Comments on: Traffic Delusion and Social Networking Insanity http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/ Marketing blog focused on marketing optimization, improving website conversion rates, search engine marketing, web analytics, word of mouth, etc. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:54:04 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Greg http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/comment-page-1/#comment-256577 Greg Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:08:06 +0000 http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/#comment-256577 Additional follow up to my earlier post. I am considering diving into the Facebook and Myspace communities. I am slightly hesitant tho. Additional follow up to my earlier post. I am considering diving into the Facebook and Myspace communities. I am slightly hesitant tho.

]]> By: Greg http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/comment-page-1/#comment-256575 Greg Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:07:12 +0000 http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/#comment-256575 We are embarking on a journey down a new road. Having had the Social Networking mantra beaten into my head by the Internet Retailer conference in San Jose. I decided to build on an old social networking model that we have had in place for years and was costing us a lot of money returning a very negative ROI. One of the problems with building a social community is the fallout. We made a change to one of our social channels (an email community) and the nastiness continues to this day. We built a blog and a discussion forum at a very low startup cost. If interested the blog resides at http://countrylife.lehmans.com and the forum is at http://lehmanslife.lehmans.com. What I have found is we have some very loyal and driven customers. This may sound like a great audience to most but there are (as always is the case) problems. The experiment is in its infancy. However I am pleased to report a very low startup cost. Better than expected support from our internal community (employees and management). As well as an excellent response from our users and the internet as a whole. The final question is: Am I getting a positive ROI? the easy answer is 'NO'. The better answer is: 'Not Yet', I believe there is a lot to learn and a different (perhaps more subtle) way to market using these channels. We are embarking on a journey down a new road. Having had the Social Networking mantra beaten into my head by the Internet Retailer conference in San Jose. I decided to build on an old social networking model that we have had in place for years and was costing us a lot of money returning a very negative ROI. One of the problems with building a social community is the fallout. We made a change to one of our social channels (an email community) and the nastiness continues to this day. We built a blog and a discussion forum at a very low startup cost.

If interested the blog resides at
http://countrylife.lehmans.com and the forum is at http://lehmanslife.lehmans.com.

What I have found is we have some very loyal and driven customers. This may sound like a great audience to most but there are (as always is the case) problems.

The experiment is in its infancy. However I am pleased to report a very low startup cost. Better than expected support from our internal community (employees and management). As well as an excellent response from our users and the internet as a whole. The final question is: Am I getting a positive ROI? the easy answer is ‘NO’. The better answer is: ‘Not Yet’, I believe there is a lot to learn and a different (perhaps more subtle) way to market using these channels.

]]> By: Aurelius Tjin http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/comment-page-1/#comment-256271 Aurelius Tjin Tue, 16 Oct 2007 07:50:48 +0000 http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/#comment-256271 That was very insightful Howard. Thanks, -Aurelius :) That was very insightful Howard.

Thanks,
-Aurelius :)

]]> By: Mark http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/comment-page-1/#comment-255823 Mark Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:54:47 +0000 http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/#comment-255823 We are also trying to get started with social networking and would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions in this regard. So far we have found face book to be better than myspace. We are also trying to get started with social networking and would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions in this regard.

So far we have found face book to be better than myspace.

]]> By: Latarsha http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/comment-page-1/#comment-247872 Latarsha Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:23:07 +0000 http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/#comment-247872 Thanks for bringing us back to the basics. Those websites that sustain success have found a way to give a targeted niche of people something meaty enough to make them stick around. Thanks for bringing us back to the basics.

Those websites that sustain success have found a way to give a targeted niche of people something meaty enough to make them stick around.

]]> By: Bruce Judson http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/comment-page-1/#comment-247025 Bruce Judson Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:12:17 +0000 http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/#comment-247025 Great post. About two weeks ago we launched our new search engine "Search Free Apps" (www.SearchFreeApps.com), and the launch was covered by the Wall Street Journal. The publicity was great, but what has been even more interesting is to watch the ripple effects. We are finding that the conversion from different sources (links from the Journal, specific social networks, specific blogs) is dramatically different. Some social networks have almost no conversion whil some blogs yield almost 100%. What this suggests to me is that it's also worth putting a lot of time into thinking out your publicity strategy. It's very clear that visitors to www.SearchFreeApps.com originating at certain places are far more likely to convert than others. So, even if we realized the fantasy of a huge social network surge it might be far less valuable than reviews in a few key blogs. Bruce Judson Founder, Search Free Apps www.SearchFreeApps.com Great post. About two weeks ago we launched our new search engine “Search Free Apps” (www.SearchFreeApps.com), and the launch was covered by the Wall Street Journal. The publicity was great, but what has been even more interesting is to watch the ripple effects.
We are finding that the conversion from different sources (links from the Journal, specific social networks, specific blogs) is dramatically different. Some social networks have almost no conversion whil some blogs yield almost 100%.

What this suggests to me is that it’s also worth putting a lot of time into thinking out your publicity strategy. It’s very clear that visitors to http://www.SearchFreeApps.com originating at certain places are far more likely to convert than others.

So, even if we realized the fantasy of a huge social network surge it might be far less valuable than reviews in a few key blogs.

Bruce Judson
Founder, Search Free Apps
http://www.SearchFreeApps.com

]]> By: Dan http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/comment-page-1/#comment-246780 Dan Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:12:42 +0000 http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/10/insanity-or-conventional-wisdom-in-social-networking/#comment-246780 Hey Howard...I like your site. As a new entrepeneur and owner of mothernaturesports.com I apreciate and look forwards to all info and comments.Love "grok" the name ...will try to share info (not "share water"-...as in the book?) I have not opened a blog yet (still getting over fear of flying I gues?) :0) Dan Hey Howard…I like your site. As a new entrepeneur and owner of
mothernaturesports.com I apreciate and look forwards to all info and comments.Love “grok” the name …will try to share info (not “share water”-…as in the book?) I have not opened a blog yet (still getting over fear of flying I gues?) :0) Dan

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