Businesses Failing to Adopt Social Media, Online Communities & Internet Strategies Risk Losing Marketshare, Customers and Profits, According to Intern

Akron, OH (PRWEB) October 8, 2008 -- Changes in consumer behaviors are presenting new risks and opportunities for businesses as small as pizza shops and as large as Fortune 500 companies.

According to Don Philabaum (Internet Strategies Group, businesses who adopt company-wide Internet strategies to acquire, retain and engage customers - have a better chance of surviving the current economic downturn and changes in consumer behaviors brought on by the phenomenal rise in consumer participation in social media, online communities and Web 2.0 tools.

Philabaum's book and blog (www.internetdough.net) takes the mystery and confusion out of the Internet for busy small business owners, VP's, Managers, Directors and CIO's, CTO's and CEO's by providing case studies, best practices and definitions of the terminology and tools necessary for a small business, retail, franchise, professional services, real estate, manufacturing, health, investment, consumer goods, associations, food, education, entertainment, government, political, non profit or service related organization to build their Internet strategy on.

Philabaum dedicates an entire chapter on showing how a local pizza shop switched 30 percent of their traditional advertising budget to a social media marketing strategy, that included the use of blogs, podcasts, enewsletters, SEO, email marketing, webcasting, video testimonials and partnering with social media sites like Facebook and MySpace. Readers gain a better understanding of the ROI the pizza shops social media marketing strategy generated in the analysis that identifies the number of leads, sales and profits generated.

Even though the web offers tremendous opportunities for companies, non profits and organizations, research is showing business leaders and owners are dragging their feet and failing to adopt Internet tools and strategies. Why? According to Philabaum, "The Internet seems like a foreign language to most business professionals. They grew up on mass marketing techniques and frankly have not had the time to understand Social Media Marketing, Web 2.0, online communities like Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin and building online relationships with prospects and customers."

This opinion is supported by many others in the industry. At an Internet Strategies Forum annual conference in Portland, Oregon - technology thought leader and blogger Robert Scoble, said: "A new digital divide is developing and it's not represented by economics but by mindset. Today a legion of executives are deliberately deciding not to experiment and/or use social media tools. Little do they realize they risk leaving a legacy in their organizations as the ones that "missed" the social media revolution!"

Internet Dough suggests a business needs to do more than email marketing. It needs to develop a companywide Internet strategy. Philabaum suggests a firm conduct an Internet audit to find out what Internet tools, services and strategies each department is implementing. Then he suggests assembling department managers to identify opportunities they are missing and ways each department can help each other by integrating their Internet strategies. By bringing sales, HR, marketing/advertising/PR, production, finance, operations and others around the same table, you end up with a powerful Internet strategy.

According to Philabaum business leaders are running out of time to react: "The traditional business is tiptoeing into the Internet when they should be reorganizing their business around the Internet. If you want your company to be a major player in the next 5 years, do what Bill Gates did in December of 1997 and bring your entire organization together to create a comprehensive companywide Internet strategy."

In the forward by Dr. Ivan Misner, founder and Chairman of Business Networking International (www.bni.com) (BNI) says: "As the Internet is maturing and the behaviors of consumers and business professionals are changing, there are new opportunities for businesses to expand their physical networks online. Don Philabaum in his book Internet Dough gives business professionals a guide to help them develop a strategy that will not only help them gain more mindshare of their customers but remain competitive in the marketplace."

By downloading the free book at www.internetdough.net business professionals from Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Chicago, Denver or virtually any city will pick up 30 plus case studies and dozens of best practices they can implement in their business. Readers will also benefit from the 200 exercises that will help them build a successful companywide Internet strategy (www.internetdough.net/consulting).

Don Philabaum is a leading thought leader, pioneer and expert on social media, Web 2.0 and online communities. He registered the URL - www.onlinecommunity.com in 1996 and has continued to help organizations world wide use online community and social medial to engage customers.

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