Content Management Systems (CMS) have become increasingly popular among small business website owners.  We have been asked more and more to build them along with a specific website project or to retrofit an existing website.  Offering the means for a non-web programming business owner to make an unlimited number of updates to their web site, it’s easy to see why.

Consider this: You have a shiny new website.  It’s got crisp images, a TON of information and a 10% coupon to encourage conversions.  It might even include a way to <GASP!> contact you.

Things are humming along rather smoothly.  In fact, business is so good, you had to bring someone on to help with day-to-day tasks.  Then you had multiple phone lines installed.  You may have even splurged on a brand new logo.

Almost as an afterthought you realize you haven’t updated your website with all the new changes. Shame on you… A new staff member, a different coupon, new contact info and don’t forget your new logo!

Obviously, you call your web company.  You’re not sure whether they’ll make these changes for free or whether they’ll bill you.  Either way, you need the updates on the website and you need them yesterday.

You could be in a sticky situation.  You can’t make the updates yourself, some web companies bill $75/hour, 1 hour minimum and they add you to the bottom of the stack to get to it by the end of the week.

Ouch. A ten-minute job for $75 and you have to wait a few days?

With a CMS, you don’t have that problem.  You simply login:

And make changes!

A lot of the CMSs out there are very similar in functionality to other text editors, like Microsoft Word, in that you can adjust font sizes, insert links or images and even create brand new pages.  They’re very user-friendly so you can have your helper make updates for you as well.  Depending on how many updates you need, having a CMS built for your site can pay for itself in a few months.

Whether you use a blogging platform or a traditional website, you will need your web company for high-level programming, but for simple website text and image updates, you can’t beat a CMS.

If you already use a Content Management system, leave us a comment and tell us what you like and dislike about them – we’d love to hear from you.

Don’t forget to subscribe to get more website tips from ODX Fusion!

ODX Fusion is asked to speak to many businesses and professional groups about how Internet Marketing can help boost a brand and ultimately bring more sales.  It’s fun, we love to do it and further love seeing the “ah-ha!” moments on our audience members’ faces when they begin to realize what we’re saying.

But make no mistake, the one question that’s been asked Every. Single. Time. is… “How do I find the time?”

It’s a good question on the surface, we agree.  It appears that gaining any ground in the social media and online environment takes an inordinate amount of time.  Aside from being untrue, we believe the question is disingenuous even if the asker doesn’t realize how.

We make time for our books, we make time for our employees.  Let’s make time for our business marketing.

The real question then becomes: “Why am I resisting the internet marketing plunge?”

Read on to see the answers we believe businesses are resisting online marketing.

1. Fear of Change

You’re doing your offline marketing, you’re out there shaking hands and kissing babies and you get a few sales.  You’re comfortable with that.  Internet Marketing / Social Media brings a whole new set of headaches that you just don’t need, right?

Wrong.  Marketing online has given us a forum to engage our customers and put information out to them in real-time.  REAL-TIME! When was the last time your direct mail campaign did that?

Marketing is a necessary evil of doing business and the landscape is always evolving. You need to keep up.

2. Fear of Marketing

If you’re in business, you NEED to market your product!  In some way or another, you need to get the word out.  Too many business owners believe that their product or service speaks for itself.  I’m here to tell you – it’s not speaking to anyone if not a soul knows about it.

As with any other type of marketing, a good strategy is all you need.  Once you have that in place, it’s not so much a fear as much as a project to be treated as such.

3. Fear of Competition

Some folks are not comfortable in dealing with competition.  Marketing online puts you in front of a lot of people, including your competitors.  Be confident in your craft and let your competitors see you.  Ever thought they might fear you?

What you’re doing by not using the internet to your advantage is allowing your competitors to use it to theirs.  You’re letting them speak to your past and present customers.  And forget about future customers. You may not have any (maybe a bit harsh).

