Creative Promotion...Facebook?

[robousy]

I'm trying to promote my site:

www.citizenshipper.com

I am trying to attract 2 types of users:

1. People who want to save money on shipping using a 'CitizenCourier'.
2. People who are prepared to ship items for people.

I want to try out Facebook and I wanted to obtain some advice on how I might target the right audience.

Any advice really welcomed!

Richard

[Wayne Liew]

If you already have Facebook as a marketing channel in your mind, the next thing that you can do is to target the right userbase by joining group that you think will be relevant to the purpose of your site such as eBay lovers, online shoppers, etc...

[robousy]

If you already have Facebook as a marketing channel in your mind, the next thing that you can do is to target the right userbase by joining group that you think will be relevant to the purpose of your site such as eBay lovers, online shoppers, etc...

Thanks Wayne.

I was thinking more along the lines of the little adds you can buy.

Has anyone had much success with them?

Can anyone think of a good audience for my parameters?

[MTaylor]

I would suggest that you start by marketing it in a large city where parcel delivery is rather frequent. Get in contact with the news and hype it up. If you can get some television time on the news you should get a lot of people interested. If you do that in several big cities around the country, the word will spread really fast.

Keep in mind, most people are generally not going to travel/vacation in a small town so you are going to want to hit big city destinations where people are likely go.

Fantastic idea and I'm sure it will do well once you've reached critical mass... Until then, market like crazy.

[MTaylor]

Just wondering... have you considered what happens if a product is damaged? Also, what if drug dealers start using the service to move product... are you liable?

[robousy]

Just wondering... have you considered what happens if a product is damaged? Also, what if drug dealers start using the service to move product... are you liable?

Thanks for the advice above.

Yes, we offer insurance.

Also, we are not liable.

[Juliusanderson]

I think you should join the group that you think will be relevant according to the purpose of your site

[HarveyJ]

You're basically creating a freelance courier site... I'm actually having a real Deja Vu moment over this.
If you're trying to get freelancers, Facebook is not the place to advertise.
LinkedIn is closer, but still not right as it's mostly professionals.

MySpace may work as the demographic is younger. Kids who've just gotten their cars and looking to earn a little bit more, without the pariah value of being pizza delivery guy.
Craigslist is probably your best bet though.

[robousy]

You're basically creating a freelance courier site... I'm actually having a real Deja Vu moment over this.

Thanks for the comments.

Did you try something similar? Why the Deja Vu?

[James Lev]

Facebook is a good tool to get the message out, but not the seal the deal with customers

[Chris Brooks]

Great idea and comments. To go along with the above Facebook is good, but not ideal. I would try traditional methods first and see where those get you. You can also try seesmic to get your message out there or at least test your idea.

[djmiller1130]

i'm not too sure about facebook, but myspace has groups (business, entrepreneurs, etc). i am pretty sure that there is an ebay group. would that be the target market? they definitely would be familiar with shipping.

[paul2145r]

My primary suggestion is to be careful- these types of services are often used by those engaged in illicit activities, including drugs, child porn, etc. Make sure that your bylaws and contract with clients specifically removes all indemnity from your company in the case that someone ends up sending this type of package.

On that note, take a look at Tor and onion routing services. I won't go into much detail, but there is an underground market using these services that can only be accessed via Tor. If you are interested, you'll find many in these channels that will be interested in using your service.