Social Networking
Try these online tools and see if you will gain new business opportunities.
Surveys show that the best boost for a small business is a word-of-mouth recommendation from a trusted friend. Unfortunately, until now, that has been a rather haphazard process. You can say to customers, "Tell your friends about us," but there's no guarantee they will do that.
What's different now? Social networking sites, such as LinkedIn®, Facebook™ and Twitter. You may think of these sites as strictly personal or for adolescents, but they are more than that. "LinkedIn is a great tool in terms of finding new customers," says Lauren Cook, founding partner of Swarm Collective, a marketing firm that focuses on social networking.
LinkedIn is mainly for professional networking, allowing registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. Then, they are able to expand their network by connecting with friends of those contacts. To successfully use LinkedIn, it's important to remember to first define what you want to get out of it. If it's to be used as a business tool, approach it as such. In your profile, you will want to include where you work now as well as your past jobs. You'll also want to include your education background, interests and a link to your company Web site.
When creating your profile, remember that you're able to customize your URL instead of using the default one. Choose your company name or a keyword that describes your business. Why? The search engines index LinkedIn profiles, which receive a fairly high ranking. By doing this, you'll receive free traffic to your Web site through your profile.
News spreads like word of mouth
Although originally created for college students, Facebook works much like LinkedIn. Registered users can join networks organized by workplace, city or region to connect and interact with others. You can set up a page for your company and for yourself, and easily keep the two separate. Ask your customers who are already on one of these two sites (simply search for their names) to give you recommendations on LinkedIn or join your fan page on Facebook.
Because activity spreads out through any given person's network – depending how that person has set up his/her page – news of customers joining your company's page is distributed to their connections. That's a reliable, electronic version of word of mouth.
Social networking sites help you communicate easily with customers and prospects. Once they are connected to you, you can send batch e-mails to them. As long as they are a member of that site, e-mails won't bounce back or get stuck behind spam filters. This allows you to quickly distribute news of sales or new products and services to your customers.
Another social networking site that has gained traction in the business world is Twitter. Its service enables users to send real-time short messages (140 characters or fewer) over multiple networks and devices, including cell phones. Although this may seem more appropriate for teenagers meeting up in a mall, consider the value of notifying customers at a trade show that you're about to demonstrate a new product or have a prize drawing. Or you can highlight offers that are only available if people sign up to receive your messages or through your Twitter account.
Post questions
With social networking sites, you can keep your finger on the pulse of your customers' needs by giving them the opportunity to post questions about products, request technical support, request new products and services or offer recommendations about other businesses. Keeping them engaged in what you do increases the opportunities for cross-selling and upselling, which are crucial to increasing revenue.
You also can create groups related to your business. Ask customers to join and pose questions or post recommendations there. By doing this, you will be able to further promote your brand, share news/events with your community and stimulate discussion all in one place.
The value of social networking sites lies in two critical areas: They can help customize your message to customers and prospects, and they help in making yourself easily available to queries. Both go a long way to improving your customer relationships.
Also In This Issue
- Manage Finances Faster and Easier With Online Banking
- Run your business's day-to-day finances and manage your bank account with ease and convenience, thanks to online banking.
- Know Your Best Customers
- You don't need fancy software to analyze your customer base in hopes of bringing in more sales. Here's how to do it on your own.