Look, I don't really think that the mySpaces and Facebooks
of the world are that important for the typical small
business as they stand today. There may be very practical
business reasons for some to actually use these and other,
what are called social networks, for business gain, but
most people that have jumped on the social network
bandwagon have found themselves left with a "is this all
there is" kind of feeling.
To those I say this, the value of the current public social
networks for business folks is not what you can get out of
them for gain today, but what you can learn by using them
for practical gain tomorrow. That's why SpacebookedIn makes
sense for you now
The Facebooks of the world are busy teaching millions and
millions of business folks how social networks work, how
social networking works, how shared applications can be
viral and ever-present. The real payoff in my opinion is
that the wave to come after the Facebook bubble bursts is
the "personalized business network." Once everyone of your
customers and prospects knows how to use what are easily
replicatable social networking tools, like building
profiles, sharing video and connecting based on mutual
interests, your job of building your own social business
network around your own very specific community of niche
will get a whole lot easier.
2008 will be the year of the personalized social business
network. So, if you've decided to take a pass on the whole
social networking trend, I would suggest that you use this
handy list to start learning to ride this bike with the
training wheels on.
Ten ways to get started with Social Networking.
1) Read 10 blogs - sign-up for a Bloglines account and
search for and subscribe to 10 blogs about social
networking - you can return daily to your page on Bloglines
to find and read all the new content on your 10. Of course
you can add blogs about your industry and interests here
too.
2) Comment on 10 blogs - posting relevant comments to blogs
you read is a very simple form of social networking. It's
also a good way to get some extra visitors your site or
blog.
3) Join Facebook - Join and create a profile. Find and
friend some of your existing contacts using tools on
Facebook. You'll be surprised how many people you already
know have Facebook accounts. Facebook has some real value
for you because of the rich set of tools and large amount
of active users. This is a great place to experiment with
how people interact in social networks. Once you get your
feet wet you may also find that Facebook is a great way to
connect with business contacts you may never bump into
otherwise.
4) Create a mySpace page - this service is really embraced
primarily by musicians and the younger set. It also happens
to have a large underbelly contingent so be warned, but it
is a great tool for learning how to build a presence
outside of your web site.
5) Join LinkedIn - this is a service that's been called
Facebook for business. It is really about meeting and
connecting with like-minded business folks. It is a great
service for people looking for a job or to make connections
with people who may be out of reach without an introduction.
6) Visit Ning - this is the largest custom social
networking service that allows you to create your own
community using a variety of tools that can be branded to
match your current site.
7) Create a Workbench profile - this one's a little
self-serving as this is my new social business networking
site but it's a good example of the personalized business
community that's the next wave for small business.
8) Create a Twitter account - this tool is pretty silly on
the surface, it allows you to type in 160 characters or
less what you are doing right now. It feels like a giant
waste of time but a very large and active community has
grown around this kind of micro-blogging and you should
understand how people are using it.
9) Create a StumbledUpon profile - This is a social network
built around discovering and recommending sites that you
like. Active stumblers can send a lot of traffic your way
10) Create a Digg account - this site allows you to keep up
to the minute with what's happening in the world of
business. Users submit and vote on what is believed to be
the most important content.
You might also consider Mixx, Squidoo and Flikr as places
to find and develop niche related communities when you're
ready to really get out there.
Think of mySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook as your labs - get
in there and experiment for the future. then start planning
your own personalized social business network.
----------------------------------------------------
John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning
blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most
Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. You can find more
information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com
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