Is Social Networking Worth All The Hype?

Is Social Networking Worth All The Hype?
Social networking seems to be the new catch phrase for many
internet marketers. Yet it leaves many busy business
owners wondering if it is worth all the hype. Social
networking takes time, time that many business owners just
don't feel they have.

So is Social Networking worth the hype?

Yes...and no. It largely depends on how it is approached.
Social networking is the process of joining professional
and social networking sites for the specific purpose of
creating business and ultimately profits.

Social networking can result in:

- Powerful business partnerships - Customer relationships -
Added value and benefit to the community - Improved
credibility and expert status - Brand awareness - Increased
reach and exposure - Gained knowledge and education

Social networking is a very powerful tool and it can result
in tremendous profits however if approached with the sole
purpose of generating profits, efforts may fall short.
Here are a few guidelines to get the most from social
networking:

1. Where to join? One mistake many business owners make is
to join too many groups. To get real value from a forum,
membership site, or chat room you have to have the time to
contribute on a regular basis. Belonging to 10 social
networking sites is great if you have the time to
contribute to them every week, however it is recommended to
start small. Dip your toe in so to speak. Join one or two
groups that provide the most value at the time. As your
business grows and your schedule allows, add more groups to
your list.

2. Join groups that are specific to your industry. There
is a forum or membership on just about every topic under
the sun. Fitness, pet training, recycling, hiring,
cleaning, software, coffee drinking, etc the list goes on
and on. Additionally, there are professional forums and
social networking sites that can provide tremendous value.
LinkedIn is one of the growing professional networking
sites, and WarriorForum is a very popular forum among
internet marketers.

3. To find groups to research simply type your industry and
the word forum or membership site into your search engine
of choice and see what comes up. For example, "surfing" +
"Forum" generated 579,000 results on Google. That's a lot
of surfing forums!

4. How often to contribute? In order to make your presence
noted and to have any kind of effect on a networking site,
business professionals have to make regular contributions
to the site. Otherwise membership is nothing more than a
business card stuffed in a pocket. No one will know you're
there.

So what is a regular contribution? Weekly visits to a
membership site or networking site are a minimum
requirement. Many networkers schedule social networking
into their calendar. For example, on Wednesday nights they
schedule two hours to visit their forums and social
networking sites they belong to.

How to promote subtly:

1. When evaluating membership sites, forums and networking
sites it is important to make sure a personalized signature
is part of joining. Your signature is the one resource
that fellow members have to find you online. Most sites do
not allow blatant self promotion so that means a signature
can be key. Be sure to include a link to your website and
a quick USP that states what you do.

2. Two tools to help. Because forums and membership sites
can contain thousands of posts, it takes a lot of time to
read through posts and decide which are appropriate to
respond to and which are not.

http://www.botsurfer.com/ is
a tool that can scan forums for you based on preset
criteria and cut your social networking time in half.

3. Adding a social networking feature to your business
website. A great way to get involved in social networking
is to create your own forum right on your company's
website. Snitz forums, http://forum.snitz.com/, offers
free ASP based forum software. It's a solid product that's
been around for more than 10 years.

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Joan Finholt loves books and using the internet to market
her business. She is co-owner of Bound and Determined
Books. Visit us at: http://www.boundanddetrmined.com