Social networking for business
By Linda Forrest
A recent study shows that more than one in four Canadians have a Facebook profile. Though I haven’t managed to find any Canadian statistics, in the U.S., as popular as it is, Facebook is not the fastest growing social network. Instead, it’s LinkedIn, the professional networking site that enables you to connect with prospects through people that are already in your network, that boasts the largest growth. Nielsen ratings shows that LinkedIn experienced 189% growth rate over the past year and its membership is at 17 million and climbing.
With Facebook gaining momentum in Canada, and with the huge growth of LinkedIn, it’s clear that social networks are becoming more pervasive in people’s lives – both personal and professional. From a business perspective, there is tremendous potential to form introductions to recruits or employers, partners or prospective customers, not to mention keeping in touch with your existing network of contacts, colleagues, classmates and the like.
In terms of prospecting, because users are encouraged to contact others only through contacts that they have already established, there is an implied endorsement from an existing contact of yours and therefore level of trust that wouldn’t exist with a cold call, virtual or otherwise. Recommendations and other features – the site just updated with a slew of new features yesterday – make the site a more experiential destination than it was in its earlier incarnation.
The membership of LinkedIn is quite different from that of Facebook, though the demographics are shifting as more young people enter the business world and expect to integrate their existing online lives with their careers. “A quarter of [young] consumers believe career advancement and jobs-related networking is an important function of social networks.”
“Founded in 2003, LinkedIn is targeting a lucrative market: 225 million white-collar workers worldwide. Its demographic is in the same elite class as the readership of the Wall Street Journal. The average member’s annual income is $106,000 and the average age is 41, [LinkedIn CEO, Dan] Nye said.”
If you’re not already using social networks for business purposes, it’s perhaps time to sign up and add this popular tool to your networking routine.
