Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Bebo… the list goes on. These, by the way, are the social media sites we’ve heard of and know about.
Wikipedia, though, lists over 200 social networking websites stressing that these are only the major active websites (for example, its listings don’t include dating websites).
In truth, social networking websites are everywhere these days and we’re all actively encouraged to participate. However, many of us find this a challenge due to a lack of familiarity with the sites and how we might use them to best effect.
Questions like: ‘Where do I start?’, ‘Which site(s) do I use?’ and ‘What do I say?’ are all common.
We all know that networking’s vitally important in this day and age, and we strive to network in person, so why is there a reluctance to embrace Internet-based options?
What is social networking, and why should we embrace it?
Social networking is essentially the use of web-based services to construct a public or semi-public profile of personal or business information and activities. This is used to attract and build communication networks with other users who share a common interest.
Such networking is now seen as the norm, so much so that the question to be asked probably shouldn’t be: ‘Why should I embrace social networking? but instead ‘Can I afford not to?’
There are many benefits to social networking websites. Here are some of them:
- Social networking sites are structured around shared interests so involvement in the right groups can connect you to a wide range of like-minded people.
- These sites provide opportunities to proactively search for similar people – whether it’s for personal reasons (eg making friends) or on a professional basis (eg identifying potential business partners, or sourcing staff with particular skills).
- Many people have integrated social networking into their everyday life. Thus, social networking provides the opportunity to become part of someone’s daily routine. However, note that this will only work if you produce messages/start discussions, etc that capture their interest. This is particularly pertinent on services such as Twitter where your messages can become part of someone’s daily Twitter feed if they choose to follow you.
- Social networking not only helps to sell the expertise of your company but also sells you as an individual. They allow you to develop relationships with potential clients and partners over time. Thus, with fairly little maintenance you can keep up-to-date with others and they can remain up-to-date with you. This makes it easier to spot potential business opportunities as they emerge. Furthermore, communicating with your customers in a more personal way will make them feel like they’re talking to a friend rather than a company. This helps build trust in you, which will then encourage potential customers to do business with you rather than your competitors.
- Social networking sites offer an excellent opportunity to gather customer feedback. Customer recommendations may be used in future marketing campaigns, whereas constructive criticism can serve to enhance products and services. Social networking sites can then also be used to advertise any improvements to services made following customer feedback.
- Social networking allows you to pitch products and services in a non-invasive way. People hate being bombarded with adverts, but social networking allows you to build a community around your business area. Informal discussions can promote a positive, non-threatening presence on social media sites and supports active engagement with customers.
- Social networking sites help you keep connected to the marketplace as you can follow what others in your industry are doing. This helps you to remain competitive.
- Social networking can be a means of establishing a brand and/or raising brand awareness.
- Social networking sites provide a simple outlet to advertise promotions.
- The online community allows you to stay in touch with people who are geographically distant or otherwise dispersed.
- Discussion forums may be used to answer customer questions. An open forum approach can act as a Frequently Asked Questions Section, saving you time as you’ll only need to answer questions once as all customers can see the response. This saves both time and money.
Maximising your use of social media
As this list demonstrates, there are many benefits of social networking sites. However, they’ll only reach their potential if they’re used properly.
There’s no point setting up LinkedIn profiles, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages if they’re a poor representation of the company and/or are not regularly updated with interesting information.
This brings us neatly to the potential hazards of social networking.
One major problem is doing it badly! Poorly constructed social networking sites will reflect negatively on the business and, in some instances, may do more harm than good.
For example, if you’re trying to sell your services as up-to-the-minute information solutions, failing to maintain your Twitter feed will reflect poorly on the product as potential customers may think: “Well if they can’t even maintain a Twitter feed, why would I trust them to maintain my information security software?”
Similarly, you cannot sell web design services through a poorly designed social networking page.
It’s important to remember that social networking sites can be time consuming to maintain as there’s an expectation from followers that you’ll provide regular updates. Therefore, it’s important to draw up a plan of which sites you’re going to develop profiles for, what you want to use these profiles for and then allocate tasking to named members of staff to ensure the sites are set up properly and maintained effectively.
What are the main risks involved?
There are risks to having social networking accounts. The most obvious is the theft of information. You need to be aware of who you are sharing information with. It’s easy to build relationships using social networking sites without meeting people which limits the opportunities to assess whether they’re genuine.
Although this risk is mostly associated with dodgy dates and concerns over child safety, you should consider corporate risks as competitors (or ‘social engineers’) could use your social networking profile to access sensitive information about your business.
It’s therefore important to consider what information is shared, even in private forums. You may also wish to advise staff not to discuss work in their personal social networking accounts as this again could pose a risk to the business.
For example, posting information about work details, absences or other information could lead to an opening for imposters and social engineering tactics.
Remember to set privacy settings appropriately and also the fact that, once you’ve uploaded messages. these are almost impossible to erase. You only need think about how many politicians have found themselves in trouble for posting an ill-conceived message on Twitter to understand the potential risks involved.
It’s also important to consider privacy in terms of intellectual property and copyright. There are grey areas about who owns material (such as photos, videos and other resources) uploaded to sites like Facebook.
Social networking: the bottom line
It’s clear that the benefits of social networking are wide-ranging.
Furthermore, it looks like social networking sites are here to stay… and you don’t want to be on the wrong side of the digital divide.
So, although it can feel overwhelming, we should all embrace social networking as it provides an excellent opportunity to promote products and services and build relationships with potential customers.
That said, as with most things in life there are opportunities and risks. Therefore, it’s important to set up social networking accounts with the appropriate privacy settings and with suitable guidance for use.
Ken Livingstone (managing director) and Amy Burrell (training consultant) are with Perpetuity Training
Further information about… Perpetuity Training
In 2010, Perpetuity Training won the Security Excellence Awards category for Security Training Initiative of the Year on the basis of it distance learning programme for The Security Institute.
Over the years, the organisation has developed exciting, interactive online training platforms which allow tailor-made specialist training packages to be delivered anywhere in the world.
Perpetuity Training also offers a range of face-to-face short courses, including Level 4 professional awards in Managing Security Surveys and Security Management.
All of the company’s short courses can be adapted to meet the needs of individual businesses, and bespoke training services are offered.
For more information call 0116-222 5550 or e-mail: [email protected]
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