Myspace, Facebook, etc.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Craig Eubanks on April 10, 2008 at 3:10pm

Hi Craig (nice name!),

It's important to ALWAYS keep the fundamental principles of marketing in mind when looking at your options. The principles NEVER change. Strategies rarely change, tactics occasionally change, but the tools can change often (especially on the Internet).

So here is a basic principle: Message - Market - Media must all match. I call this the Holy Trinity of marketing.

So if you were one of my coaching clients, I would ask you this question:

Q: Does your market look to solve their problems or satisfy their needs on Facebook?

Of course I am assuming you have a deep understanding of your market. :-)

I don't know your particular Niche in hypnosis (you do have a niche, yes?), but since Facebook is mostly used by younger web-savvy audience with lots of spare time, I'll bet it's a safe bet it's not the ideal media for you to use.

Plus, what is the message you deliver on Facebook (or MySpace.com etc.). It's not really a highly targeted, benefit oriented message for your market is it?

And you can waste HUGE amounts of time just keeping up with all the messages it sends you. Not to mention setup time. This is not the best use of your most valuable resource.

Now, if you want to market to college kids, and can come up with some cool buzz building widget or video that will get passed around... then it might be a good media for you to use.

Message <-> Market <-> Media must match.

Social Networking, Social Bookmarking, Web 2.0, etc. Can be useful for marketing, and they can also have what I call the 'next shiny thing' effect, and distract you and waste hours of time only because it's the next hot thing online.

Like any tool, determine if it's the right tool first, then learn how to use it. You wouldn't use a hammer to pull a splinter out of your finger anymore than you would use tweezers to drive a nail.


Cheers,

Craig Eubanks
HypnosisMarketingTips.com

P.S. This concept of Message-Market-Media is also a great tool for 'debugging' your marketing. I wrote a post on my blog about it, you can find it here: How to debug your marketing campaigns

Permalink Reply by Craig Sigl - on April 10, 2008 at 9:24pm

Thanks Craig. That helps a lot. Not many of my target market are on those sites . I'm specializing in weight loss and craving elimination. 40-60 yr old females.