4. No Idea Where to Start

This is common and completely understandable. It’s a big online world out there and you have no idea how to get started.  Check out our recent series of posts on Getting Started on Social Media for Beginners.  If you don’t want to hire someone, you’re going to have to look around to determine where to start.  This blog is by no means the only one out there interested in helping you.  Sign up for a social media account.  Buy a book.  Start learning about search engine optimization.  Read about Pay-Per-Click marketing. Start a blog (it’s free!). If you don’t want to do all that leg work, we know someone who would love to help with your internet marketing efforts <wink>!

5. You Hate Your Website

Internet Marketing is really about bringing qualified (primed to purchase) customers to your website. But your neighbor’s 11^th grade son built your website a few years ago and frankly you’re embarrassed to send anyone to it.

When you can’t afford a professionally designed website, it’s an even better argument for using social media. While customizable, your profile can give you a look that’s on par with everyone else.  For the record – a Facebook page does not replace the need for a well-designed website, but it can act as a lead generator in the absence of one or until you can afford one.

6. Fear of Leads

Make no mistake about it, some people have anxiety attacks when it comes to following up on leads. “what do I say to put my company in the best light?” or “what if they ask me a question I can’t answer?” and you might be surprised how scary it is for some people to ask for money.

When your internet marketing efforts are working and generating qualified leads for you, these people WANT to give someone their money, it’s your job to convince them that someone should be you.  They’ve reached out to you, now go shake your money-maker.

Any questions?

This is just the surface of why you’re resisting online marketing and social media.  If we’ve missed the boat then we want to hear from you.  Why ARE you resisting?  If “time” is all you come up with, look deeper and really ask yourself what’s keeping you.  If you can’t answer the question, let us know and we’ll get you there.

Your Comments Welcome

YouTube and other online video services are great platforms for marketing your business, but it’s also a wonderful tool for learning about topics of interest that you know little about.
In keeping with the Internet Marketing theme, I’ve compiled 10 of my favorite YouTube vids for your viewing and learning pleasure.

Interested in podcasting? MobilePhone2003 uploaded the video above and it offers great information for the beginner.

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David Skul from the Skul of Relativity has put together an incredible library of videos to help business owners use Social Media and Blogs to promote their business. Above is just one of the many Blog Marketing vids he’s offered.

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You’re not using Google Alerts to keep up with what’s being said about you or your brand online? Shame on you. Watch this video and learn how.

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If you can get past the Crocodile Dundee accent, here is 10 Things You Can Do For Your Small Business Online. Great beginner video.

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Gary Vaynerchuk is an amazing speaker, especially when it comes to social media and business. And he’s not interested in keeping it Rated G either.

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Perry Belcher on the most common question I receive with regard to using social media and time constraints. This is right on in addition to Perry always sporting an awesome shirt.

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Don’t Be That Guy. No really, please don’t be that guy. Chris Brogan talks about aggressive selling on social media. Oldie, but a goodie – and unfortunately too many people are still that guy.

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Ian Lurie is the grumpy Internet Marketer that knows his stuff and co-author of “Internet Marketing for Dummies”. This is setting up Google Analytics, which is a must have for any business with a website. It’s an older video, but the setup is virtually the same.

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Another of Ian Lurie’s tutorial vids, this one for finding out what you should pay attention to within Google Analytics.

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This is an easy and basic video tutorial for setting up Google Adwords, Google’s Pay-Per-Click service. A great way to get started.

Sometimes Internet Marketing can seem daunting, but these videos are a good way to become familiar. If you have questions about any of the services covered above, contact me and I’ll guide you through.

At ODX Fusion, we cherish the little things.  Of course we love “Boosting Brands Online,” it’s what we do.  But when college senior Delores Huffman asked to interview our Patrick Shaughnessy for her Business Management final we thought it was cool.  When she sent us the term paper itself with a big red “A” stamped on it, we got a little giddy.  We offer you the excerpts (with links, of course):

“…the internet can work for small business owners, you have to know where to look and who to ask.  There are businesses dedicated to building webpages that are eye catching and informative.  There are also businesses that develop online strategies to bring customers to your small business website.  One such company that does all the above is ODX Fusion Internet Marketing based in Syracuse, New York.

