If your business isn't yet using social networking, then it
probably should be.
Social networking sites can help all kinds of businesses, from
those that are office-based, motor traders, tradesmen of all kinds and pretty
much any other small or medium-sized business you can
name. 
Online networks can help you find the right people to employ,
market your product or services, and build a brand or - if we want
to be less fancy about it - an old fashioned 'good name', through
what is effectively free advertising.
While many people in business are familiar with the advantages
of in the flesh networking, some are perhaps less convinced by its
on-line counterpart. Online networking can sometimes seem a little
removed from real life business concerns. It is, after all, virtual
networking; but the effects can be very real.
The online version of business networking has been growing for
years now - evidence then of its effectiveness.
The main social networking sites used by businesses include
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and YouTube, but there are
many more.
These are all part of the so-called 'Web 2.0', or
consumer-generated content. This is important because
recommending in this space is based not on your own advertising,
marketing and selling, but on what are effectively testimonials -
other people's recommendations.
Even if you're not talking about your business, other people may
well be. The conversation about your reputation, your product or
your service may well already be underway. The same may be true of
your business competitors. You can either ignore this
discussion and have no influence, or join in - or just listen,
which is effectively one form of market research.
By joining in, your business can contribute to the dialogue and
show it is fixing any problems, or responding to appeals for
technical knowledge and so on.
Whatever platform you decide is best for your business, or,
indeed, if you decide to use many platforms, there are some
guidelines that are useful to all.
Create content that is useful and engaging to readers and
viewers. It must have credibility. If your content is
self-promotional, your audience will be rapidly turned off.
Many businesses find this easy to understand, but extremely hard to
put into practice.
Here's an example of the difference between effective and
counter-productive content. Let's suppose, you are a motor trader. A new model
of a make of car you sell comes into production. Instead of posting
content that simply raves about the car - that reads and sounds, in
other words, like pure marketing - you could consider starting a
group for owner reviews of this car. One has credibility, the
other will simply be skipped by almost everyone looking for
genuinely helpful information.
The best kind of content is that which relates to your business
- plumbing
electrical, plastering, the motor trade, accountancy,
management consultancy, property sale, whatever
it is. But don't use only content that is actually about your
business. Business-related content is now very popular
on You Tube and is highly effective. People search for How to
information and can discover your 'How To' short video. They
will watch for the information, and at the same time see a link and
a mention of your business.
Linked to the 'make it useful' rule is the advice to create
groups that are plugged in to your business area. Again,
these should be connected to your actual business: if you're a car
trader, you could start a topic on 'Buying a New Car', if you're an
electrician, a group that aims to share experiences on DIY wiring
and so on. In the vast space that social networking now occupies,
every niche subject area will attract visitors, if the content is
credible.
So, giving information to help your audience solve problems will
help them find you and maintain and grow your credibility, which is
another way of saying it will build your brand.
The golden rule is - make it useful, make it
interesting.
Make connections. As any Facebook user knows, your
connections are registered on the Facebook News Feed - and any
interactions with your page are registered on other people's news
feeds. The more you interact, the more the likelihood that others
will interact with you. This is true of all social networking
sites. So, another golden rule is - be active.
Cross-promote yourself. It's important to build up as big
a base of followers as possible as fast as possible to leverage the
most benefit from your efforts. To do this use all the
network sites you are using to cross promote your accounts -
Twitter, for example, to promote Facebook groups. Plus, use
emails from customers as well as suppliers' emails. Whatever
you do, don't bombard them with unwanted emails, but do let them
know your Facebook or your Twitter account is active - and, of
course, use your own business website to promote your social
networking activities.
Also, use search functions to search out other groups and
individuals who may see your content as relevant. Contact
them. The extraordinary aspect of social networking is how
rapidly individual links can grow into a vast nexus.
Once you have done all this, you need to ensure that you keep
your pages busy. That means they need to be constantly added to,
even if additions are little more than a sentence. Little and often
is always better than a lot but very infrequently
