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Twitter, Facebook, Orkut-these are names that most urban youth are very
familiar with. In fact their social lives often depend on it. Chancing this as
the best medium to get in touch with their customers, most companies went
headlong into social networking, creating websites, profiles, pages-everything
they could think of-to be able to get closer to their buyers. Some of them even
recruited social media gurus to plan these ventures, which were then launched
with great fanfare.
Social networking has been around for a while. As the Internet started
evolving, consumers are becoming more web and marketing savvy, e-mail marketing
campaigns and bland websites are becoming less effective. It's important for
businesses to embrace and leverage new technologies in order to continue
reaching their target audiences.
This is relatively a new way to create, publish, and distribute content,
photos, audio files, and other relevant information online. This collaborative
platform enables users to communicate openly and collaborate on the Internet.
Social networking media can provide the possibility of finding not only
customers but also the best deals with suppliers. Facebook was started with
teenagers connecting with their friends. Today, it is being used by the working
class, business people not only to connect, but also to develop business
opportunities.
Another networking site, LinkedIn Groups, has become an efficient medium for
connecting with the corporate world, where starting from hiring people every
activity of a company is updated.
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“In the past six months, I got three projects
where the software was sold by some other partner but the customer came to
me for implementation, based on the buzz around my company's expertise in
online media” Suresh Ramani, CEO, Techgyan |
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“I have generated more than Rs 1 lakh from
social networking contacts, which might not be a huge amount. But having
tasted this initial fruit of success, I plan to start commercial activities
in a structured manner.” Sampath Iyengar, Director, Sam7 India |
Even Bollywood actors and politicians could not stay away from this new-found
tool and tried to use to it to promote themselves. It's a well known fact that
Barack Obama owed a great degree of his success to presidency to his apt usage
of the Web 2.0 platform.
Ingenious channel partners in India too decided to dabble with this medium
and though their numbers are small, quite a few of them have even been able to
use it to generate business for their companies. Thus social networking has now
opened up another stream for lead generation for them, a welcome sign at a time
when the traditional ways of doing business were rewritten.
| The
Starter's Guide to Social Networking |
| Listen and understand what
people in the network discuss before you step in |
| Always focus on developing
two-way communication. Avoid broadcasting URLs of new additions on your
website on networks like Twitter, as it will not have any takers in the long
run |
| Be active on multiple
networks that target your own industry, as well as in networks that have
target audience to get the best results |
| Social networking is about
sharing information, not solicitation alone. If one solicits, they will
quickly find themselves shut out – so, never SELL directly |
| Avoid social media if yours
is a niche business and your clientele is countable, or they are in rural
towns/villages. |
| Remember that business
development through social media efforts need people, money and time. This
platform has no concept of office hours. It is 24x7, 365 days and building
trust/reputation takes time |
| From a brand perspective, it
is not a platform just to get your message out. It is more about hearing
what others have to say about it |
| Create an official page and
suggest customers to become fans of that page. Most customers go to the Web
2.0 to see the actual truth about the product/service; keep your pages live
and updated |
| The strategy of a company
using social networking should be in line with its objectives, namely, brand
building, keeping in touch with business partners, increase traffic to
website, generate new opportunities, hiring resources etc |
| Content creation and
management are the most important aspects. These are the social networking
forums, so open solicitation of business can be counterproductive |
Partners Who Caught On Quick
One solution provider who prides on his ability to having used social
networking is Mumbai-based TechGyan's Suresh Ramani. With his presence on most
Web 2.0 platforms, he has already been able to use it to build his brand recall
and widen its reach by regular updates on various sites.
“In the past six months, I have got three projects where the software was
sold by some other partner but the customer came to me for implementation based
on the buzz around my company's expertise in SMB space. A good part of this buzz
came from my active information feeds on various social networking media,” says
Ramani.
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Social networking sites have seen massive
acceptance among the corporate world as well as personal users. A business
entity should formulate strategies to keep their pages live and updated for
users to use them often Chetan Shah, MD, Xpress Computers |
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“LinkedIn has proved effective for my business
of importing third party software and plugins. Though not frequently, I do
get leads for business from across the country” Gaurang Bhatt, CEO,
Ignition Infotech |
Ramani uses LinkedIn Groups extensively to facilitate communi-cation between
International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) India members.
This way he can touch base with people in an effective and non-intrusive way. In
fact, these initiatives got him in touch with people which helped him explore
offshore business opportunities, especially in drafting services to
architectural companies in the US. Page(s) 1 2
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