As a young and upcoming web development, enhancement and marketing business, ODX Fusion helps small businesses reach their customers online.  They believe too many businesses build online fliers for their products and services, they never solicit any traffic and definitely do not bring qualified traffic.  Additionally, the ODX Fusion website includes a blog on how to make the internet work for small business and they answer common questions of the small business owner.  Their posts include, “Why Every Small Business Needs a Website“, when to use a shopping cart on your website and the ins and outs of using PayPal.

…they also cover the ever so intimidating social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and how a small business owner can leverage the power of social media.  They also offer their services to those who are less computer and internet inclined, which describes many business owners.

Their motto is simple: “Boost Your Brand Online”.  They’re able to design a business webpage, optimize potential on the most popular search engines, link in to the social media networks enhancing popularity, assist in content development and put your brand anywhere your customer may be.

So why do small business owners need the internet to market their business and products online?

ODX Fusion has broken it down into ten very simple reasons listed here in no specific order:

• your competition is already marketing online,
• your website is open 24/7 when your storefront isn’t,
• sharing information with your customers online has never been easier,
• it keeps you competitive in your market and lends credibility to your offering,
• it sells your product,
• it allows your business to be found online when customers search for your product/service,
• enables you to offer specials and coupons without print and distribution concerns,
• provides descriptions and pictures of the products/services you are selling,
• helps others to promote you,
• an online presence helps you expand beyond your current offline market.”

Delores goes on to explain Patrick’s take on Search Engine Optimization and Social Media:

“…is Google is number one?  Mr. Patrick Shaughnessy, the founder and co-owner of ODXFusion.com believes so.  He quotes a recent article from Searchinsider which states that Google holds over seventy percent of the market share and the other top three search engines are losing large percentages of users to Google.  While Google’s usage is rising, Yahoo Search, MSN and Ask.com are decreasing by 17%, 20% and 10% respectively.

To the small business owner this may mean Google delivers while other search engines don’t, so why look anywhere else when Google is obviously the search engine of choice.  Mr. Shaughnessy’s answer is that you cannot ignore other search engines like Yahoo! and MSN because there are still customers loyal to those services.  Many small businesses make the mistake of only targeting Google.

Where else might a small business owner who is looking to expand their client base to include customers from the internet look to find these customers?   The social networking phenomenon of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace are also on the rise in business marketing.   There are many blogs about how these websites and how they can help the small business owner.

Mr. Shaughnessy from ODXFusion.com recently posted a blog on his website that told his users not to listen to him talking about how great Social Media is for business but to experience it themselves.  Mr. Shaughnessy chose Model Airplanes as his test subject.  He then described how each of the above listed social media networks had vendors blogging, tweeting and posting about Model Airplanes.  This little experiment proved that even for something so obscure as a Model Airplane business, there is still a market for it online and there are customers out there willing to buy Model Airplane products.

Incidentally, there were more than just those four social media networks talking about Model Airplanes.  Other websites like Digg and Google Blog Search also came up with results to the Model Airplane search.  As Mr. Shaughnessy points out “get connected or get left behind”. (Shaughnessy, 2009) Imagine if you had a more mainstream business and what a social media network could do for you.  It could help launch your site, your brand and your product into a whole new market and bring business like you have never seen before…”

We happen to agree… And we’re done bragging.  Thanks Delores – we were glad to help!

Launching an ecommerce website is a natural progression when businesses opt to sell their products online.  Realizing a geographical limitation of having a storefront only, small business owners see limitless possibilities of the internet and open their market to a much wider audience. What about the business owner that skips the storefront and goes right to the wider audience?

This is Part 2 of our interview with The Butcher Block Top owners, Christopher and Shirley Keele.  This is also a part of our “Just Doing It” series where we show how small business owners are already using the internet for their business.  If you missed part one, read “Customer Service is Still Alive Online” and see why they are worthy of a two-part post.

Christopher and Shirley Keele began building band-saw jewelry boxes, picnic benches, and patio furniture for friends and family. When they built and sold a cutting board, then another one, and a third one, they realized there was a market for custom wood creations. In October 2007, they filed for a business certificate and started selling their products online.  They listed their cutting boards and end-grain tables and then began receiving requests for butcher block countertops – their most popular product today.

