The inevitable evolution of maintaining personal relationships, or even making personal relationships via social networks, leads to using social networking for business. Building business relationships virtual roundtables on Facebook, for example, is an excellent way to introduce yourself to people all over the planet with like-minded interests. New business prospects and potential product buyers can be just a few clicks away on the Internet.
How To Start Social Networking For Business
Beginning with a computer, an Internet connection, and a Facebook account, one of the best places to start social networking for business is to join Facebook Groups. Building business relationships by joining Facebook Groups is a nice way to grow your social network.
Prior to becoming a member of a particular Group, you should be able to list the reasons for joining that specific group. After all, joining a Facebook Group, whether it be for social networking for business or any other intention, that doesn’t support your initiative will only contribute to information overload – something we all hope to avoid! So, in order to find appropriate Facebook Groups to join, start by identifying your type of business – what are you marketing and how might someone search for and find information about it on Facebook? The very best way to figure this out is to do it – open up your popular search engine in your browser and start searching just like anyone else would do. For example, if your business markets and sells weight loss products and dietary supplements, someone might search for “nutrition”, “health”, “wellness”, or “weight loss”. These search terms are called keywords or keyword phrases. Take note of those that result in relevant results, especially Facebook Groups. When you find relevant Facebook Groups, assess them as described below since, after all, if you found them by searching on keywords or keyword phrases connected with your business or product, other people doing the same searches are those with whom you’re looking to build relationships!
If you do not find relevant Facebook Groups while searching via your favorite search engine in your browser, using the collection of relevant keywords you noted in the previous step and type them, one-by-one, into the Facebook search bar and search! Searches within the Facebook site itself will list all Facebook Groups associated with your keyword or keyword phrase. If any of the resulting Groups seem interesting, click on the Group name to “enter” the Group.
Review Facebook Group to determine individual social networking for business relevance
While reviewing the Group page, note recent member postings, number of members, Group descriptions, number of people who “like” the group, and corresponding materials. You can find this data on the Group’s “wall”. I recommend NOT joining just any Group. Again, you want to avoid – at all costs – the chance of information overload. So, if, based on the descriptions and member postings, this Group seems to be a good place to attempt social networking for business, ensure that the Group is current (people are actively posting, communicating, and networking) and that the number of members and “likes” are appropriately large (by this, I mean that given the popularity of your business, there are a large enough number of followers to make it worth your while to join). If all the numbers seem appropriate and acceptable and the group fits your business interests, join the group!
Now that you are “on the inside,” it’s time to network. Social networking for business starts the same way as networking online and offline – say “Hello!” Make yourself known to your fellow members by saying “hello” in a wall post, a status message on the Groups wall. Your message will be seen by everyone who visits the page and even those who have linked their email account to Group messages. Having to chase after all relationships can be time-consuming and tiring, if not unsuccessful, so make everything you say instructive. At the very least, do so because it will be sandwiched in between other members postings and you want to stand out and attract relationships to you.
