What Is Your Social Networking Strategy for 2008?

Are you LinkedIn? Are you getting face time on Facebook, Konnects, or Twitter? Do you have a Mini Life?

If you are not familiar with these social networking platforms there is no doubt you are missing the largest trend to hit the internet since the dot com era. You don’t want to miss the boat on social networking. Knowing that you can gain substantial results by utilizing online social networks is imperative. It is also important to know that you could lose opportunities if you don’t get up to speed, and fast!

Wikipedia defines a "social network service" as one that focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities.

Check wiki social network analysis. If you wonder why social networking is so powerful you may want to digg a little. It appears that age old disciplines are attached to a new medium with several key disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, psychology, organizational design, and graph theory. These have existed in many of academic circles since the 1930s. Although fascinating, the study of trends in human interaction has been confined to the world of academia, with little real life application.

Many people have probably heard of LinkedIn, but how many people are actually using it to its fullest potential? Many think that social networking sites like LinkedIn and My Space are fads that will slip away as quickly as they popped up. There is also a sense that social networking sites have little or no impact on business.

Those who are the aforementioned school of thought are being left behind. What people may not know is that 499 of the Fortune 500 companies have profiles on LinkedIn.

Barack Obama jumped on-board with LinkedIn to reach entrepreneurs, small business owners, and executives, asking them very pointed questions regarding their needs from the next US president. This was not only extremely effective in vast communication efforts across diverse populations; it was groundbreaking for a politician to make himself so available.

One of the messages that I work really hard at conveying to my clients is that social networks can be used to accelerate a brand.

Social networks are phenomenal pedestals for citizen driven content, products, campaigns and more. People are continuously communicating and passing along their brand creating a reach that has never been plausible let along possible.

Relationships originate and come to fruition in very different and powerful ways. Individual's, teams and organization's are at the forefront of the marketplace. Ten years ago, many people/businesses would have never communicated without the convenience of social networks. This expands business potential all across the board.

Brand, that which time after time creates sustainable loyalty and continued investment in any organization from employees, suppliers, customers, and shareholders. It is vital.

It is time to embrace social networking as a strategic business move in driving profitable revenue growth, brand equity, while integrating the ‘new tools of the trade,’ whatever the trade. Social media does not discriminate.