The Media Market #2

Social media is like a market, your account is your shop; one that gives you access to the marketplace.

There, you open a store at no cost at all. You don’t pay for the shop, you don’t pay for water or light, no market association fees, all you expend on is transport fare to and fro your store.

Yet the market is designed to give you access to thousands, even millions of potential customers for close to free. Still, many are not leveraging this opportunity.

Some shop owners have abandoned their shops, because they are fed up with the noise of the market.

Others show up every now and then, they neither buy nor sell, even though they spend money on transport every day.

A third category are only interested in market survey. After all, ideas gained here could be put to use outside the market as well.

I know all these because I’ve spent some time in each category.

But now, speaking from a wealth of experience, I think everyone should buy, sell, and do market survey all at the same time.

No one should abandon their shops because of the noise and distractions of the market environment. To do that is to forego the exposure, opportunities, and business transactions the market affords.

I agree some shop owners who now come to watch, started out enthusiastic to sell, but became discouraged for lack of patronage.

If you think of it like starting a business, you’d know you have to endure some challenges in the beginning. As long as you don’t get stuck with a winning idea that isn’t working, you will make progress.

And for market surveyors who aren’t giving anything back to the pool, please note you need to feed what’s feeding you, sowers are better positioned to reap more.

You need not sell something new; you could create a product from already existing ones, or simply distribute products from trusted sources.

Whatever you do, come to the market intentionally; survey, sell what you can, and don’t go home with an empty basket.

And here’s the key to the allegory: facebook is the old market, twitter is the new. 

PS: You might want to read the preceding post again; you’d understand that marketing experience I was talking about.

Read here