In today’s market, a business owner needs to take advantage of every media platform available. One particular format that has caught the attention of big business through out the world is social networking supported by a system now referenced as Web 2.0 marketing. Many business owners prohibit the use of social networking sites during working hours due to actual and assumed abuse of employee time. Inadvertently, many business owners overlook social networking media as a useful tool to advance their business and promote their services.
The Power of Business Social Networking
More and more businesses today are turning to social networking media as a means to generate online presence, traffic and generate sales.
A savvy business owner will quickly recognize the importance of social networking and how these types of sites can benefit his or her business. There are two areas of consideration and potential rewards for a business owner, employee and company utilization and product marketing.
When dealing with employees there is a realized fear that any distraction from normal work duties leads to a reduction in productivity and an increase in cost. Employers consider social networking sites a major distraction, are extremely difficult to monitor, a source of virus and more. Therefore, many businesses prohibit employees from accessing these sites during working hours. This marketing advisor believes business owners need to reconsider this approach. I consider being at work and participating in social networking environment as intertwined daily events. Smart business owners who understand this concept are developing internal social networking platform as a way to bring harmony between work and socializing.
Under the right condition, social networking could have a positive benefit to overall productivity. A social networking platform properly utilized could help employees attract new contacts and potential sales leads, strengthen ties with existing clients and be an information source about other parts of the industry. Management team can use social networking platforms to pass on general information, updates or news about the business to interested parties. In addition, management can monitor current and past employee attitudes towards the company. Science supports the fact that individuals are more likely to voice their honest opinions outside of work. This is not to say, imply or justify a means to spy or monitor an employee’s use of social networking sites. Both parties must have an open communication approach to the system work effectively. Gossiping is not new to the workplace, today, the audience is much larger and the impact gossip is no longer confined to the inner walls of an office.
The second benefit to social networking sites is they are a good place to advertise. The relative cost to utilize this type of advertising media is low in comparison to other advertising venues.
As for targeting a specific market, rough estimates indicate that up to 50 percent of all Canadians and Americans have personal or business profiles on some sort of social networking forum. It is safe to say that social networking has become a norm for the average person and as this media format develops so does the specialization of the sites and groups. This is important to know because the more specialized the group becomes the easier it is for a business or organizations to target a relevant market segment that supports the business services and products.
In order to benefit from social networking a business must understand how the public uses these services, what drives consumers to these sites and what the public expects from advertisers. It would be a huge mistake for any business to minimize the complexity of social networking. To begin with, social networking sites fall under several key categories, general interest groups, friends, dating, blogs and media sharing. Some sites are category specific while others incorporate all types of groups. As these sites become more specialized, time must be taken to understand the dynamics of the group, failure to do so could be devastating. The days where social networking was viewed as a phenomenon for the young are over. In fact, this was always a misconception; there is nothing new about people being a part of social networking groups. Go back hundred and further, thousands of years and you will find social organizations in one form or another. The only thing that has changed is the location and methods of communications. Any business can do well utilizing social networking sites if they do their research and target their advertising.
Everyone understands that a business needs to promote and sell his or her products to succeed. On the other side of the coin, people hate having their personal space invaded by advertisers. For example, no one enjoys having his or her dinner interrupted by a telephone marketer. Same rule applies when dealing with social networking space. In most cases and this is important to understand, social networking space is considered personal space. Caution must be taken when advertising in this media. There are exceptions, some social networking sites specialize in business networking, but even in these cases, common sense and a soft approach to promoting a service ought to be taken.
Most social networking site set rules that are softly defined setting a grey boundary for conduct and content. Site managers attempt to maintain transparency and integrity by monitoring listings but this is extremely difficult to do at a site level, therefore many developers create a system that allow the subscribers to apply unwritten rules of conduct. Violate these unwritten rules and your site and profile may be labeled as spam and potentially black listed. This is why it is so important to research and test the social networking space and experiment with different business marketing strategies.
Without a doubt, the best way to promote a business product on social networking space is to fit in, treat everyone like a friend, and suggest the service in a non-sales approach. Act like an advocate, you support a product and want to share it. Understanding this soft, indirect marketing concept is vital to your success, you do not want to come across as selling. Social networking is a format that allows people share their thoughts and experiences with friends, family and the world, with emphasis on the word share. One successful way to promote a business product within a social network is to reply to a post that indicates an issues or problem with a product or service and you reply with advice or a product solution.
Finding harmony between business and social networking is a daunting task. Without question, social networking has changed the way businesses do business. In not only how they advertise and market their products, but also how management interacts with employees. Below is a business social networking site. This site also has multiple categories including friends and dating.
Related Topics: Networking Groups, Your Social Network, Social Networking Sites, Online Social Networking, Social Media, Online Business Networking, Business Networking Groups, Networking Business Opportunity.
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