If you are tempted to turn your tile business in to the latest on line buzz word, you need to remember a couple of things before you start – firstly, it is now illegal to astroturf. Why would you want to anyway when you are in the tile business? Let me explain: this actually means that you can’t pretend to be someone you are not, and must admit that you are talking about your own business.
Secondly you should avoid flaming (arguing with) your customers – remember the saying that the customer is always right still holds good. If somebody posts something negative about your company, then post a reply putting your point of view politely.
Thirdly pick the places that you start your blog/network group etc carefully so that it matches with your customer profile – Bebo has a younger profile than Facebook for example.
Fourthly don’t just tell and sell: give your correspondents something to interact with.
And fifthly if you do start a group or site, make sure that you actually do something on it – there is nothing more pathetic than an empty page. If you are going to go to the trouble to set up a site or a blog then make sure you think of things to say and generate some sort of response. It makes it look as if you cannot be bothered if there is nothing there, not to mention the fact that it is hardly going to get people talking, let alone go ”viral”.
Once you have followed all of these instructions, you then need to come up with something that your target customers will find interesting to get your name noticed and achieve the ultimate goal of increasing sales.
