7. Social Networks
One of the ways that you can promote your online business, without having to spend a penny is using online social networking websites. A large number of internet users, in fact millions of them, belong to at least one social networking website.
Social networking is defined as the grouping of individuals together into to specific groups, often like a small community or a neighborhood. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in schools or in the workplace, it has become exceedingly popular online. These websites are known as social networking websites and one of the most popular is Facebook.
Social networking websites are, in a way, like an online community of internet users. Depending on the social networking website in question, many of these online community members share a common bond, whether that bond is hobbies, religion, or politics. Once you are granted access to a social networking website you can begin to socialize. This socialization may include reading the profiles or profile pages of other members or even contacting them.
Social networking can also be used for businesses. In fact, that was originally how social networking got started. If you don’t use social media, you risk seeing your businesses lose market share to other more savvy companies.
Almost 11% of UK Internet visits are to Social Media sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Over half of all visits to social networking sites are to Facebook which has over 24 million active Facebook users in the UK alone and over 400 million worldwide. YouTube is in second with over 17% of visits and is now the second largest search engine in the world.
Facebook has now overtaken Google in terms of market share – if you don’t have a presence on Facebook how can you be found online?
Whilst Twitter only accounts for about 2% of visits to social networking sites, the immediacy of interaction means it plays a pivotal role in research and providing feedback on market offerings. Some companies who have engaged fully with twitter have reported spectacular successes. For example, Gary Vaynerchuck who now has over 851,000 twitter followers reportedly grew his family wine business from $4 million to $50 million through the use of social media.
If you are looking to join a social media site such as Facebook, to gain access to millions of potential new customers you will need to create your own business profile page. However, you do need to be careful when making your online webpage or profile as one thing that internet users hate is being solicited for business. This does not mean that you cannot use social networking to your advantage; it just means that you need to be careful with how you do it. Some subtlety is called for to effectively use social media.
