Unsure about using social networking sites for business?  Many businesspeople still believe it is largely a nuisance and waste of time….but this is way off the mark.  Why?

- Creating and using profiles for your business on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube  can plug you into thousands of potential customers, and potential employees.   For example, join LinkedIn – and then search groups relating to your field.  You’ll be surprised at the vast numbers of people involved in these discussion groups – and many of them have job search categories where you can post opportunities.

- Linking these social profiles back to your website drives traffic, and raises your search rankings.

- You can join into interest groups and access communities of experts who will help you become better in your field.   Imagine being able to ask questions freely of the best people whenever you get stuck on an issue – and that the answers you seek are saved in an accessible database where you can get at them later – a precious resource of knowledge!

- You can also protect your reputation online. An unfortunate case happened to Domino’s pizza where a couple of employees posted videos on YouTube of themselves pulling disgusting tricks on the job to soil the food they appeared to be serving.   It badly tarnished Domino’s reputation – especially because Domino’s wasn’t on top of their online brand.  And many of you have seen the video the musician Dave Carroll made – “United Breaks Guitars!” which he cleverly used as revenge against the corporate airline who refused to compensate him for breaking his Taylor guitar.   There are several “Reputation Management Tools” online you can use to automate searching for bad press about you – then you can get in on the discussion early –  before it balloons out of control.  Check out the list here:  http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/03/03/34-online-reputation-management-tools/

- Social media marketing allows your customers to get to know you better as a company.  And it is a painfully honest tool.  If you’re a good company with honestly good products, social marketing will enhance your brand.  If you’re faking something, it’ll rat you out.

So, it’s time to look out at the social marketing ether – and use it to START Marketing!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 12:34 am and is filed under Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.