Wednesday 26 May 2010

What role will Social Media play in your business?

Social Networking sites have such a crucial role to play in the future of online businesses that it is now when you should be taking notice and looking at how you can use social media in your business. Whether it is just to create a facebook page for your company or interacting with your customers through twitter, the time has come to get started.

If regular interaction with your customers is likely to improve your business in anyway then twitter could be the way to tackle this. Check out my comments on Social Media sites below.

Facebook

There are several ways in which Facebook can be used within your business. Because of the huge, seriously active audience on the site, a page on your company and/or services is a great starting point and as long as you go about it correctly, this can really start to increase awareness of your brand.

In addition to a permanent presence on Facebook there are some fantastic advertising opportunities. Because of the nature of the site it is possible to do highly targeted advertising campaigns. This can be very effective if you are running a niche dating site, which is maybe aimed at a specific age group.

Twitter

The popularity of Twitter has really taken the Social Media world by storm. This simple online tool which allows you to let people know what you are up to in 140 characters or less is just pure genius in its simplicity. For some businesses it could just be what you need to get your name in front of your customers more often. You can keep customers updated on new products, special offers or even just changes within the company.

Some of the most impressive examples of brands using Twitter to keep in touch with their customers include Starbucks (http://twitter.com/starbucks) who have almost 1 million followers and Zappos (http://twitter.com/zappos) with 1.7 million followers. These guys have such a loyal customer base and impressive customer relations that it probably wasn’t too huge a task to reach those numbers.

Other Social Networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo, which seem to have lost ground to the ones mentioned above can also offer up great opportunities for brand exposure and customer interaction. I may cover these another day.

Feel free to comment

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Not all white label dating providers are created equal

If you are really serious about setting up a dating site and you are in the process of comparing the providers offering a white label dating solution, make sure you are armed with all the facts before making your decision.

 What size of database do they have?

It is important that the members you bring to your site are able to find people ‘near them’. If they don’t they will leave your site.

- Easy Date has 15 million

 Which countries do they operate in?

You will want to consider your expansion options, so make sure your white label dating provider covers other countries so you have the possibility to expand your portfolio.

- Easy Date operates in UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Spain, Sweden – and continue to expand the countries available to white label partners.

 What is their track record like?

Have the white label provider any visible evidence of success either for themselves or for their white label partners? This is important because it will show whether their platform has demonstrated the potential to create a profitable, scalable business.

- There are 7 dating sites in the UK Top 50 (source: Hitwise March 2010) operating on Easy Date’s platform - that’s 14% of the countries most popular dating sites.

 Good luck with your venture…