Thursday, February 28, 2008

How Social Networking Can Help Your Business

Social networking is a phenomena defined by linking people together online. It's used by millions of people every single day to interact with each other.

At one point, I thought social networking was neat - but a complete waste of time. I thought it was something that only college students could benefit from for entertainment purposes only.

Now, I think otherwise. Thanks to web sites like LinkedIn.com, entrepreneurs can benefit greatly from "professional social networking" that can indeed help your business.

Here's 5 ways how:

1) Visibility - Social networking allows you to post a public profile about your current professional status, and your professional background. This enables others to see who you are, and what your accomplishments are - encouraging them to connect with you for business.

2) Targeting - Social networking allows you to find potential business partners and clients with similar interests. Once identified, you can add them to your network for others to see who you're affiliate with.

3) Endorsement - Social networking allows people who know you (or who have done business with you) to post their recommendations about you. This type of endorsement is good for others to see when considering to connect with you.

4) Confirmation - Social networking enhances your search engine results whenever someone "googles" you. This will validate you when people are conducting research to confirm who you claim to be.

5) Easy Networking - Social networking allows you to network with others virtually. This means you can do so entirely from your computer. While its still good to attend conferences, shake hands, and exchange business cards - nothing beats an opportunity to connect with people in the comfort of your own home or office.

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