With regard to their made-to-order creations Shirley points out, “we do not buy butcher blocks and cut them down as most of our competitors do. Selling custom sizes and being sure that your product is your own is very important.” It stands to reason as setting your product apart amongst fierce competition is the way to stake a claim online.

Chris and Shirley have maintained their website themselves, having had basic internet experience only. Getting qualified traffic to their website remains a top priority.  Currently, most customers find The Butcher Block Top through search engine results. As of this writing, The Butcher Block Top ranked #1 on Google for butcher block. That’s a pretty impressive standing.

The Keeles also run promotions such as “10% off first purchase” and discounted shipping rates from time to time.  Sometimes it comes down to giving the customer a little more in order for them to choose your products over a competitor’s.

For the Butcher Block Top Company, the best part of selling online is the potential of reaching millions of customers without the overhead of a brick and mortar store.  Selling through their ecommerce site has given them the flexibility they need to build their business while also maintaining a family life.  Many traditional entrepreneurs don’t have that luxury.

But it’s not always easy.  Without a storefront, Shirley says there’s no way for her customers to see and feel the beauty of their butcher blocks. “Senses play an amazing role in what a person does or does not purchase. Consumers are cautious about buying online.” What does this say to the business owner trying to sell their products online?  Cater to the senses you can, the rest relies on visibility, content and trust.

As noted previously, opening your business to the internet also means opening the business to far more competition.  Keeping ahead of the competition plays an important role in any online marketing plan and Chris and Shirley are off to a good start.

So what’s ahead for Chris and Shirley?  They’d like to embrace Social Media, which we at ODX Fusion obviously endorse.  They’d also like to spend more time on their blog, which they use to educate their customers on their butcher blocks. Finally, remaining high in search results for their targeted keywords is an ongoing task.  All these are top-notch strategies for building a successful business by selling online.

To sum it up, Shirley and Chris are very pleased with the progress of their Butcher Block Top ecommerce website.  Through their constant diligence, they stand to increase sales and grow their business.  To the businesses hesitant to sell their products online, Shirley offers this:

“Do not be intimidated by your fears – grit your teeth, knuckle up, and face them. You will be amazed at what you are capable of achieving when the fear of the unknown is not a factor. Just do it!”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

Special thanks go to Christopher and Shirley Keele for taking the time to be interviewed for the “Just Doing It” series.  Visit their website @ www.thebutcherblocktop.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to us for more in this series and other Online Marketing topics. It’s free and overwhelmingly informative!

Few things add to the character of your kitchen like butcher block.  A chunky “slab” of wood, you can chop on it, gather round it or serve hors d’oeuvres on it – it’s a fine enhancement to any counter space.  And like a premium wine, butcher block only gets better with age.

As you know, ODX Fusion is not in the business of Butcher Blocks.  We are in the business of helping other small businesses market their products and services online.  So when I purchased a gorgeous piece of block online and was treated with incredible customer service above and beyond what was expected or deserved, I was compelled to begin the “Just Doing it” series with a 2-part post based on the experience.

You see, many small business owners think they’ll put up a website and let it make money for them.  Unfortunately we all know that’s not the case.  It’s hard work, a few sleepless nights and a lot of trying new strategies to find out what works.  Above all, it’s customer service.

Here’s how it all started…. My wife and I decided our kitchen island would look great with butcher block in place of the island countertop.  After searching the internet for Butcher Blocks, we combed through the results and made our selection based on the ability order the exact size, finish and edging.

We contacted the folks at The Butcher Block Top, sent our measurements and after custom building our butcher block, it arrived a few days later.  Excitedly, we unboxed a very solid, quality crafted butcher block and set it atop our island to have a look.

It didn’t fit.  Well, it fit, but only just – no overhang, just a beautiful accent sitting squarely atop our island and not what I had in mind at all. Surely they’d made a mistake and sent me the wrong size.

Frustrated, I checked the measurements I emailed the company only to realize The Butcher Block Top company sent me exactly what I had ordered – in fact a perfect measurement of what I had ordered.

