What about social networking?
Although there is a proliferation of social networking sites, most share some
common features, including the ability to:
• Create a personal profile with some information about yourself, usually
including a website and a profile image or “avatar.”
• Update your “status”—a short description of what you’re doing.
• Add friends to your list of contacts.
• Set up a group, page, or list of people for your area of interest.
• Create and manage events.
• Add and share photos and video.
• Add extra functions through “applications.”
• Promote your product or service with advertising.
Many social networks can also be used as “aggregators”—they can be linked
together, so status updates from other networks, plus your blog posts and other
content items can appear in the same place. This can save you a lot of
maintenance time since what you do on one site can show up on several others
automatically.
Why social networking works for business
Social networking works for business because you can build connections, build a
list, build word of mouth, and build trust. All are key to your online marketing
success, and nothing beats social networks for making it happen.
Build connections
Do you go to real-life business networking events armed with a fistful of
business cards? Do you have lots of enthusiastic conversations with people who
you never hear from again? Or do you come away with solid business leads for
new prospects and suppliers? Either way, this process is compressed and
multiplied online.
Like real-life networking, you can meet people and start conversations. You can
provide helpful advice and ask for it. Unlike real-life networking, you don’t have
to do this one-to-one, but one-to-many. Very many. You can reach more people,
all over the world, 24 hours a day, articulate your offering to them, and collect
their contact details without ever leaving your office. You can also become well
known in your niche community and the obvious “go to” person on your area of
expertise for the people you want to reach.
Build a list
Your networks act as opted-in mailing lists you can use to reach highly targeted
people who are likely to be interested in your product or service. They’ve sought
you out and chosen to be on your list, after all.
Build word of mouth
Having your product or service recommended to your potential customers by
people they trust is called “word of mouth” marketing and is the Holy Grail of
marketing. It becomes much easier to achieve this with the power of social
networking. If you create content worth passing on, your fans will help market
your business for you. For example, if someone becomes a fan of your Facebook
page, that will show up on his profile page and in the news feeds of his friends
some of whom may click the link and become a fan too. Likewise, if your video
is compelling enough for someone to share on her profile page, or your blog post
interesting enough for someone to link to or retweet on Twitter, that too becomes
more visible and helps spread the word. In this way, media, marketing and
people all get mixed up together.
Build trust
As well as getting your message passed on to new people by people they trust
something that applies to all forms of social media social networks help build
trust in you too. People like to do business with people they know; and
mediating yourself via a social network is a great way for people to get to know
you. You don’t have to fill your Facebook profile with lots of business
information though a clear link to your business website is a must. Just be
yourself and include information about your business where appropriate. Don’t
use it as a sales channel only, though. People like to see a well-rounded,
authentic individual with diverse interests not a faceless corporate clone.
Which social network?
There are lots of social networking sites out there. Which do you choose? Doyou just sign up to as many as possible and hope for the best? Do you pick the
largest?
One factor is geography. It partly depends on where in the world you are. In the
UK and the U.S., Facebook dominates. In India and Brazil, Orkut is popular.
Friendster used to be popular in the West but is now most used in Southeast
Asia. Hi5 is popular in places as diverse as Portugal, Thailand, and Central
Africa but not in the U.S.
The real deciding factor is to go where your market is, as with any social media
tool. But a good guiding principle is to focus on the largest networks worldwide,
those that are best suited to promoting your business, and choose one as your
To main network.
• Unless it is not widely used in your geographic region, make Facebook your
main social network. Otherwise, establish a presence on the largest social
network in the region(s) in which you do business.
• If you work in the creative industries—such as music or film—set up a
profile on MySpace, which has found its niche in this area.
• If you want to target a younger demographic, Habbo is specifically for teens.
• Put your CV/résumé on LinkedIn—whether or not you use it for networking.
It’s a way to create an online résumé that you can link to from your website.
• Use LinkedIn more actively if you are a business-to-business (B2B)
company.
You can set a profile on all of them of course, even if it is just a “holding” page
that directs people to your main social networking profile. But choose one as
your main network and set up a personal profile rather than a corporate-sounding
brochure. We want personal information about you and your interests.
Do I need a personal profile?
What if you’re just not comfortable with opening your personal diary to the
world? Can’t you just have, say, a Facebook page or group without creating a
personal profile first?
Don’t underestimate the power of personality and your personal brand. Your
profile should be more than a sanitized corporate version of yourself. Human
beings are more trusted than faceless businesses. The old distinctions of “work
life” and “personal life” are breaking down. Work life balance is giving way to
work life integration, where you’re allowed to be a human being without
upsetting business contacts. That doesn’t mean you can be rude about youremployer or your clients online! I have met people who think that’s what
authenticity means. It isn’t.
“your profile should be more than a sanitized corporate version
of yourself”
If you or your employer is uncomfortable with your use of social networking
profiles, remember that there are usually privacy settings that can be applied to
specific groups of your friends. The other thing you may consider is setting up a
separate “work” profile specifically for the purpose of creating pages and groups
that are used as your main social networking presence. You do, after all, need a
profile on Facebook before you can create pages or groups. Do this with caution,
though. If there are multiple versions of you on the same site, how will people
know which one to connect to? Some people use a very basic profile for work,
using their first name and company name: e.g., if you work for ABC Widgets,
your profile name could be “Jon ABC” or “Jon ABC Widgets,” and use your
logo as your profile picture. It is important that it is clear that there is a real
person behind the profile. This is not just to build trust, but because it is the way
Facebook in particular should be used. Profiles are for people not businesses or
products.
LinkedIn is all about personal profiles since the core of the site is your
curriculum vitae (CV) or résumé online. On Twitter, both business and personal
accounts are common. It can be helpful to have both. By all means use an
account branded to your business but consider also a personal Twitter account,
and mention this in the biography section of your business account.
If you use several networks, be aware that your audience may be a little different
on each, and provide appropriate content and information that they’re likely to
be interested in.
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