Social networking sites are one of the fastest growing ways to promote a small business. Using the power of sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, you can get the word out about your business to a vast potentially untapped market.
Still, for your social networking efforts to succeed, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Here are some of the most important principle for small business social networking:
1. Social networking is social, even for small business. You can’t expect to just put up a page at Facebook or to send out Twitter “tweets” advertising a product and think that people are going to buy from you. Social networking sites are about building relationships with your potential customers. If you’re not ready to socially interact, then social networking sites probably aren’t for your small business.
2. The impact of social networking goes beyond the parties involved. In other words, when you talk with someone on Twitter, it isn’t just the two of you who see the conversation. Many other people will have access to the conversation. In some ways, you’re not only interacting with one particular customer at a time, you’re interacting with them, everyone on their contact list, and everyone on yours. So, a few minutes responding to a single person might potentially reach thousands.
3. Social networking is designed for marketing, not sales. You can increase your brand recognition, or even build your brand, through social networking. You can interact with your customers. You can get ideas about products or services you might like to offer. You can even build relationships with customer evangelists, who will go out and advocate for your small business. However, most social networking won’t directly produce sales.
4. Social networking can also be used for other business purposes. For example, you can use social networking to collaborate with partners, network with others in your field, or interact with vendors. You can also use social networking to stay current in your field.
5. Social networking can take a number of different forms. For example, blogs may be considered part of the larger social networking arena. Certainly microblogs, such as Twitter, will fall into that category, as well. Discussion forums are some of the oldest types of social networking tools on the internet. The big names in social networking sites today include the public social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Each type of social networking has its own benefits and troubles. The type of social networking tool you choose is determined, largely, by what you want to accomplish.
Social networking alone can’t make your small business succeed. However, as part of a larger overall strategy for your business, there are many benefits that social networking can bring. From increasing brand awareness to doing market research, the power of social networking is readily available to anyone who takes the time to put it to work.
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