Much of what goes on on Linkedin groups and many other social networking sites is a variant of push advertising, as although most of it takes place as a conversation, most business people are all looking for opportunities to promote their products or services.
They sit at their desks waiting for someone to say ‘How do I’ or ‘Where can I’.
However when someone has a question like this, they need to be aware that they may be deluged by people offering services, and may end up working with either the wrong company or both wrong and too expensive.
So there is a risk for buyers trying to find suppliers in any form of social networking.
So I believe that genuine buyers are likely to read the conversations without making contact until they understand who is competent and who not. They will also spot the blatant and may avoid that person if the conversations he or she is engaged in are shallow..
This is a reversal from push advertising to pull, and is a better approach for buyers, but finding relevant reports or conversations to make up the background research is not as easy as it seems., as they may not be able to see where else this potential supplier is making comments.
It would be idea if they could see all the activity in once place, so they could gage if that potential supplier, trainer or partner was the right person for them with the right knowledge, attitude and skills.
However even if this were possible, it might simply show pages and pages of conversations about things which are of little interest to us.
The ultimate ideal would be a directory of reports written by the potential supplier proving their competence in their field. Then we could read these and get a real idea as to what they know. However he or she is unlikely to give the really useful information away, and we may have to pay for some of it.
But if we get a good supplier as a result of this, and save or make thousands as a consequence, what do a few pounds spent on reports really matter.
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