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There’s been a ton of press lately pertaining to big business jumping in on the Social Networking bandwagon. From NBC, to the BBC, and even Proctor & Gamble, everyone seems to want to create their own social network in order to leverage all of that user generated goodness to promote their brand. Although there are huge opportunities to be discovered in how Social Networks can build new revenue streams and strengthen brand loyalty, to me the strategy of trying to create your own mountain is the wrong way to go, let me explain…

Social Networks provide the ability for people to create friend’s lists, nurture a controlled image of oneself, and interact with a community in ways that can become an extremely rewarding and addictive experience. This is obviously a simplistic description of what’s taking place, but when it comes to the net effect social networks have, these features are what I see as the most common denominators driving the success of the top players in the market today. A problem starts to become apparent when you think about the effort versus reward of maintaining your presence in any one of these specific networks. No matter how rewarding emotionally or otherwise, the number that you could reasonably dedicate enough time to garner any viable reward has to be limited unless you don’t need an income and can resign yourself to button mashing as your only contact with the outside world.

If we assume that  you actually have a normal life such that you’re a disposable income generating consumer, only one, two, or maybe a max of three networks will be able to garner enough of your time to make the relationship rewarding. If this is the case, no matter how much you love a brand, product, service, or vertical niche, would you be able to spend enough time to help the community grow if you’re already maintaining profiles and relationships on MySpace, Bebo, or any other of the plentitude of social networking sites that exists today?  Not unless you decided to jump ship, in which case their network better offer something amazing that I've yet to see.

So, if I were a brand manager, would the first thing I do once I realized just how much potential Social Networks have in store be to hire a bunch of developers / marketers and try to build another a-typical Social Network? Or, should I find Social Networks that compliment my brand strategically by leveraging those that have users who match my customer target profile in order to achieve my goals? I'm thinking the latter, and I may be able to show you proof sooner than you think.

I have to say that after a lightning fast sign up and a short time using the super intuitive interfaces while setting up the two page stealth site with all the trimmings, I've found Media Temple's Grid Server solution to be absolutely fantastic.

No, I'm not getting any discounts for the post, I just feel that credit should be given where credit is due. Way to go guys, I'm really impressed.

I read an interesting article in the globe yesterday where this quote by David Jacobson, a technology director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, struck out at me:

“The world is moving away from capturing people's attention to capturing their intention,”

The article talks about viral marketing, social networks, and the participatory revolution that’s opening up new opportunities in online advertising today. Looking back at the explosion in online advertising over recent years, you’re hard pressed to disagree with the validity of Advertising on the Internet and whether it works or not, so the future in this market won’t necessarily be about any huge revolutions, but more so about innovations to improve targeting and efficiency. Today, billions are spent quarterly by businesses to acquire the attention of internet surfers hoping that they’ll eventually purchase their products or services, but how can we improve the efficiency?

What the quote above highlights for me is that we’re witnessing a subtle, yet powerful change in focus from attention to intention. This means that traditionally I as a business owner wanted my message plastered in front of as many people as possible to increase my sales, but I now realize that the highest conversions and best efficiency for my advertising dollar takes place when my message is displayed in front of a person who’s interested in my vertical. Even more ideal is if you can catch them with their hand on their wallet ready to make a purchase, but that’s another story for a different day.

How can you get your marketing message in front of a pre-qualified buyer? It all comes down to the field of battle, where is your advertisement being displayed and who you’re targeting. The world of social networking and community niche marketing has provided the ability for you to start down the road of testing that strategy today. So, when you spend your next online advertising dollar, think about how to target user intent and you may find your online advertising budget stretching farther than you ever imagined.

Over the last two weeks I've taken some much needed rest to help both mentally and spiritually with the transition. I have experience in the start up game so I know implicitly what to do, I just needed to take some time to contemplate, absorb, and visualize, which I've had the opportunity to finally complete as of today so I'm raring to go.

Next steps? I've already started the process of remodeling, painting, and organizing the new office space. I'm waiting on our lawyer to finalize some much needed agreements and I'm tying up a few loose ends with branding, business plan, and other minor details that all need to be addressed this week.

The next major hurdle is to recruit the right person to head up our development efforts. Although we currently have contracted resources on that side and coding is already underway, I need someone senior who will roll up their sleeves and architect the whole project from the beginning. Equity and some salary are on the table, but I need to make sure that this person, whoever he or she is, not only is more than capable from a skill and experience perspective, but also yearns to work in an entrepreneurial environment. Stability is replaced with chaos and constant change this early in the game, so I need someone who prides them self on their ability to adapt to new situations and who knows how to get the job done no matter what it takes.

If you know someone who fits the bill, and who's also interested in creating something disruptive that I feel will change the Internet, definitely throw them in my direction. I can be reached at peter@ejtel.com.

I'm cutting my update short today since there's so much work to do and too little time, but I'll pop in with progress when I can.