Social Factor

Integrating web technology, social media, and online marketing with a purpose
 

4 reasons to add social networking to your business strategy

Mark Palmer

I get a lot of people asking me about Facebook, LinkedIn, and numerous other online social networks. People want to understand what these sites offer for their business? - are they necessary? My answer is YES, they are very important to your business and here is why I think that way.

1) Online social networks are no different than all those offline organizations that you sign up for, pay membership dues, and attend networking events - with the exception that online social networking sites don't cost you money and provide a far greater reach.

2) As your network grows (relative to your investment of time) you will meet many new people that you would otherwise not meet. You will learn much from your new network.

3) Your network will help you solve problems. People in your social network will most often respond to any problems that you throw out to them. You will either get the answer or directed to someone that can answer your problem.

4) Being actively involved in social networks will also help you drive visitors to your website or blog. Obviously, you would have your web address loctaed on your profile, but also search engines pick up on many of your profiles helping to boost your findability.

Now, there are many more reasons to pursue a social networking strategy to help you grow your business - we just feel that these four reasons should be enough to cause you to explore social networking. So get out there and explore the world of Facebook, linkedIn, Plaxo, and so much more - Happy Networking!

Update to Facebook's Terms of Service change

Mark Palmer

Well it appears that the voice of the people was heard loud and clear as Facebook has reversed the changes it had made to it's terms of service.

I give Mark Zuckerberg a lot of credit for approaching this issue the way he has. There is a need to address the issue of ownership (perhaps this is the wrong word to use in the first place) in the digital world and Mark Zuckerberg made some great points in his blog post on Monday. Moving forward, opening up the conversation to the Facebook users is a great way to handle this - not everyone will be happy with the outcome when the new terms of service are completed, but you will have certainly had the chance to participate - welcome to the social factor.

Social Networkers beware

Mark Palmer

The recent article by Mashable highlighting what The Consumerist has identified shows one of the main reasons why people and businesses need to understand what they are getting into when they decide to ride the social networking wave.

Terms of Service, otherwise known as the "fine print" are important pieces of information to not only read when you sign up, but to constantly review for changes. Changes that affect your ownership of digital property and it's use need to be known as they will certainly impact your decision to either use the site in question or it will impact how you will use the site.

Personally, I don' t think that any social networking site should assume any rights to what is uploaded. These sites are only successful because the people/users adopt and build the site with their content.

What are your thoughts?
 RSS Subscribe to the feed

Recent Posts

Archive