David Emery OnlineDo the right thing
21 March 2008
It’s almost more important to figure out what things you shouldn’t do then to figure out what you should do.
I was talking to someone the other day who owns a small business, and they employ a small agency to sort out their online marketing. They help out with things like their website, SEO, advertising and the like. At the moment they’re pushing my friend into setting up a company blog, which I think is a great idea. However, they’re also pushing for them to set up a Facebook Page and a MySpace, as well as a whole load of other social network stuff.
How pointless.
If you are a small business, what relevance does a Facebook page have? Are you really going to have a big enough online audience to make that kind of endeavour worth the time and (more importantly if you’re the agency suggesting this stuff) the money?
I think sometimes on the web it’s very easy to forget the simple, straightforward things; anything that’s old is seen as somehow inferior and cast aside in the hunt for the new. Sure, there’s obviously an advantage to be gained by being the first to do something – that can get press in of itself – but the cutting edge doesn’t cut off the old things, it merely brings new options to the table.
If you’re a band, even though Facebook is the new hype, you still need a MySpace (sorry to say).
Just because we have RSS and MySpace bulletins doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a mailing list.
Similarly, MySpace friends and Facebook pages are no substitute for a good, old fashioned bulletin board.