After reading a lot on both the bullish and bearish sides of the “Social Media and the Economy” story, I can’t help but think that the economic environment actually couldn’t be better for someone to break into the industry.
According to Jason Bender over at Famine City,
You want to become a media personality and gain a following? Then do what you tell billion-dollar brands to do–deliver a good product (in your case, insights), and create good experiences between you and your audience.
People are wary about spending money at the moment. With online content already looking a little shaky, a recession doesn’t really help when it comes to increasing your sales.
However, the web is a great place to offer free quality product. Publishing costs can range from almost-nothing to nothing. While those billion-dollar brands are busy trying to meet their bottom line, amateur bloggers have no bottom line.
We can focus on just pumping out content. And if we’re good and put some time into building a community, there may be a chance to monetize it down the road once the economy gets back on its feet.
Anybody can build a community. Our advantage over the larger brands is that they’re all ready large-scale and now some are finding they need to scale back. Those of us just getting established can scale ourselves around a different system- one we’re seeing more clearly every day.
