Traffic or loyal following which is more important.

I started a duel recently on this very topic which is more important a loyal following of fans/customers or the traffic a large site like eBay or Amazon has? You can find the latest comments here: Hobby Auction Seller and feel free to add your own opinions.

This question started out as a conversation between Auction Wally and I, as he has been having success running auctions on a variety of platforms.   So for him having that fan base is working well. They are willing to purchase on Twitter, eBay, Bonanzle or Deal it live. But the question then becomes will that work for everyone?

I have decided that it just might but not for the reasons I originally thought.  My first thought were yes because his fans will come buy from him so that is similar to seller to seller sales on the smaller alternative auction sites.  The complaints to that are that a site is not viable if it is only seller to seller transactions it needs outside traffic.

Yet, in the course of exploring this topic I realized that not all his sale would be similar to seller to seller sales because by having a fan base his sales also come from referrals.  That has made me realize that a fan base or group of followers is very important and one of your best marketing features, especially with the growth of social media and web 2.0.

It made me realize if I needed something I am sure one of my social contacts would carry it and if they did not they would have someone in their circle of friends that did.  To give you some examples of what I mean I am going to add a list here of some of the people I have met in the social spaces and what they sell.

If I want any of the following these are the people I would seek out and it is in no means an all inclusive list.

Incense – wholesaleincens
Old Magazine Back Issues & Vintage Movie Cards – andotherstuff
Urban accessories – colderICE
Handmade Greeting Cards- Felicitations or 0ctavias0riginals

I personally may not need any of the above but as a fan of these site and the quality of the items and customer service provided, if anyone were to ask me where to get those types of items, I would be able to point them in the right direction.

My final thoughts on all of this is that drive by traffic is nice but word of mouth advertising is much more likely to actually convert to sales, and with web 2.0 and social media word of mouth spreads a whole lot faster.

Hope this challenges you to rethink the potential of social media.

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