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We get asked the question, "How can social networking help my company?" a lot throughout our line of work along with "How can I tie social networking into my website". I'll try to answer these questions.
What is social networking?
In case you might be wondering, what is social networking exactly and what are social network websites? Social networking websites are communities of people who come together through the internet with similiar interests. For instance, a popular social networking site, LinkedIn, focuses on entrepreneurs and building relationships with people to grow everyone's business. Pretty similiar to networking groups in person.
How can social networking help my company?
Coleman-Parkes Research discovered 60% of American citizens used Social Media.
Of those 93% indicated business should have a Social Media presence and 85%
indicated businesses should interact via Social Networks with their customers.
With powerful results such as these, why not impliment a social networking campaign?
The more friends you make in the communities, the more people notice you and your company, the more people visit your website, the more people realize what you do, the more referrals, etc, etc, etc. Social media in my opinion isn't about pushing your product/services onto people. It's about pulling people into your product/services. If you have something you feel is of value to people, give it to them. Most of the time, it's just knowledge, but that's all people ask. The more knowledge you give, the more people trust and value your opinion, and in the long run, the more people that trust your company and products/services. Whether it's through Facebook, Twitter, a blog, or LinkedIn it all comes down to the same main concepts that I just listed.
Should I incorporate social networking into my website?
Yes, without a doubt. Search Engine Optimization is a must also, but with the combination of social networking marketing and SEO, your company should see some significant results if done correctly. Both can be very powerful and both are very different in their approach to drive in more business.
How should I incorporate social networking into my website?
If you are new to social networking, I recommend signing up for a few of the free websites such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. There are endless amounts of free social networking websites out there. Get used to how they operate and how you can benefit from them. From there, I recommend starting a blog. Reasoning being is this is where you can centralize everything. On your blog you can have links to your Facebook account, your LinkedIn profile, and even have your twitter posts shown on your blog. This also gives you the ability to post something of value that you feel your clients/prospects can benefit from. Once you have that, if someone asks you a question on Facebook or LinkedIn, you can simply answer their question briefly and say, "If you want more information, feel free to check out my blog here" with a link to your blog. Now people are not only reading your blog, but visiting your website.
Hopefully this answered some of the basic questions regarding social networking. I'll have more to come. If you have ANY questions, don't hesitate to contact us.
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