182612 Resource 149173 155860 149257 1189376028743 1189440155588 Controlled Small Business Marketing: Social Networking As A Marketing Tool, Part 1

Is social networking right for your business and its marketing needs?

Unless you’ve been living on a deserted island for the past few years, you’ve heard of social networking in the newest sense of the words. We’re not talking about your weekly business luncheons at the local diner, or your monthly community business networking events. We’re talking about social networking online, where you can swap business ideas, network with other professionals and promote your business. You can also enter into a world of networking with huge potential, because you are not limited by geographical boundaries. In this series, we’ll take a look at the possibilities of using social networking for your business. We’ll also consider the precautions you need to take in order to navigate social networking safely.First of all, what exactly is social networking? As described on <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org">www.wikipedia.org</a>, a social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software.Most social network services are primarily web based and provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups, and so on.The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook being the mostly widely used in 2007. As explained on Wikipedia, social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact base. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate globally, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world. In many ways, business networking on social networks has eclipsed the amount of networking that takes place on dedicated business networking websites.Social networking sites have the potential to find new customers for small businesses, and assist in finding new business opportunities. They can also be gold mines when it comes to finding others in the same boat as you, sharing advice, and finding vendors or suppliers that have already been used by others.If you are interested in finding out more about social networking, and the sites that might be for you, just conduct a general search online for social networking services, and you will find hundreds, if not thousands, of areas to explore. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, so start small, do your research, and take the plunge.In the next part of this series we’ll examine some of the dangers involved when entering the world of social networking. 10 application/xml business marketing marketing needs marketing tool small business small business marketing social networking false Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; Media Center PC 3.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 mfmomper false true false false true 189572 false false true false false false true 149173 blog blogsite/FreedomVoice/web