Social Networking

Wednesday, December 3rd 2008

Social Networking has become one of the main uses of the internet. Many treat it as a way stay in touch with friends and family, but can it also work for your business? The answer is: yes.

The term 'social networking' as it relates to the world of cyberspace refers to sites like Facebook, Myspace, and the plethora of other related sites now in existence. Things were kicked off way back in 1995 with classmates.com - a website that was, funnily enough, designed to keep you in touch with your old friends from school.

Eventually MySpace emerged in 2002 and the social networking scene exploded. First utilised by tweens, the marketing potential of MySpace was soon made evident by musicians showcasing their original pieces. These bands who had otherwise limited exposure were suddenly able to showcase their work to the millions of other MySpace users.

Plenty of copycats and extended versions soon followed, with the likes of Facebook and Bebo who now rival MySpace in terms of use and popularity.

The business application of these social networking services were soon realised and it wasn't long before sites like LinkedIn, ZoomInfo and Ryze were making an impact. But is it worth the hassle? It certainly can be.

Social networking sites can serve many functions for the business world. Firstly, and most obviously, it can allow you to extend your own network of customers or like-minded professionals. More and more users are turning to the internet to find their services and it certainly makes sense from a business point of view to make it easy to interact with those users.

Services like Facebook however also offer a unique marketing strategy for your business, simply by giving you access to the entire social network and allowing you to target specific demographic or geographic subsections within it. Better yet - it is incredibly cost-effective and it works.

At in2itive we're already using social networking to enhance our professional contact network and online customer base, and we know how to help you do the same. We can help you develop a marketing strategy that will maximise the use of social networking services using both free and paid activities, enabling you to achieve your goals as well as make life easier for your contacts and your customers.