Social networks are all the rage in today’s media. Businesses of all types are using them. The Search Engine Journal lists several of the biggest right here on their blog. The overall idea of these sites is for users to create a network of friends, associates, and others to share information with. Now not only are there more people using social networks today, there are more of them available. Here are a few of my favorites, along with some examples of how they can help your business.
In the eyes of most, Facebook is the current king of social networking. With 350 million users worldwide, its easy to see why. Facebook users can search for people to connect with, then have the ability to share photos, links, and other information, post public comments or send private messages to their friends, and much more. Volkswagen recently started using their Facebook Fan Page on television commercials. When viewers see the ad, they’re encouraged to view the Facebook fan page where they can do everything from chat with other VW enthusiasts to customize a brand new model to suit their own needs.
How Can It Help My Business?
Use Facebook to create a ‘Fan Page’ for your business. Then encourage your current clients to ‘Become a Fan’ of your page. Any of their friends will have the chance to see your page and hopefully be enticed by what you have to offer! What do you offer? Here you can list your services, promotions, and most importantly, connect with your clients. Giving people the opportunity to communicate back and forth helps build a good relationship. Your fans will also be able to comment to each other, building a community feel where your clients can come to ask questions or find new information.
Short and sweet, Twitter is concise and to the point. Users build a network of people whom they ‘follow.’ Then users share posts of up to 140 characters with those in their network. Users can ‘mention’ another user in their post or ‘re-tweet’ another user’s post to spread news to all those that follow them. In this way, news can spread exponentially as multiple users pass it along to entire new circles. JetBlue and United Airlines recently started giving discounts to their Twitter followers that were quick to respond to tweets regarding the promotion.
How Can It Help Me?
Use Twitter to update your clients on news or promotions. With one simple click you can share information with your whole audience. By doing so, you can inform those in your network on what’s new. If followers like what you have to say, your message can quickly spread through re-tweets
LinkedIn is a way to connect with other professionals. Users create a profile, add a profile containing professional information, and build ‘connections’ with others they’ve worked with or for. When building connections, users must add the business relationship and company that connects them to other users. In this way, LinkedIn is a more professional social networking alternative to Facebook, as the main focus of a user’s LinkedIn profile is the professional, rather than personal information.
How Can It Help Me?
Use LinkedIn to find old or even current business associates whom you have a good relationship with. Ask them to not only join your social network, but offer to write a recommendation for them. If they are kind enough to write one in return, you can post it to your profile. These recommendations will be seen by anyone viewing your profile. In this way, you can build credibility as well as a strong professional social network through LinkedIn.
MeetUp
Meetup is a lesser-known social networking site with one main feature separating it from its social networking counterparts. It is based around face-to-face meetings. No, its not online dating, but it works in a similar fashion. Users can either find groups of people with similar interest or create a group themselves. These groups hold face-to-face meetings, more than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day. Each one meets with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.
How Can It Help Me?
You’ve got a couple options.
1. Use this site to start a Meetup group in your area. You can moderate the events or create a network of others in your local area and invite others to help out.
2.Find an existing Meetup group. You never know, there could already be groups in your field right in your hometown. Use the search feature on Meetup to locate them, and become active to further build face-to-face relationships with both perspective clients and peers. These groups can literally be of any kind, so look around and see whats out there!
There you have it, just a few ways to make Social Networking work for you! There are many more options, all with differences and benefits. Want to know about more social networks? Check out the list that Wikipedia has put together. Check back soon to see more about how you can make social media work for you and your business.
Tags: online small business help, small business tips, social media, social networking