What's In Your Ecosystem

You probably already have an online ecosystem of sorts. What does it say about the health of your brand? And what’s there to attract and engage your market?

Unless you’ve intentionally tried to remain under the radar – and even startups trying to keep the lid on things have a hard time doing that these days – the fact is you probably already have an online ecosystem.

The centerpiece of your ecosystem is likely to be your website. But your digital trail shouldn’t begin and end there. You’ve also got press releases and various newsletters you’ve created. Perhaps you and your colleagues have made the news on occasion. You’re probably in a variety of online directory listings. Your products may appear on review sites. Members of your staff may be active in social and professional networking communities, leaving tracks back to you. They may be blogging or commenting on other people’s blogs. They may be microblogging. Or maybe you’ve got some banner campaigns running somewhere. There are back issues of your trade publications where you’ve been featured. Your suppliers and distributors may have sites that link back to you.

Get the picture? There’s a whole network out there that’s formed around you. Whether intentionally or not, you’ve been building a platform for value creation.

If you’re like most companies, you haven’t used that platform to build real value in your brand – or even seen it for the resource it could be. Its potential remains untapped. However, if you really invested in building value in selected areas of your ecosystem, it could become your Honey Pot.