Article: Facebook and YouTube and Twitter … Oh, My!
By Julie Friedman Bacchini

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 12 months, you’ve probably been hearing a lot about Web 2.0 and technologies like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter. Forget simple blogging – as if blogging weren’t daunting enough! Now, if you’re not actively using Facebook and/or Twitter, you might as well pack it in. Your business will be toast in 6 months.

Sound familiar? Every networking event has a speaker on the topic, every open forum elicits questions about Web 2.0, every magazine, journal, and newsletter is telling you the same thing.

Now stop.

Listen carefully.

It’s okay if you’re not on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever else is the so-called “latest and greatest.” Because this is the real bottom line: good business practices have not changed – only the options available to us have.

The fact is, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace and all the rest of them are simply tools for Internet marketing. They are tools the same way that blogging, article marketing, Google AdSense, and pay-per-click campaigns are other examples of Internet marketing. Or, to go further a field, the same way that newspaper ads, direct mail campaigns, billboards, and cold calling are potential tools for marketing.

And when you’re selecting tools to build your business, you don’t select based on peer pressure. You select based on research, logic, and strategic planning.

So how do you decide which, if any, of these technologies make sense for you and your business or organization? The evaluation process is simple, and familiar. First, if you have no earthly idea what these different technologies are – find out. There are literally millions of resources out there to help you with this task: web sites, online articles, books, and consultants can help you navigate this brave new world.

Once you have an idea of what Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are and what they can do (and what they cannot do), start thinking about your business and your customers. Do you have a clear understanding of the demographic profile of your customers? If not, now is a great time to really find out, because each of the available Web 2.0 technologies reach different age and gender demographics at different rates.

After you have a grip on the technologies and you know who your customers are, it is time to choose an outlet for your message. For example, if you’re a nonprofit organization interested in reaching potential donors who are typically age 40+, you might want to consider Facebook, as it has the greatest number of users in this age group among the Web 2.0 options. On the other hand, if you are marketing to young adults ages 17 to 25, both MySpace and Facebook could be good options for you, etc.

As with any business strategy, deciding to utilize one or more of these new avenues to reach and interact with customers and potential customers is not a decision to be made lightly. It’s not something you just “decide to do” on some random Tuesday. Instead, it should be a calculated business decision. Make sure that you’re likely to get a return on the investment of time you will need to put into these technologies.

Also, make sure you carefully weigh the risks of using these technologies for your organization. Are you opening yourself up to negative comments being posted across the Web? Remember, you cannot control Web 2.0 content – it is user-generated. Do you have the resources to put into executing a Web 2.0 strategy? Web 2.0 sucks an incredible amount of time – if you don’t the resources, it simply will not work. Better not to implement a Web 2.0 strategy than to implement one and have it fritter away in a matter of weeks or months.

So take a deep breath and resist the pressure to dive into all of these channels this week. With careful planning and thoughtful strategy and execution, Web 2.0 can open up a new world of growth and profit. Without good planning, it can lead to unintended consequences to the 29th power. The criteria for a good business decision haven’t changed – we simply have some new tools in the toolbox. Choose the ones that will work best for you.

© 2009 Julie Friedman Bacchini
Article Source: http://www.neptunemoon.com

You have my permission to reprint and distribute this article as long as it is distributed in its entirety, including all links and copyright information. This article is not to be sold or included with anything that is sold.

About the Author:

Julie Friedman Bacchini is President of Neptune Moon Design (www.NeptuneMoon.com), a full-service agency providing businesses and non-profit organizations with custom web designs, web site marketing plans, and strategic search engine optimization (SEO), all designed to build brand recognition, increase site traffic, and generate leads, clients, and revenue. Be sure to visit NeptuneMoon.com to read additional articles that will help you reach your business goals!

© 2009 Neptune Moon