But I had measured wrong.

I was crushed.  When my wife suggested I call the company and ask what our options were I assured her we were stuck because it was a custom piece.

My wife never listens to me, let’s understand that. She called the The Butcher Block Top company anyway and the co-founder Shirley Keele answered the phone.  Yes, you read right, the co-founder answered the phone.  From the beginning, Shirley never made us feel like I had made a silly mistake and instead felt horrible that we’d received product with which we weren’t ecstatic.

Shirley was so determined to make sure that we received the butcher block of our dreams that she took our new and correct measurements and placed the order and then arranged for return shipping of the original block.  That was about 2 weeks prior to this writing.  The new block will be here in a few days!

The point of the Part 1 of this post is that it would have been easy and even understandable for The Butcher Block Top folks to apologize and say there was nothing that could be done – I mean, this was custom built for us.  Easy to tell me my dumb mistake cost me good money and advise that I was out of luck.  After all, they’re in Arizona, I am in New York.  Not likely I would show up and raise a raucous or picket outside their store.

What Shirley Keele and The Butcher Block Top company told me was that whether or not they ever actually meet me, they value me as a customer, appreciate my business and want me to be overjoyed with their product.  Not in words, but in action – and that’s the very definition of customer service.

If you’re looking for butcher block, visit The Butcher Block Top and see Part 2 of this post to find out how they came to be an ecommerce force with their butcher blocks.  Even better, subscribe so you’ll get all the “Just Doing It” Online Marketing posts!

We’re starting something new.

The purpose of this blog is to help small business owners realize the potential of online marketing through their website, search engine marketing and social media.

Sure, we love traffic.  We love getting new clients.  But this blog is mainly here to answer common questions about marketing online, all in one place.
That said, we decided that instead of telling you how to use the Internet to sell your product or service, we would show you how a real live small business is already “Just Doing It”.

How did they get started selling online?  What were their fears about Internet marketing? Who did they turn to for help with their website?  These and many more questions will be answered so that small businesses realize they’re not alone.

We have our first few interviews setup and are excited to present them to you. If you are a small business owner and would like to be considered for this series, send me an email.

The “Just Doing it” series will begin next week, make sure you subscribe now to catch it as soon as we publish.

We know you’ll enjoy it.

On Thursday, March 19, 2009 I had the privilege of attending the 2009 Veterans Business Conference “OPERATION: Start Up and Grow” as a veteran of the U.S. Army and as a small business owner with an interest in progressing small businesses owned by veterans and civilians alike.

This incredible event was hosted by Onondaga Community College, the NYS SBDC, M&T Bank, the Syracuse SBA and NYBDC as well as in attendance by many organizations intent upon furthering the entrepreneurial spirit of our United States Veterans.

First, I would like to thank the folks that carried this event and continually make it possible for vets to take their specialized training and translate it to a business idea or operation.  Next, I offer my complete respect and gratitude to the vets in attendance that had the desire and drive to put it all on the line for their country and now for their communities as a small business owner.

What an experience.

With the excitement that all small business owners have for their business, Operation: Start Up and Grow started off with a bang.  Emceed by local talk radio celebrity Jim Reith with opening remarks from County Executive Joanie Mahoney, OCC President Debbie Sydow and SBA District Director Bernard Paprocki, the atmosphere was that of anticipation, enthusiasm and an overall thrill to be there.

The workshops were right on the mark with topics from Business Planning 101 and Effective Marketing to Exploring International Markets, Government Contracting and Financing Your Business.  I don’t know a business owner that couldn’t take some gem away from this daylong event.

Of particular interest to me was the presentation by Doreen Garrett, President and CEO of Otis Technology, Inc who started her business at the wise old age of 16 sitting on the kitchen floor of her father’s house.  Additionally, Tony Baird, President and CEO of Tony Baird Electronics, Inc shared his story of serving 7 years in the U.S. Army, enduring a service-related disability to becoming a teacher, coach and ultimately starting and running his own thriving electronics business now located in the Syracuse Technology Garden downtown.

