Why Social Networking May Be Important To You

Myspace, Facebook, Friendster.  You know the names and when you think about them and their popularity you attribute it to kids being kids and connecting with their friends, but isn’t there a kid inside of all of us?  To some degree, don’t we all go to conferences and networking events to meet new people and catch up with old acquaintances?  That’s why online social networking matters and how it can matter in your own online marketing.

It is well accepted that LinkedIn is the social networking site for business users.  (You can take a look at my LinkedIn profile here.)  Chances are that you already belong and are busy trying to increase your connections with people with common interests.  The concept of meeting people with common interests is not limited to people in the general business community.  There’s a strong possibility that your own customers may be interested in connecting with each other.

Think about it.  Let’s say you’re a CPG company with a recipe database.  Isn’t it possible that a user from Linden, NJ might want to connect with a user from Pomona, CA to exchange recipes?  Similarly, two clients of a financial services firm may be interested because they’re in similar industries or can otherwise be of service to one another.  Teachers from faraway towns can connect on an educational social networking site and facilitate video conferencing or even arrange to teach each other’s classes via web conferencing.  The possibilities are endless.  And the great thing about implementing it on your site is that it brings people back to your site and makes your brand a part of their lives.  Social networking can matter.

Don’t get me wrong.  Social networking isn’t perfect.  Doing what I describe requires proper security protocols, measures to ensure the protection of users’ privacy and the ability for users to control how, when and where they’re contacted.  There will also be some amount of trust assumed because the members of your network will probably already be your customers, so your company/organization should do what it can to minimize the impact of unscrupulous people.

All in all, it’s an idea worth pursuing and I would encourage you to at least consider it.  Have you thought about it? Done it?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments area.