AAPN Steps Up to Web 3.0
The Atlanta-based American Apparel Producers Network (AAPN) has launched a Web platform using Web 3.0 technology, enabling easier access to the organization’s resources, which include manufacturers, textile producers, importers and others.
AAPN has migrated to Innersync Studio (www.innersync.com) for the very latest in Web 3.0 technologies. “In the past, marketing was outbound—ads, calls and mail to get people to trade shows. It was event-driven, targeting mass markets, where you hoped to get a 1 to 3 percent hit rate. Now that’s all changed,” said Managing Director Mike Todaro. “Marketing is now inbound, continuous. Ninety-eight percent of businesses use Google to find other businesses. They find you. It’s all about presence, freshness, innovation, new news. The ’social media’ for businesses hinges on continuously updated content. To be quiet is to be unimportant.”
The organization’s Web site, at www.aapnetwork.net, is a series of mini Web sites, or a “business media dashboard,” explained Todaro, incorporating products; people; services; skills; links; slides; press; bios; news; blogs; videos; Twitter; and, most important, search-engine optimization.
“Businesspeople now control what information they get, and we work hard to master skills that make it easy for them to find our members first,” Todaro said.
The new platform has proven to be effective from the get-go, Todaro said, explaining that members were getting leads within an hour of the switch-over.
“We call this ’word of mouse’ marketing,” he quipped.—Robert McAllister
