Submitted by Marcus on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 23:34
'Local Social' is a old phenomenon with a new name that has recently been made easier, thanks mostly to the exponential growth of networking sites like Facebook.com, Myspace.com and LinkedIn.com This phenomenon manifests itself in the desire of people to do business with local people within their network or online community. Most people will pay a little more to be able to connect with and assist someone within their community. With these new social networks, your community is mapped out in a format that is great for quick communication. It is easy to let your community know, for example, that you need a web developer or tax accountant. Most people know about 200 people, so with 3 degrees of separation there are over 8 million people available to meet your need! (I have 200 hundred friends, who have 200 friends, who have 200 friends.) I could be buying a patio set or buying a diamond ring, I would much rather do business with a person that a trusted friend in my network has had a good experience with or may even know very well. The slow economy makes marketing to communities almost a requirement because of the propensity of a good experience to move through a social network. Be careful that the referred person's name is not Bernie Madoff, he was able to jack an entire community of wealthy individuals for $50 billion, based almost entirely on referrals! This is the power of 'local social'. Study this phenomenon and figure out how to use it to propel your business forward.