Bet on Facebook - It Could Be the One

Much is written about the potential of Web 2.0, which is a catch-all phrase for all the developments around using Web apps as opposed to those residing on your computer. In that world, your word processing, spreadsheets and other programs would be updated without you having to purchase the next Office 15.0 suite to stay current. You would have to have a subscription, no free ride there.

Other important components of Web 2.0 are social networking and social bookmarking platforms with  MySpace and Facebook typifying the former and Del.ico.us, Digg and Technorati the latter. Blogs are Web 2.0 and so are YouTube and Flickrto name but a few of the most popular 2.0 type sites proliferating on the Web. Some would say altenate universe sites like Second Life are in this group as well.

For some marketers, including artists, galleries and publishers, these and other sites like them have represented new ways to find new collectors. Clint Watson in his Fine Art Viewsblog recently passionately argued spending time trying to create your own community instead of using Facebook or other opportunities. Clint feels it is not the best use of one's time. It's hard to disagree with him.

My observations from talking with artists and reading and posting to artist discussion board threads is some are getting very good value from their time using the abovementioned links and others such as Squidoo and Stumbleupon. They report gaining blog traffic and finding new customers by spending time with any or all of the links listed here.

While I agree with Clint that a more traditional approach given a finite amount of time for marketing makes the most sense, I see evidence artists are making these new opportunities pay off. Those who are finding success are diligently working the programs...hey that's just exactly what it takes in traditional marketing. You have to do it, do it some more, get smarter about what you are doing and do it some more.

If you read my recent post, you know I suffered a hard drive failure. I am working to restore the data (fingers crossed). It had many links to stories about Facebook that I planned to use and present to my readers. Since I'm not sure when that will happen now, I'm plunging in with this information. Facebook has been bought in part by Microsoft. Other articles I've been reading and anecdotal information from various trusted resources leads me to believe Facebook is the one and first place among the Web 2.0 possibilites that I would put attention to marketing for myself and for artists I advise. Here is a link to a story from Henry Blodgett's Silicon Alley blog: Facebook Ads: The Devil's In The Details. Recent articles in Internet Retailer magazine also talk about how mass marketers are diligently working to learn how to put Facebook to work for them.

This post could be more thoughtful with more insight provided from the currently unavailable links on my dead hard drive and a little more time cogitating from me. But, I don't want to wait longer. I want to urge you to consider using Facebook as the place where I think you can get the greatest bang for your buck (and time) from among all the Web 2.0 opportunities out there. I'm sure there are those who will disagree and I welcome any comments.

If you have been following along with how our industry is changing and how the marketing efforts of companies in all industries are changing, you know you may need to pick a horse to bet on. I'm not saying the others won't deliver, but with limited time, I would go with Facebook as my primary source.

Will Rogers once said: "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Rogers' wisdom applies for marketers in the 21st Century. You can't wait until a clear winner evolves and play catch up. You have to get in somewhere, the sooner the better and going with Facebook looks to me about as a good a choice as you can make.