Social networking has grown hugely in the last four years and in my opinion in the last year to 18 months it has really exploded into our lives. Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and many others have really taken off. You have everyone from my parents to the rich and famous with Facebook profiles and Twitter pages keeping the online world up to date with the goings on in their lives. Even large companies and well known household brands are using the likes of Facebook in their advertising campaigns online, on tv and even on their radio adverts. Famous people like Demi Moore and Lance Armstrong giving us mere mortals a sneek peek into their lives without us having to read the tabloids or get our fix via OK magazine. Its almost become more of a taboo if you don’t possess a facebook account or a twitter page.

So how can you use social networking to benefit YOUR business?

There are people out there that will tell you that social networking will do nothing for your business and is a waste of time. Don’t listen to them. They only say such things because they really don’t understand how social networking can aid you in your quest to take over the world. Ok …. maybe not take over the world but it will help you get you and your company out there and one further step up that ladder.

Now don’t be disillusioned into thinking that as soon as you set up a facebook fan page or a twitter profile that the appointments and sales are going to flood in. You need to be patient it does take a little time and effort to build up your presence in the online world but once you get into it, it really is a piece of cake.

The main key is to interact. Chat to people, respond to questions, share your thoughts and knowledge. If you feel you can help some one with something, whether it’s related to your business or not then feel free to let them know. Equally, if you have seen something you feel your followers/fans will find interesting, funny or helpful then pass the information along. Share or ‘like’ other peoples statuses and updates and retweet their tweets. Not only will your fans and followers interact more with you but the people you follow will be grateful to you for passing on their thoughts and hard work and will return the favour to you. This is how you build up your presence in social networking.You build connections and friendships with like minded people and this in turn will help get your business out there.  I have met some lovely people via Twitter and this had led to some great things happening within my business.

There is no right way to this social networking lark, however there are a few things you shouldn’t do.

Don’t:

• - Plug your website or special promotion in every twitter update or facebook status. This is quiet simply boring and will cause people to ‘unfollow’ or remove themselves from your fan page.
• - Slag other companies off. Remember … you’re online the whole world can see what you’ve written and it may come back to haunt you.
• - Update your networking sites with every piece of toast you have or every trip to the loo. There is such a thing as sharing too much and again this is just boring.
• - Try not to get into arguments with other people online. It’s not best practice and again the whole world can see you so it will actually do you more damage than good.
• - Refrain from swearing. While the odd profanity will be overlooked constantly swearing will offend people  and I have ‘unfollowed’ people on Twitter due to this.

With the not what to do’s out of the way the rest really is up to you. So go grab yourself a cuppa and those hobnobs you’ve been trying to avoid all day, get yourself comfy in your favourite chair and share your thoughts and knowledge with the world.

Follow my random ramblings on TWITTER & Facebook.

www.crystal-jewels.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Spread The Word.

Tags: Advertising, Bebo, business, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, networking, Social Networking, Twitter

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 21:30 and is filed under Advertising, Social Networking. 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.