Competitor or Colloborator?

I just read this article about CSN Stores on Home Furnishings Business; CSN Stores Blurs the Line Between Competitor, Colloborator.  So its like this ... CSN Stores gets millions of views from consumers looking to buy new furniture.  But many of those consumers are 'just browsing' because they'd prefer to touch and feel the piece at a local retailer.  So CSN Stores is now putting a targeted ad within their online store based on the consumer's approximate location and what types of furniture they've been searching.  CSN Stores sells this ad space to local brick & mortar retailers. 

Win. Win. Win.

CSN may not get the sale by driving the consumer to a competitor ... BUT they get ad revenue, the consumer gets a lead to a local store for their preferred experience, the local store gets a lead and quite possibly sells some furniture .... helping out the whole industry.  Consumer = win, CSN Stores = win, Brick & Mortar Store = win, Furniture Industry = win.

So What about FurnishWEB

How does FurnishWEB fit into this equation?  Well, we don't.  Not directly anyway and any part we play is very minor.  But we're in the game and planning for more playing time.

FurnishWEB has a really slick & simple way to share inventory with its users.  Manufacturers send us on-hand inventory figures along with transactions reflecting expected replenishment orders in the future.  We convert this into a easy-to-read chart that is kept on every product.  CSN Stores needs this type of information so they will know what to display for sale on their online store web sites.  Recently we worked with CSN Stores to automatically provide a data feed of this information for one of our great clients, A.R.T. Furniture.  Its working great. 

We have worked with CSN Stores and we'd love to work with them further to provide inventory for all our customers.  Especially after reading this article and discovering  how INNOVATIVE they are with technology and within the industry.

So, I've been playing around with Twitter for a while now.  I have two accounts, @FurnishWEB (403 followers) and @BarryWelch (120 followers).  I like Twitter, but its value is a little hard to figure out, but today I'm addressing its constituents. 

I've managed to "friend" or "buddy" or "co-follow" (what are they called in Twitter anyway?) a few, and I emphasize FEW, really cool people in the furniture industry.  These are the people I'd hoped to connect with.  But the weird thing is I get these "Follows" from people I don't know and almost every single one is a "Social Media Guru" of some sort.

Now I'm not one against making a living and if there's a great demand for "Social Media Gurus", then the more the better.  But I don't see why a small business like ours needs more than a couple followers that are self-described "Social Media Gurus" ... or do I?  Here's a couple of Twitter Bio's of individuals that have Followed me recently:

1. Online PR, social media, blogger, mobile marketing, content creation, SEO, SEA, viral, buzz marketing, online marketing
2. Internet Marketing Aficionado, MLM Blogger, Network Marketing Junkie, Lead Generation Aficianado, Twitter Automation Savant, Social Media Moonlighter, Fun Fun?
3. Search and online marketing specialist, speaker, writer and trainer.
4. Got A Business, Group Or Product That Needs Better Promotion? Get It Jump Started !

Its kinda weird, really.  I get so many of these.  Do these Gurus outnumber regular business people on Twitter?  Are they following me in hopes I will follow them back to inflate their "follow" numbers?  Where are the furniture manufacturers and wholesalers, furniture sales reps, furniture retailers?  Will I need to hire a Guru to find them and talk to them for me?

I KNOW I'm not a social media "guru" but decided to look it up on thesaurus.com just to make sure.  A guru is a mentor.  Yep ... that's not me; not in the social media world anyway.  But the antonym is follower.  Hmmm ... interesting.

I'm confident the haze will become clearer and the difficult questions will be answered for me as I continue delving into the "secret life" of Social Media.  But for now, and from my perspective, there seems to be a glut of social media gurus seeking my friendship on Twitter.

So what does it mean to dive into social media?  And will it help me connect to our users, our current customers, potential customers, and partners?

Beginning our plans to "dive into" social media.  Follow along as we share our ups, downs, successes, and lessons ...

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