www.fohboh.com is a newly launched social network and business exchange developed exclusively for the huge restaurant vertical. Did you know that there are 12.8 million employees working at over 900,000 restaurants in the U.S.? That these restaurants generate over $500 billion a year in sales? Moreover, when you add vendors and service providers, over $1.3 trillion is generated. This is a big industry and the largest employer outside of the government. This I assume is why we need a restaurant vertical. So like-minded people can really socialize, share, learn, find jobs and essentially, shrink their professional universe.FohBoh has a lot of interesting and innovative ideas on how to attract and retain millions of members (Front of the House, Back of the House, corporate staff, CXO's, vendors, suppliers and even service providers). FohBoh is focused on the business side of social networking - maybe a mix of Alibaba and Facebook. Since the restaurant industry is pretty social and very viral, it seems to be a natural.
What is also very interesting and almost counter-culture to what VC's are
looking for, is that FohBoh founders have significant domain expertise and are much older than the average 20-something's that start most of the Web 2.0 companies. My sense is that vertical SN's will have older founders because domain expertise is critical. This industry expertise (generally outside of the tech industry) is won by age. I believe that most verticals will be started by older, more experienced founders, but the communities will be managed by young online community managers. We shall see.2007 marks the beginning of vertical, or niche social networks. One of the more astute entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley is Gurbaksh Chahal, founder and CEO at BlueLithium has his opinion.
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BlueLithium's CEO explains why brands and their agencies should consider niche social networks to reach a targeted audience.
When MySpace emerged victorious from the social network battle royale, marketers saw a new channel to reach an astoundingly large online audience. But while the massive reach of MySpace has proven a boon for dating sites and wireless carriers, brand marketers are still coming to grips with how best to leverage the power of social networks. Beyond providing broadcast-size audiences at a fraction of the price, some are discovering that social networks provide brand engagement at a deep level. But it's not necessarily the household name social networks that are best suited for this role.
Quantity v. quality
2007 is seeing the rise of the niche network. As noted by LeeAnn Prescott, director of research at Hitwise, in her recent report, "The social networking category will continue to grow as new sites emerge with unique offerings." Niche networks such as Kongregate, MingleNow, deviantART, and Bebo, among many others, serve a different need for consumers by focusing on hobbies, nightlife, cultures, health and other topics that a general purpose site such as MySpace can't adequately address.
Niche sites can inspire passion and loyalty among users. People don't join niche networks just because their friends are there, as often happens with MySpace or Facebook. They join them out of a genuine interest in the subject matter. Entrepreneurs start niche sites because they can't find what they want at MySpace. This should be a clue to marketers that there are other people like them who you also won't be able to reach on MySpace.
Niche networks also break through the stimulus-overload that plagues today's modern, tech-savvy consumers. With myriad different media channels and technologies from which to choose, a social network whose content adds real value to their lives is going to be chosen over simply watching TV or listening to an iPod, or even browsing on the larger traditional social networks.
And the winner is…
As a marketer, you can have an impact with your most avid users with a niche network. If the niche has a tight synergy with what you make or sell, they may even encourage you to integrate seamlessly into the content, creating a best of all worlds situation. As an integrated partner, you can do more than just branding. You can use a niche social network:
- For detailed user surveying-better than focus group research and often cheaper
- For product marketing and product ideation
- To test new ad campaigns before you run them across the web
- To build grassroots demand and "buzz" for new products or features
Which niche social network to choose? Ask your users, especially those who are particularly avid about your product. Ask your younger, web savvy employees. See what they use in addition to MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and the "Goliath" social networks.
Fundamentally, MySpace and the niche networks will each play a role, like network TV vs. a cable show on cross-stitching. Social networks are a new marketing channel; one that, when used wisely, has the potential not only to impact your marketing programs but to transform your business. Only time will tell whether David will slay Goliath, but bigger may not always be better for the marketer.
There is a lot of opportunity still for Web 2.0...hopefully, fohboh.com will keep its focus as a B2B social network and not follow others in this space as a way to connect with other bar flys.
