By SHAUN ALEJANDRAE YAP UY

Our entrepreneur friends have picked it up this past year, using “friendster”, “multiply”, and of course “farmtown” – I mean “facebook” – to their advantage. This is good to know, we’re marketing all over the internet, social networking sites, homepages, and the like. We act like true guerrillas in the marketing wars; we take advantage of freebies – especially on ad space (who wouldn’t, right?). There are advantages and disadvantages to it though, but I think you’ve figured that out pretty much on your own.

Maintaining your “facebook” site as a marketing tool can get tiring and take a lot of your precious time. Then comes “farmtown”, goodbye marketing, hehehe. You know what I mean, don’t you? If you don’t – then better stop making virtual coins of “farmtown” and make some real coins. My take on using these social network sites as a marketing tool is on a 50-50 split. I admire these people who take advantage of the free exposure off these sites, but I also want my “facebook” site to serve my purpose – meet old friends. So marketing on these social networking sites is entirely up to the user how to keep it going. I don’t play the games on these social networking sites, for one reason and one reason only – it’s time consuming.

Marketing is really not a one-shot deal, neither is it an event (like a concert). It has to be nurtured over time, take care of it like your own baby. Learn from it, gain revenue from it. I’ve seen some quotations around from different establishments here in the city, some of them lack in vibrancy. Your office stationeries should contain your brand-identity. Here’s one tip, if the nature of your business involves giving out proposals and letters, have stationery sets designed especially for that need. You wouldn’t want a boring proposal sent to your prospective client now would you? Your business card tells the client about how you run your company and reflects on your personality as well.

I personally want a business card that’s chic, trendy, and informative. This is because I run an advertising firm (the small ad somewhere in this page, below my column I think), we do commercials for TV and lots of other stuff, like plan your marketing attack, media plan, designs, layouts, motion graphics, stuff like that. It is only fitting that our company stationery should reflect what we do, as with yours. Just don’t forget about your brand – it really counts. In parting, if I were to choose over a stationery set or “facebook” to do my marketing – I would choose the stationery set.

My “facebook” is for my friends and family, but it never hurts to upload some stuff from time to time that might help your business. Thank you for reading. LIVE LIFE, ROCK ON! If you have a comment, suggestion, violent reaction, or question, please email me at shaun_alejandrae_uy@yahoo.com.

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