It was an awesome opportunity just to be there and share this day with these great people, to learn from them, help educate them and be a part of the general camaraderie that existed between us.

To all involved, I thank you for make this event a memorable one.

Stay tuned for pictures taken at the event!

Julia Velazquez from M&T Bank has made herself available to our veterans for more information on starting and financing their business.  Contact her at jvelazquez@mtb.com or call 315.424.4581.

Internet Marketing has caught on like wild fire and every size of business around is leveraging the power of the online marketplace to get their products and services seen.  It’s caught on so fast that many small businesses have been left in the dust wondering what the craze is about.  After all, many small business owners barely have an offline marketing strategy, much less an online marketing plan.

All this means that there are perceptions abound that online marketing is something sleazy.

As I was speaking with a customer recently explaining the online marketing services offered by ODX Fusion, I noticed she cast a wary eye my way.  Sensing her hesitation, I inquired if something wasn’t clear.

She said: “I don’t want to spam my customers with spams. And I don’t want to be a part of any Many Layer Marketing pyramid schemes either.”

While I fought the urge to inform her that the plural for spam is still spam and MLM stands for Multi-Level Marketing I had to wonder: do small business owners really equate Internet Marketing with spam, scams and MLM pyramid schemes?

Unfortunately some do.  While marketing products and services on the Internet is widely accepted and employed, there are people everywhere that don’t understand what it’s all about.  It’s completely understandable as online advertising is still in its infancy, in a relative sense.

And while Spams, Scams and MLM are prevalent online, legitimate Internet Marketing is about being available to your customer online, where ever they may be.

Are your customers using Search Engines to find you? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising may be in order.  Both entail getting listed high in search results for select keywords, whether you enhance your website for search engines or you pay the search engine to list you in a sponsored ad.  Neither is inherently spam.

Do you have customers developing relationships online?  Think about signing up for a Social Media account and engaging them.  Make connections with past, present and potential customers, offer them discounts, personalize your brand.  The most important thing here is to actually “connect” with them.  If you simply send out your sales copy and links to your product or service, then yes it is spam.  Otherwise it’s making “friends”.

Do you offer a product or service that your customers would enjoy learning more about or is your product or service often misunderstood?  Educate the world on your offerings through a blog for your business.  Tell your readers what they need to know to better understand your industry. No spam issue there.

Are there any businesses out there that market to the same demographic but offers a non-competing product?  Ask for a link to your website in return for the same or some other incentive.  With affiliate marketing, you’re helping each other out then and that’s not spammy.

Legitimate online marketing is a myriad of things, but it is not spam, is not a scam and ain’t no Many Layer Marketing scheme neither.

There are so many compelling ways to market your business online, you have to find the online marketing channel that’s right for you, your business and your customer.

What are some of your favorite non-spam ways to reach your customer online?

Don’t forget to subscribe!  Where else can you get this non-elitist-type knowledge for free?

Everyone has been yapping to you about Social Media Marketing.  I’ve even been yapping to you about Social Media Marketing. The real question is:  Who hasn’t been yapping to you about it?

I want to take a break from the Getting Started on Social Media for Business series for a moment even though this goes right along with it.  The uncertainty in the Small Business realm with regard to Social Media (SM) and using it to your business benefit is still too often overlooked.

“I own an {insert obscure business niche here} shop – how could I possibly use {SocialMediaSite}.com for that?!”

Well, it’s time to stop listening to me.  This is not a “get social media / a blog / connected or get left behind” post that we see so much of in the blogosphere (Guilty!) as much as it is an “I’m tired of telling you, see for yourself” post.

Below I’ve provided you with search results from specific SM platforms for a specific niche. Nothing too fancy or techy, just some good old fashion search material.  You can stop taking my word for it and decide for yourself.

Start by labeling your niche: Adolescent Fitness, Affluent Travel, Rubber Pants, Not-For Profit Doorstoppers – whatever.   If your niche is not really a niche (shame on you), apply a broader category like: Retail, Arts, Crafts, Technology etc…  Now the fun begins.  Now you search for others on the different Social Media Platforms.

