Social media has a lot of uses – it can also be a time drain if your not careful. In the past, before the internet came along, if we had a business idea we would run it past our friends and families. Of course many of them would rubbish the idea, others would come up with useless suggestions, and just occasionally, you would win a lot of support and a wealth of positive suggestions.
The internet has extended our circle of family and friends. If you have a business idea you may want to use social media as incubator for your idea. What can social media do for your idea?
Problem solving – forums can be great places to discuss business ideas. Other business owners never hesitate to offer advice particularly when it comes to the pitfalls that need to be avoided.
Product ideas – sites like Facebook and Myspace can be used to discuss products with a wider audience. People are always willing to provide opinions on what they like and what they dislike. Colors, prices, distribution methods – these can all be discussed. You can even also take advantage of polls to gain feedback.
Blogs – blogs have been around for a long time now and once you have a reasonable flow of traffic you can utilize opinions of your readers to develop your ideas. But be clear of your expectations; make sure to ask your readers what they think and to respond.
Using social media to incubate ideas prior to a launch can be an effective and affordable way to get market research. Once you have people talking about your business, they will be eager to test the waters once you launch your business, or if it’s a new product, once the product has been launched. Incubating a business idea through social media could be the first step to a successful social media marketing campaign.
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