Bridget Ayers

Social Networking isn't just for kids anymore! There's a reason why NewsCorp bought MySpace, big business understands that you need to go where the people are and people are on the internet. The web provides companies with an opportunity to be at the leading edge of technology and marketing, it's no longer good enough to be known in the real world, the Internet has demonstrated that you can be left behind, if you are not in the virtual world.  To make it in the 21st century global economy, you need to be a leader, and that means embracing new technologies and marketing platforms.

The reality is that social networking isn't all that different from the things you do at traditional networking events, like your local chamber, Le Tip, industry networking group, PTA, or your weekly bunko group.  At its core social networking is what you should be doing on a daily basis: connecting, sharing, and promoting.

Connecting -- As a business owner or promoter, your life is all about connecting. The first thought that should pop in your head when you wake up is, "Who can I meet today?"  Social networks give you an easy, non-invasive way to make connections.  Start with your sphere which includes friends, old classmates, past clients, and business partners.  You'll make tons of new friends who will remember you and may start talking about your business to their spheres. Then, when you think you've got the hang of it, break into the "second degree" -- the friends of friends. Introduce yourself, be courteous, and state your purpose. With any luck, you'll make tons of new friends and contacts which will help your business grow exponentially while you are in turn helping someone else's business.

Sharing -- Social networks are all about "who knows what" and "who knows who". One way to capitalize on social networking is to share what you know.  Many social networking platforms let you have a blog or some way to post news about yourself.  Take advantage of these tools to share your knowledge with all your friends and remember that you are an expert in your field so keep your contributions relevant to what you do. Sharing on the social sites also involves day to day living, don't be afraid to be yourself and share your opinions on current world happenings, but always remember that you are a business person and what you share will reflect on your business. If you are not a writer don't fret, there are social sites for photos, hobbies, what you are reading, there is even a site focused on your current mood.

Promoting -- Once you're invested in social networks, make sure people know about it.  If you're on multiple networking sites link them together with logos on your website or blog page that connect to your profile. When you post content on the web, or respond to someone else's content never do it anonymously, always drive traffic back to yourself. People do business with people they like, so promote yourself as much as you promote your business and you may just find that a personal connection leads to a business transaction.

And if you want to go even deeper into social networks, consider being an advertiser there. Facebook for instance has built a phenomenal platform that allows you to target customers specifically based on age, location, gender, education level, and many other traits.  It's a targeted marketing dream come true!

The best way to see if social networking is for you is to just dive in and see what all the hubbub is about.  Here are some places you can get started: 

- Facebook -- Breaking out as one of the best social networking sites on the Web. More than 64 million active users, an average of 250,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007, over 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks and, the fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older. International growth, Canada has the most users outside of the United States, with more than 7 million active users, the U.K. is the third largest country with more than 7 million active users, the remaining top 10 countries in order of active users (outside of the U.S., Canada and UK): Australia, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, France, Hong Kong.

- MySpace -- A social website that is not just for kids anymore. MySpace has more than 110 million monthly active users around the globe, 1 in 4 Americans is on MySpace, in the UK it's as common to have a MySpace as it is to own a dog, on average 300,000 new people sign up to MySpace every day. In one months time they broke a record and had 4.5 billion page views to the site in one day. MySpace is one of the fastest growing websites with users all over the world, including the U.S., UK, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, MySpace en Espanol, Latin America, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

- LinkedIn -- This one is mostly focused on business to business connections.  It's all about using your professional connections to meet other professionals.  This is a place where you can link up to 40 million people, where your 60 connections can link you to 300,000 connections.  It's a great place to connect with your community's business leaders, industry professionals, and show others who recommends you as an expert in your field. This website really allows you to open up your business rolodex to others.

- Twitter -- According to Twitter this social site provides "a service for friends, family, and co--workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" With just under 1 million "twitterers" that is a lot of updates the US is the leading country, no surprise there, with 40%, with Japan being number to at 39%, then follows Spain, UK, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Taiwan. This social network is a good add on, it doesn't require lengthy blogs or articles it is just a website where you post how your day is going, you know those frequent ups and downs that other members may identify with.

- Active Rain -- This one is all about the real estate community with 70,000 plus members.  It's a great place to kick around ideas and have other real estate professionals see your ideas. Plus, there have been some Active Rain profiles in Google lately.  An added bonus is that Active Rain has been in the news recently with a round of venture-capital funding, so there be some new features and growth soon. As we also know in the news means that the consumer now recognizes an inside source to go to find industry scoop, so don't be surprised if your next clients says they found you on Active Rain.

- Flickr -- For the photo enthusiast Flickr's community is a social network of sorts, you can make friends (Flickr calls them contacts) and track their newest photos. Like many social sites Flickr's has organized groups, which let users create and contribute to. Each group has a shared pool of pictures that any of its members can contribute to, some with themes some not, it's like a book club, but for pictures.

- Digg -- For the news enthusiast Digg is a community-based news article popularity website claiming to have 20 million viewers a month. It combines social bookmarking, blogging, and syndication. News stories and websites are submitted by users, and then promoted to the front page through a user-based ranking system. This differs from the hierarchical editorial system that many other news sites employ basically the users decide what is relevant in the world not the corporations.

If you're still not sure if social networking is the way to go, consider your clients.  If your "bread and butter" clientele is into old-school forms of communication, social networking might not be the best thing for your marketing plan.  But if you plan on serving anyone under the age of 35 (now, or in the future), you can rest assured they'll check their social networks before picking up the yellow pages. Baby boomers not to be left behind will soon have lots of time on their hands, where do you think they will be?