’t made computers for a few years now…they’re big in the database and tech services market (not that I know anything about those areas, either, but that’s beside the point).  And ‘big’ meaning one of the biggest companies in the market.

I know it’s not just me who had this thought – a lot of my friends and coworkers have this incorrect notion, as well.  In fact, just recently, I overheard someone in my office building call IBM “the greatest computer company in the world.”  So yeah, like I said, it’s not just me.

So why do people still think that IBM makes computers?  Well, the company used to…up until 2005.  That’s only three years ago, but then again, that’s three years of people thinking that IBM still makes computers.  I think a large part of it is that people don’t really know what the heck the company makes these days.  People remember the 1990’s commercials for the Aptiva and other such computers, and have thus continued to associate IBM with computers.

So how can a company get away from an incorrect association?  Well, I don’t remember seeing an IBM commercial since the 1990’s, for example.  Granted, you don’t usually see commercials for databases and tech services, and I’m obviously not the target audience for such commercials, but I’m assuming that tech people interested in their businesses’ IT infrastructures watch TV, too.  I’ve seen commercials for SAP tech solutions, so why not for IBM?  And it could be as simple as having a funny commercial or YouTube video that says “No, we don’t make computers.  But we do make IT solutions for your company.”  Or something to that effect, anyway.

Also, maybe IBM and other companies in the same predicament don’t realize that a lot of people don’t know what they make.  I mean, when you’re within the company, you obviously have somewhat of an idea of what your company makes.  Hopefully.  However, this can result in marketing internally, meaning that your advertising and marketing only reaches those within your company and your existing customers, rather than potential new customers.

Corporate Word of the Week:

operationalizing (v.) – A fancy-sounding word that essentially means something to the effect of ‘operating.’

ex. – We need to be better operationalizing this process in order to make customers aware of the product’s features.