MMOB Classic - A "Space," a Blog, & a Wiki

Note: Minding My Own Business publishes at knowmybusiness.blogspot.com on Monday's and Wednesday's. While I am in the process of migrating fully to this new home, I will fill in non MMOB days with my blog entries previously posted on my MySpace blog page.

A "space," a blog, & a wiki walk into a bar. I'm sure there's a joke in that line somewhere, but, given all the work I've spent as of late "getting connected," I'm having trouble finding it.

As a member of various small business and marketing organizations (see notes), I have had it hammered into me for the past year plus that, "you need to be involved on these social networking sites," and "have you thought about integrating Second Life into your business' 'real life.'" The answer had always been a resounding "no." I don't have time. I don't know people. I don't see how such seemingly personal and unprofessional locations could possibly be useful to a business.

I was wrong.

My M.B.A. education at Wichita State University definitely didn't prepare me for this new world of utilizing social networking into both a real and effective marketing plan. I, therefore, finally decided to re-educate myself in 2007 and, so far it has gone well.

In a matter of a month, I have been able to establish a MySpace page, Facebook profile, and Classmates listing and, as you are now reading, a blog. But now is what mamma didn't teach me (nor did my M.B.A. professors). How to utilize this social networking world to my advantage in my current job at Wichita State University West Campus and in my attempts to develop my own business (see below) is the next major question that I will have to explore.

The difficulty that I see in this new world of social networking is how to find the way to maximize the personal contact with individuals (essentially a digital version of relationship marketing), with the need to be efficient time-wise with marketing efforts. This is an area, which I definitely need to do more personal research on and I would welcome any other suggestions and comments on the matter.

Notes:
1. Augustine Iacopelli is a member of American Marketing Association, Wichita Independent Business Association, and Wichita Professional Communicators.
2. Future blogs (appearing on Wednesday each week) will go further into my progress developing the business plans that I have and choosing which to pursue.

Minding My Own Business is a blog written by Augustine Iacopelli. This blog consists of a mix of general business observations and contrarian positions on relevant topics as well my own forays in the world of business and networking.