Reaction to ClickZ Article

I recently read an article on the ClickZ blog that discussed the increasing trend of marketers using social networking sites. In the recent years the Internet has become an integral part of marketing since it allows enumerable different opportunities. Focusing more closely on this topic, one can find the widespread use of blogs and their success in marketing campaigns. In fact if this is not the central topic of my BUAD 477 class, it is at least the permeating theme. Social networks in particular are fountains of information to different brands/companies about consumer's feelings and attitudes towards their product or service.

The interesting thing the article focused on is the shift from companies not only accessing these social networks to retrieve useful information, but actually establishing a profile for the company itself. This new technique looks to have even greater potential because companies do not have to worry about searching for opinions on certain topics that may not even be available. Instead the company itself can pose a question, and can have its build-in audience of social networking users answer their pinpointed question. The example of Hillary Clinton and her question about healthcare is an excellent example of the beauty of this concept. She got in excess of 30,000 responses to her inquiry.

I have also heard of different "companies" such as up and coming music bands getting their name out there by using a social network such as MySpace. These sites can provide great exposure with wide customer bases due to the popularity of social networks, and they can ensure a company control over the information they put out there and directed responses from their own inquiries. I think this concept will turn into a new trend used by companies who are continuously tweaking their marketing efforts to get the best possible results.