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How to Turn Your Social Networking Contacts Into Customers
Friday, April 4th, 2008
There are social networks out there for almost any interest. What you may not realize is that there are large social networking groups specifically focused on business, that you can use to add to your customer base.
One such website is LinkedIn . With 14 million subscribers, LinkedIn, is considered the preeminent business networking website available these days.
The way LinkedIn works is that you sign up for it, just as you would any other social network. You even create a profile, which is information about you and your interests.
As you set up this part of your profile, remember to keep your business hat on. You do not want to be overly personal - you are representing your business, not your personal identity.
Make sure to put all important information about your business in your profile. This way, if someone looks at your profile, they will be able to learn about your company.
Managing Contacts
Now you need to add contacts to your page. These are people linked to your profile page. On social networking sites like MySpace, these would be known as friends, but on LinkedIn they are called contacts.
While you may not know many people on LinkedIn, that doesn’t mean you can’t find plenty of people you know. LinkedIn will let you search through their database of users for people you know and have worked with in the past.
You could look for old high school or college classmates, current and former co-workers, or other business people in your community. Ask these people to add you to their contact list.
Making New Contacts
Make sure to put a little variety in the people you ask to be on your contact list. While having all of your current co-workers is fine, you should also look for other people you know or are acquainted with so you have a broader base of contacts.
While you may think these people already know you and that you will not get new customers this way, you may not be considering the repercussions of their adding you to their contact list.
Once you are on their list, you are also more closely connected to their contact lists, which probably hold many people you don’t know.
Get Active
Now it’s time to get involved. There are quite a few forums on LinkedIn where people discuss various aspects of business life. They may have questions about some aspects of business, or just want to discuss a recent Fortune article.
No matter what is happening, get active. The only way more people will know you’re out there is to let them see you getting involved in conversations.
One important thing to keep in mind is that you should NOT openly promote your business or ask for customers. This type of activity can get you removed from the site.
Instead, you have to settle for a more passive advertising campaign or making yourself visible, being involved and letting the new customers come to your profile to find out about you - and your business.
Tags: Generating More Sales, getting customers, leeia ladipohm, linkedin, online networking, Sales, social networking
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