In preparing for the next seminar for the Canterbury Christ Church University Business Forum I realised that at The Purple Edge we needed to stop sitting on the sidelines and dive in and see if we can really make social networking work for us.  So we have created our own Facebook business page - which you can visit and if you 'like' us you can follow our progress, and maybe learn from our mistakes!

Luckily at the event itself at Hall Place, Canterbury on 6 July there is a more knowledgeable speaker, Mark Zaretti of Sparticle Limited, who will covering the detailed hows and whys, while my role will be to focus on the importance of integrating social networking tools into a wider marketing strategy.  While I've studied the subject for sometime, reading the case histories and being fairly active on LinkedIn, there is no substitute for real live experience - hence the Facebook page and my increasing engagement with Twitter (follow me here). 

The numbers speak for themselves - Facebook has now overtaken Google in terms of visitors, and the big name online tools are reporting healthy growth across all age groups.  At a recent Chartered Institute of Marketing seminar Simon Wakeman of Medway Council explained how they are using Facebook and Twitter - and shared some of the data he used to make the business case to the organisation, including showing comparisons of audience size between Facebook and the local press (see photo above).

It is by no means the only game in town, but social networking is growing fast - which is why, for your business, you need to understand the opportunity and be considering if and how these networks could work for you.  The ultimate test is no different to any other marketing tool - can you reach your target customers (or influencers of your customers) through this media?  Or maybe think more widely in terms of audience - my one big success on Twitter so far is finding a new PR associate to work with on client business.  Usefulness doesn't have to be all about sales. 

From my research and experiences so far I can see real value in engaging in social networks for the following reasons:

1. You can engage with more people, more personally than any other medium.  This allows you to develop a deepening relationship with the community of customers, suppliers or networking colleagues.
2. You can learn from your communities and be better informed in your field.
3. You can share news and insights that will drive traffic to your websites - where you can aim to take visitors on a more direct journey to sales.
4. Activity on social networking sites can contribute to a higher ranking in search engines.

But there are also some caveats to consider:

1. As already said - you need to find the right communities to engage with, and there to be enough of your specific target audience active to make it worth your while.
2. If you start you have to keep going - relationships only thrive with regular attention!  So start small and build up.
3. Social networks can become compulsive and time-consuming - you will need to develop some discipline based on understanding of their role and importance in your overall marketing strategy.
4. The tools are young - no-one has all the answers about what you should do, so you will need to be prepared to be brave and find your own way, one that suits you.

I would urge you to take a look, find out how the networks work, and then work out how they might work for your business.  Don't be afraid to experiment, and don't be afraid to admit that they are not for you - at least not right now!  At least you'll be making a conscious decision rather than one in ignorance.  And if you in the Canterbury area on 6 July come along to the seminar and find out the answer - is social networking for you?