In this example, we’ll say Model Airplanes is your business.  I’m going to start by finding out who blogs about Model Airplanes.  Surely NO ONE, right?  I’ve done a Google Search for you:

Blog Model Airplane

WOW!  There really is someone blogging about Model Airplanes.  A few actually.  If my business is Model Airplanes, I might want to take notice here.  I might read what’s being said, make a comment on a post including contact info or a link back to my website.  Wouldn’t hurt, right?  So there’s your blogosphere representation.

Note: Some of you will ask “Why didn’t you use Google Blog Search?”  Simple:  I don’t love it.  Try it out, if you like it by all means use it instead.

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What about Facebook?  Sure, there may be specific individuals that enjoy Model Airplanes as a hobby (which by itself is a great reason to join if I’m in that business!), but are there actual profiles, groups or pages dedicated to it?

Facebook Model Airplane

Holy Cow, there are!  In fact, pages of Model Airplane Results.  The group R/C Model Airplanes alone has 254 members at the time of this post.  It’s easy to see more than 5 groups dedicated to the Model Airplane market on the first results page.  That’s a bunch of folks practically begging for more information on your business.  What say you?!

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Next, let’s try MySpace. MySpace sometimes gets a bad name for being primarily kids, rock bands and general riff-raff.  That’s not entirely true, there are some very popular and mature profiles.  In fact, let’s see if our Model Airplanes are represented here:

MySpace Model Airplane

Would you look at that?  Model Airplanes on Myspace.  I know what you’re thinking, “Wow, 2 whole groups with a total of 27 members.”  Fine, there’s not a HUGE representation of Model Airplanes on MySpace, but I wouldn’t mind reaching out to those 27 potential customers.  They’ve joined that group for a reason, to interact with people that also enjoy their hobby.  Speak to these people!

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We move on to LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a professional networking site and I thought I might have trouble finding something specifically associated with model airplanes.  I was right.  A specific search on Model Airplanes returned nothing of value, so I broadened the search to Arts and Crafts.  This is what I found:

LinkedIn Arts and Crafts

(Note: if the link to the search results doesn’t work, type Arts and Crafts into the “Search Groups” Box in the upper right hand. It appears LinkedIn uses a dynamic URL for the searches)

Can’t win ‘em all, but this is not a total loss.  As a Model Airplane business owner, these are still people I can connect with, share thoughts, ideas and good arts and crafts times!

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Let’s try Digg.  For those that aren’t familiar with Digg, it’s a collection of user-rated articles and content.  Users “digg” something they find on the net, other users check it out and “digg” it too.  After an article has been “dugg” so many times, it ranks high on the site and the originating website gets somewhere around a gajillion views.  How does this help you as a Model Airplane Entrepreneur?  First, you’re able to see what people are saying in the industry.  Many times you can leave comments with your contact info for people you KNOW are interested in Model Airplanes.  Next, if you have a website or blog, you can write something so awesome that’s so full of rich content that you get “dugg” many times.  Then you say welcome to the gajillion potential customers to your blog or website, bringing you even closer to converting them from visitor to patron.

Digg Model Airplane

There you have it – Model Airplanes on Digg.  Keep in mind, where you see the number of “diggs” down the left hand side that that’s not the number of people who have viewed the article, it’s how many dugg it.  Views could actually be in the tens of thousands or more.   Would you like to speak to that many potential customers all at once?  I thought so.

All you have to do now is plug in your niche to a few of these sites to see your market’s representation on SM outlets.

This is by no means the end-all, be-all for determining your Social Media arrival, but it’s a good start.  It gives you a good idea about who is talking about your product or service, what they’re saying and possibly where you fit in.

On the rare occasion you find no representation of your type of business in SM, maybe that’s a sign too (find another business!).  You decide.

Just remember this: By you not connecting on SM outlets, you’ve provided businesses in your niche that are connecting a free pass to (openly and without interference) speak with your past, present and future customers.   Why don’t you just mail them your client list while you’re at it? (ok, I went too far, you get the picture)

Do you have any other tools in your arsenal for checking on your niche in the Social Media world?  If so, let us know!

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