The way people ingest their media products has changed over the last few years With the improvement of video on the internet people now have more choices than ever before.  People now have the ability to watch what they want, when they want, and where they want to view it–flat Screens, big screens, laptops, and even on their phones.  This has had amazing consequences and more than a couple inconveniencies. 

The best thing about the new technology is that the world is now smaller than it ever was. What once was half way around the world is now in the palm of your hand.

People are more informed about what is going on around the world than they ever have been in the history of mankind.

One of the unintended consequences is that local content is fading more and more every day. The Large networks are no longer willing to spend huge amounts of money to keep the local stations viable.  The networks are starting to create regional offices and are starving the smaller affiliate stations. The new economy has made this process happen quicker than any station managers had expected. With the loss of the millions of dollars the car companies spent on advertising in the past, the local affiliates are losing money faster than a Bernie Madeoff Ponzi scheme.

So what can we do to ensure that we are not left behind when we are trying to reach our target audience? How are we going to find our target audiences?  Community!  Community is what it is all about. Not only networking at your local chamber or BNI group but networking entire states.

We at Confluence Works are building a community through television shows and outreach to the people of Maine. The newest show we are associated with, The Maine Show, went on Time Warner one Sunday afternoon last January with the only announcements being on the web and to the people we talk to everyday.

We aired The Maine Show at 8pm and spoke about the Facebook page for the show, on the show.  By 6pm the following Monday, the fan pages for The Maine Show grew from three people to just shy of 200. Not a bad outreach in 24 hours.

Don't you wish you could reach 200 people in 24 hours? Just think of the difference that would make in your business. A good social media campaign can change your balance sheet in a matter of weeks. People will do business with people they know and trust. How do people get to know your business? 

Confluence Works is making a community for Maine through Facebook, LinkedIn, My Space and You Tube. Not only do we manage the social media for five radio stations, but we manage the social media sites for several business. We have over 2000 connections on Linked in 1600 followers on Twitter and a combined friends list of 500 people on facebook.  We  reach out to the 90% of business people in Maine that have made the decision to work for themselves and face the risk and rewards of business ownership.

Confluence Works has teamed up with Jim Bouchard, The Black Belt Powervator. Ask Jim how important community is. Even though Jim gives talks throughout the county and around the world, he knows the value of community so much so, that Jim has trademarked the term, COOpertition. What is COOpertition? Well, it’s the marriage of competition and cooperation.  Jim can see the need for businesses to strive to be the best at what they do and help each other be the best providers of services there is. Now,  all it takes is a WWW Dot to find someone else to do the job.

We all have things we are great at and we all have things that we wish we were better at. That is why Confluence Works really does work. We take the thousands of connections we have made from Limestone to York county and Isle au Haut to Bethel, and we find ways to get business done. We see the flow of business and jump in right beside you and all the others who are getting it done. We share in the joys of success and strap on our boots when the fight is on. Often times the solution that eludes a business owner is in the next county and they just have not met the answer yet.

We specialize in Media of all types from full scale television productions to the table tents on at your local restaurant. You can not stop at a rest area in Maine without seeing a product we have had a hand in. We have contacts in every community in Maine, and let me tell you there is nothing more powerful than having the weight of the whole state behind you when you face the challenges that your business is throwing at you.

Many business owners think they don’t have time for social media. Just ask Dominos pizza about the story that was posted on Twitter late one night. It grew so big that it was on the cable news stations by the evening prime time and the corporate office didn’t even know it was happening when they were asked to comment. They now have a department with six full time employees who are tasked with watching and responding to comments about their company.

We manage the social media for companies in a way that no one knows they do not do it for them self. For two hours a month of their time they get 40 to 60 hours of social media management. 

The new age of media is now, join me for a cup of coffee and we will talk about how you can benefit your company in the new age of social media.