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The Power of Social Networking

Written by: Alison Basson

Article Overview: You’ve all heard of networking right? Most business women don’t ever use it to its full potential. One of the most common reasons is that it’s just one more thing you have to do in your busy day so it goes into the too hard basket, right! I know I used to do this. With traditional networking, you stand in a room full of complete strangers pretending to have a good time, all in the hope that you will connect with the right people. Yes, networking can be a nightmare. It can also be a great thing if you get the right environment for you. Networking is all about building relationships and now-a-days I use both online and offline networking, but I get the greatest benefit from online social networking as I can connect with more people in less time. So what is it and how can it benefit you?

The Power of Social Networking

You’ve all heard of networking right? Most business women don’t ever use it to its full potential. One of the most common reasons is that it’s just one more thing you have to do in your busy day so it goes into the too hard basket, right!

I know I used to do this. With traditional networking, you stand in a room full of complete strangers pretending to have a good time. You go to events, either listen to a speaker, hand out business cards, grab a coffee, or wine (depending on the time of the day!!) and walk around and introduce yourself, all in the hope that you will connect with the right people.

Yes, networking can be a nightmare. It can also be a great thing if you get the right environment for you. Networking is all about building relationships and now-a-days I use both online and offline networking, but I get the greatest benefit from online social networking as I can connect with more people in less time. So what is it and how can it benefit you?

The concept has been around for a few years, with MySpace being one of the first non-business sites to be completely set up for social networking. Gradually, businesses began to infiltrate through this and then other sites were born purely for business owners. You can now speak to someone over the internet, or leave messages for someone all from sitting at home. You can get to ‘know’ a person by looking at their profile, what their interests are, and who they align themselves with. All of this information is available for you to read, rather than physically getting out there and asking.

Where are these social networking sites? As mentioned above, there are a few major players in the field, all specializing in their own areas. MySpace was launched aimed at teens putting details, videos and photos of themselves up so they can chat and play games with their friends. Facebook was then introduced later, aimed at the older generations, hooking up with friends from school, adding photos of family and videos and chatting.

People started realizing that with the amount of traffic coming to these sites they could try and use them for business. But then business related sites like LinkedIn, twitter and niche market sites like Business Women Unite started popping up which are purely aimed at the professions, so people started viewing social networking in a totally difference light. They could start building relationships with many thousands of people without leaving their office.

But what are the benefits of joining these networking sites?

They all offer different things but by using these sites you can promote your business to thousands of visitors that these sites get every week which helps generate traffic to your business. You can expand your business by connecting and doing business with people from all over the world.

Sites like LinkedIn are based on the concept that someone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone else…and on it goes. They have applied this to business but you can also connect with lost school friends and work colleagues.

Whereas Twitter is different again and you communicate with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? It takes a bit of getting used to but it’s worth it.

On the Business Women Unite site there are more business related tools such as a discussion forum that you can use to ask questions, share resources and get tested business tips plus experts who can give you advice on how to increase your sales and profits, how to drive more traffic to your website and how to have a better lifestyle plus much more.

If you have the right strategy and the right approach you can turn a few minutes a day into thousands of extra dollars. Isn’t that worth the bother!

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Article Tags: benefit from, building relationships, business cards, business owners, business sites, business women, busy day, coffee, games, generations, good time, nightmare, photos, social networking sites, time of the day, traditional networking, wine



Related Forum Posts
Re: How can a social networking site make serious money? - Hi There, It is quite interesting, that some Social Networking do produce an income. I think testimonials are always a benefit to share. See one below: This Social Network has changed my life! Every night is a Friday night and everyday is a Saturday!! Because of it, I have been able to leave the workforce 10 years early.It has given me back my life. Many of us would like to retire early. I am sure there are many more. The point is of focusing with great determination. The ongoing challenge is to stay focussed and not be sidetracked into a newer scheme or so. Also I have read, during this financial turmoil, more people turn to Social Networking for various reasons.
Re: Tactics for Blog Traffic - some more tips to drive traffic to blog or to promote a blog. Squidoo Lens Creation Hub Pages Creation Social Bookmarking (Digg, Delicious, Stumble, Reddit etc.) Be helpful in forums Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn etc.) syndication blog commenting (other blogs) Guest post
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Simple Idea - Great Advice. - What your success stories on Social Networking for more contacts and connections? Do you have any good business books to suggest? I love the idea of connecting and sharing with other entrepreneurs. Thank you for your input!
Re: Social Networking Site Endorsements - You must be cautious in endorsing any one on Social Networking site. You must ony endorse people you are very familiar with. Endorsement people you don't know is not a good thing.


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