Using Social Communities for your Business

Social networking has become a fundamental part of the online world.

Social networking is a great way to share your views, experiences and expertise. Companies are now beginning to use social platforms as a means of communicating with customers because they realise this is where their customers hang out. Here they can find out what customers want and what they think of their products or services.

For small businesses it is not always feasible to start running a social community but here is a way to get around this:

Invite your customers to join you on a specific social community which you enjoy using. Tell your customers that by signing up to this community they have the opportunity to increase their customer base, learn new ways of marketing online and be a part of a community that can help them further their business. (make sure that it is a business community who does this).

Encourage your customers who join to promote themselves and their business and to become active within the community.

Start a Group called by your company name. The XYZ community.  Upload your company logo as the Groups Image.   Invite your customers to join this group letting them know that by joining this group they will receive product s, special offers and personalised service.

Use the Group which you started to post special events, post discounts and other information about your products or services. Get members of staff to join this group, upload staff photos and product photos.

The secret is to be active and remain consistent, engage with your customers. Start a dialogue with your customers. Get your staff involved or choose a staff member to manage the group, someone who you can rely on to be active in both the group and the community.

Lastly, Contact the social community management team.  Inform them of the group you wish to start. Send them an email of the list of customers you will be inviting. This way the community management team can assist you in making the process easier for your customers.

Dell, Cisco, Coca Cola, Deloitte, BMW, Ernst & Young all use social media and blog sites for their business.  Here is a comprehensive list of companies and the online media they use for their business. http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html

Romany Thresher

Virtual Assistance Today for Tomorrow's Business

www.directassist-online.com

www.betternetworking.co.uk