The old-school address book has been a common tool in the business world for as long as we can remember, and despite its continuous migration from paper to paperless, it has changed very little in its actual purpose. It holds within its pages, or files, all the contact information for everyone we deem important enough to save: family, friends, coworkers, business contacts etc. It is our entire network solidified in one place. Today, an address book does not simply hold names, phone numbers, emails, and birthdays; it is a never-ending source of information, oftentimes linking all forms of social media. With so many websites used to keep in touch, promote yourself or business, advertising, sharing news, or just keeping up to speed with our world, it has become necessary to compile the information into one convenient location. This has led to the “smart” address book.
Apple Digs Deep With Addresses
A great example of the smart address book is Apple’s Address Book. Each contact has two fields; Twitter and Profile. Apple can now link everyone in your contacts to their twitter account. Pretty remarkable, but it goes further. Profile is where Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, and MySpace are connected. Not only has Apple complied all of the traditional contact information into one convenient location, but they have also added the most popular ways to connect with your contacts through social media. It can be seen as, quite possibly, an untapped goldmine of new network possibilities for anyone who gains access.
New Books On The Block
Apple is certainly not the only provider of an online collective address book. Google Contacts, Outlook Contacts, Plaxo, and many others offer different variations of the smart address book. Some have become so extensive that you can monitor who’s visiting your website or blog, what they viewed, and even track website traffic.
The Hidden Power
A single person’s address book could open up many new contact opportunities for a business, granting them access to potential customers they may have never reached otherwise. This is why the address book is powerful. Now the problem is; how do we tap into this goldmine?
The How-To
There are a number of ways to do this: You could BUY an email list from a company, which costs you money, and provides no guarantee the people on this list will be even remotely interested in what you offer. Or, you could RENT an email list. This is slightly less expensive, but now requires you to go through the rental company in order to send out any emails. In addition, you’ll probably encounter the same problem of blindly emailing the wrong demographic.
The other option is to integrate a referral program into your website, so at the end of the customer’s experience all they have to do it type in or copy/past every-single-email-address of the contacts they think will be interested in your company. Regardless of how great your company is few people will spend the time and effort it takes to manually enter the emails.
The Problem
The first two options get you email addresses but risk missing the target audience. The third option will be directed to the right demographic, but is too much work for customers…you’re doomed, right? Wrong!
The Solution
Here is where CloudSponge comes in; by integrating the CloudSponge widget into your website, you open the opportunity for your customers to quickly select which contacts they would like to share their experience with. This allows option 3 to function effortlessly, providing an easy way for your customers to share their experience, and providing you the ability to reach contacts you had no means of reaching before.