Almost everyone in business has heard how important it is to "network." But for many people, the idea of making the rounds at the local chamber of commerce luncheon isn't at all appealing. Now, thanks to online social marketing, it's easy for anyone to make hundreds (if not thousands) of contacts.
Whether or not you're active in a social network on the Web, you've probably at least heard of many of these sites (i.e.Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter... etc.) But for a definition, Wikipedia (itself quite an example of a socially engineered site) describes social networking as "online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are Web-based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services."
Social networking sites are exploding in popularity. For example, Facebook went from 18 million members in October of 2007 to 39 million just a year later. LinkedIn saw growth of 193% in that same period to reach nearly 12 million users. Twitter, a newer entrant to the world of social networking, had the most impressive growth rate - going from 533,000 users to nearly 2.5 million.
Within these huge networks are countless sub communities that are divided along an almost endless variety of classifications - anything from a member's profession to his or her favorite zydeco band. It is within these smaller groups that you can pull together a network (or "friends list") of your own.
All the social networking sites have their own distinctive characteristics, but one thing they almost all have in common is that you can establish your presence absolutely free. To get started, just visit one of the sites and create your profile. At first, you might want to test the waters as an individual to get a feel for landscape before creating a profile for your business, but don't worry. User-friendliness is paramount for these sites. You'll catch on quickly.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that the "hard sell" is absolutely not right for social network marketing. If you want to buy a banner ad, you can certainly do so, but with social networking, you need to be a fellow traveler rather than a traveling salesman. This is essentially word-of-mouth advertising and though the mouth belongs to you, your "friends" are only go to pay attention as long as they trust that what you tell them will be as much to their benefit as yours. Bottom line, you must be genuine.
Also don't forget that social networking isn't one-way communications. The people in your community are going to want to "talk back" to you. If that sounds a little frightening, it shouldn't be. Businesses pay good money to get feedback from customers and prospective clients. The more people in your network want to connect with you, the better!
Done correctly, social networking will help keep you better informed as to what's on the minds of people in your target market. You'll strengthen your relationship with your customers and you may be able to turn some of them into active advocates for your business with features like Facebook's "become a fan" feature.
Remember, going where the people are, is a pretty good approach to marketing. Getting to the right people is an even better idea... and is easily and inexpensively accomplished by marketing via online social networks. Plus, you may find you'll have a lot of fun doing it!
Additional Resources
Your online reputation: Leveraging LinkedIn
Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn
Add Twitter to Your Internet Marketing Toolbox
The Facebook Marketing Toolbox
Using Facebook for Business Networking
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