Earlier this week I was checking the contents in several journals on politics, business, marketing and technology. Not surprisingly I found the common factor in virtually all of them: the use of social networks and support in political campaigns, social partnerships between businesses and individuals and as a means of online advertising for small businesses.
A couple of days later I read the article about a company in northern Mexico created by young entrepreneurs. The company has created a platform which offers various products (from a social network which enhances relationships between transport´s suppliers to car wash dealers). The products and their quality varied greatly: some looked like pretty good ideas and some just had no reason to be or didn`t appear to satisfy any demand for any particular market.
The funny thing is the advertising they set out: in all of them it created a social network among its users and, depending on the case, with third parties. After thinking a bit I asked myself: what is the added value or competitive advantage for using or subscribing to an online service that allows me to make contact only with suppliers of steel products for car-manufacturing industry and not to join any other group specialized within a social network like facebook, linkedin and Google +?
My logical answer was: nothing at all. Perhaps at that time was that I thought that many services that offer mere social networks are overrated. The social network offering should be integrated with another value within the same platform they offer. This integration can be a management inventory web tool, a database based on human resources, a forum for buyers and sellers of commodities or whatnot. Any other tool that will help the company improve its status quo as the social network will hardly alone do it.
No doubt if the creators of these services do not understand that social networking is more a means than an end in itself then the products will be doomed to failure.
No need to reinvent the wheel. Connecting people with similar tastes, interests and relationships is already happening. The services are being offered by the big players. If you do not add something else to the social network then there is no tangible value that any client may perceive as valuable and necessary for their business.
www.clarensyst.com.mx
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Thanks !