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It is very important to engage people through the hottest social networks such as Twitter and Facebook but it is more important to draw these people to a communication channel that you have full control of- like your blog or website. This is because if history has taught as anything when it comes to these social networks- the interest in specific social networks can wane. Do you remember when the biggest social networks were Friendster and MySpace? Will you be able to pull in as much people now with these networks? Aren’t the networks of choice now Facebook and Twitter? Who can predict what social networks will still be around 5 or 10 years from now?
It is important to use social networks such as Facebook because they are where the people are. Millions of people use Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Multiply daily and you need to be able to connect with all these millions of users if you want to gain clients for your business. You just need to draw these people away from the social networks and into your own domain so that they can learn more about your business and products. You also need to start conversations in social networks and then bring these people to your own blog to continue the discussion there. By having a blog where you can interact with people under your own terms, you are building relationships with the people that are separate or not dependent on the social network. When people get used to visiting your blog or you have established a good readership, then you will experience social media marketing success that is not dependent on the social networks. A social network may shut down but your readers will remain with you. That should be your goal when using social networks- to establish a reputation that transcends specific social networks. In fact you should try to establish a reputation that goes beyond the internet.
With your own website or blog to draw readers to, you can build a community around your brand even when the interest in the social networks wanes.
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