Home > Big Ideas > Don’t Believe the Hype About Internet Marketing, It’s a Sequel

First, the Hype

To hear Internet marketers talk about it, you’d think marketing has turned into a religion, complete with cults (“You must do Google+ / LinkedIn / Twitter / Pinterest and nothing else!”), prophets (not gonna drop names) and, ahem, quite a few “evangelists” (actual title used by many). No wonder so many business owners are put off, confused, or overwhelmed by it.

Let me be clear about something: If you read my previous article you know how strongly I feel about the need for businesses to market effectively. I also think Internet Marketing – and its many components: Social Media Marketing (SMM), Email Marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – are the most effective methods for small business promotion.

But – I’m going to say it – if I hear one more Internet marketer using “meaningful, engaging conversations” as the argument in favor of Internet marketing I’m going to throw up. On them.

Why? Because it’s hype. All Internet Marketing is amplified word-of-mouth and networking combined. If you think about it this way, it becomes a lot easier to figure out what needs to be done.

Time to Get Serious

Don’t get me wrong, you can have meaningful, engaging conversations – or at least get them started – on social media. And the impact the connections can have is amazing. Look at what is going on: the Arab Spring, the reversal on fees by Bank of America, backpedaling on SOPA, and the Komen/Planned Parenthood fiasco. Clearly, social media is a force to be reckoned with.

Recently Daria Musk successfully launched her career globally using Google+. Can’t argue with that.

But, for the small business owner all these are stories that come across as anything from inspiring to hard to identify with.

What business owners are looking for is for ways to make this work for them. Ways to make Internet Marketing add to the profitability of their business.

Of course, the specifics of how to do this for each business is something that needs to be assessed first, planned for, and executed professionally, if not at least with discipline. But there are some general guidelines that apply to most businesses:

1. Find where your audience is – This presumes you know who your audience is. Once you know that, figure out their online reading and participation habits (hint: ask).
2. Tailor your Internet Marketing efforts – This means both the message and the channel matter. Sounds like a lot of work, but the good news is you don’t have to “do it all”, only the social media networks that matter to your business.
3. Be human – Seriously, stop the marketing speak, the scripts, the broadcast mentality. This is social media we’re talking about. These are people we’re talking about.

Time to Get Human

That last point sticks with me because I constantly see and hear the pain. It’s in the face of the business owners asking me in a seminar, trying to figure this out. To see that is to see the faces of the humans behind the business, hurting with anxiety, overwhelmed by the hype.

My advice to them: just be human.

Be the person behind the business and show your potential clients that you care. You care enough to take the time. You care enough to provide valuable information for free, or to help the community, or to reach out to show that you are more than a business.

The hyper-transparency of today’s web puts you there anyway, you may as well make the most of it.

If you’re going to have people talking about your business anyway, be part of the conversation, and behave like you would in a small town setting, or a networking event. Be kind, conscientious, and offer value.

Keep this in mind: People make business with other people.

Photo Credit: pasukaru76