What is the value of social networking sites?

A potential buyer might find you on a social website and like what you wrote and decide to call you about helping them.

Before social marketing, entering into a business relationship was as much based on impressions as it was on a resume or porfolio. Through social networking you get to understand a person's ideas, politics, humour etc. You can meet people based on these attributes over a long period of time which gives you a better understanding of a personality over any meeting or interview. Business relationships can be made over time based on the exchange of ideas that both parties are fairly sure of sharing.

Social networking is a valuable way to find new leads. I just started using them for my job (Salesconx) and discovered that EVERYONE is on at least one networking site. Thanks to building up profiles on LinkedIn, Sales Gravy, Biznik, and others, Salesconx has seen an increase in users and traffic.

Find out what social networking sites your target audience uses, create a profile, and start networking!

Good luck,
-Gina

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Originally Posted by ginac84

Find out what social networking sites your target audience uses, create a profile, and start networking!

How did you find this out about your target audience Gina? Where did that information come from?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie

What is the value of social networking sites?

Brand awareness, link building, sales, collaboration, communication... it is what you make it. Here's an article about IBM employees and social networking; http://online.wsj.com/public/article...298737221.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie

What is the value of social networking sites?

Social networking can open doors and expand your possibilities. I have used networking sites to generate leads directly and indirectly not to mention all of the networking opportunities from very niche specific sites.

While I feel most people approach using these types of venues improperly if worked properly it can pay off in spades. I did a blog posting about it recently at : http://paulrushing.wordpress.com/200...-the-world-is/

I have mainly built my Internet/network marketing business using social media sites like squidoo, facebook, digg, twitter, etc. Why did I do it this way?

When I started online I had no budget.
I was amazingly shy, and scared of the telephone. . . not a good combo for a network marketer. Since I'd rather chew rusty needles than go to a "networking" event.
I was intrigued by the amount of people and diversity on these sites.

There are more reasons why, but hose are my personal top 3. Someone suggested link building, this is an added perk of using these types of sites, links tend to come with a high Google page rank.

But the biggest valuable benefit of social networking, in a business sense is establishing yourself as an expert solution provider within your "target" market. And you can really drill deep to find the perfect "targets" within these online communities, since like tends to attract like.

There are many ways to do this. Hope this helps.
~Jesse

I'm not sure that social networking is for everyone and I believe this because it all depends on your target marketplace. In some of the markets that I work in, there are few tech people and then there are others where social networking is a must. When I mention social networking to a crowd that is over 50+, I get a lot of "what is social networking". If I am talking to low tech people, the same "what" comes up.

Social networking is a valuable tool for finding new accounts and people to connect with. This site for example is a great resource for finding new prospects and learning what you need through networking with the right people.

I have dipped my toe in social networking and the results have been – ok. However, I must balance the time it takes to build this network and all the other methods of growing my business. If my business were primarily local, it might not be as effective to use social networking. That being said, we are not in a limited market anymore and expanding our reach beyond our geographic market is important.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie

How did you find this out about your target audience Gina? Where did that information come from?

Hi Frankie,

Since I'm in charge of sellers here at Salesconx, I know to look for sellers. I used to sell (retail), but I never used any networking sites to meet others like me, so I'm not too sure where sellers hang out online (or if any do!).

To find sellers for the site, it's a lot of research along with trial and error. I created many accounts on a variety of sites and utilized forums and blogs to ask users what other sites they enjoyed using. I also have some Google Alerts set up for specific keywords. I find blogs, forums (like Sales Practice), and other social networking sites through the alerts and from just poking around online.

Hope that helped!

What is the value of social networking sites?

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