The Power of a Platform

You know, every time I see a news anchor or TV personality talk about Twitter, I laugh. Not because they’re talking about Twitter, but because they are trying to be hip with a subject that they have zero clue about.

I love it because for the longest time, traditional media had a stranglehold on what was newsworthy and what wasn’t. If you didn’t go through the gatekeepers, you had no chance of your message getting out.

The Death of Old Media

Now however, the tables have turned and people are cutting the old media out entirely. They are scrambling to be hip, while many of us are already light years ahead. Now, I’m not saying this to be cocky, but instead to show you just how powerful of a platform that social media can be.

Look at how athletes and celebrities use Twitter. They completely bypass the mainstream media. They actually have to go to their Twitter accounts to get the news. Hilarious!

Yesterday, I wrote a post for Copyblogger that received a lot of praise and was very humbling. At the same time, I was able to get a post published on Twitip, Darren Rowse’s Twitter blog, which also got a lot of press. I’m not saying this to toot my own horn, but I want to use it as an example of what you can do with a small network and a bit of content to market.

Expanded Reach

Thanks to just a little bit of networking and a little bit of hard work, I was able to extend my message to an audience of over 100k people, which is a lot more than I would be able to reach on my own. Had I tried to publish a piece via old media, such as a newspaper, I would be lucky to even get published, let alone receive a link back to my site and my Twitter account. Using this platform, I increased the number of subscribers to my website, my newsletter, and my Twitter account.

Now, take this strategy and apply it to your niche. Let’s say you are a mommy blogger trying to build a bigger audience and get noticed. Trying to get on TV? Not that simple, but submit a few guest posts to more popular platforms and you’ve got yourself a new ballgame. This works for small businesses, salesmen, and entrepreneurs.

It’s Just the Beginning

New media offers all of us “little guys” (and gals) a chance to play with the big boys, without having to spend a fortune on advertising or trying to cold call for an interview. There is so much opportunity to be had, so many new eyes and ears to reach, that most businesses simply do not understand the power of the social media platform. Simply put, if you are struggling to sell something, or even just to get heard, then you need to find a way to expand your reach, and social media is the perfect platform to do that.

The best part is that we’re just getting started. Video is just now starting to take off, podcasting is underused, and even blogging has room to grow. If you just put the effort into creating a blog, creating profiles on social networks, and staying moderately active in conversation, then you can do amazing things for your business. If nothing else, listen to what’s being said about your industry.

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