Many professionals join social networks to obtain new clients and new business. But how do you know in which social network to actively participate? How to do you measure the ROI? Perhaps you are swimming in the wrong social network ocean to attract the most business.
The Blue Ocean Strategy theorizes there are two types of marketplaces: red oceans and blue oceans. Red oceans are filled with your competition, each of you fighting to outdo the other. As the space gets more crowded, competition gets fiercer. A messy place, to be sure. Blue oceans, on the other hand, are places where you have no competition, either because of some proprietary protection (eg. patent), your creation of a unique demand (eg. first mover) or you are in an unknown marketplace.
Are you diving into red ocean social networks in the hopes of gaining clients, with others who are competing for the same clients? Maybe it’s time to swim somewhere else.
If you believe in the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) maybe you could attract more business by joining social networks (online or offline) where the other members do not compete with you for the same business. Let’s say I’m a real estate agent in New York. Perhaps I will be more likely to get clients if I join a social network where others in the network are not competing for the same clients I am — where the members of the network are in complementary or cooperating fields, where I might get referrals, and vice versa.
Can you find a blue ocean social network where your competition is not swimming beside you? Or, if you find comfort swimming with your competition, perhaps you need to learn a new stroke.
Technorati Tags: social networking, marketing, blue ocean strategy
