Business Networking Sites

Leveraging business networking sites to promote and grow your business is becoming more important nowadays. Your professional network of trusted contacts gives you an advantage in your career, and is one of your most valuable assets.

Is social capital, or who you know, is just as important, if not more important, than financial capital?

Business Networking Sites

The main reasons why more and more business are looking and exploring into social networking is because with these sites, businesses will be able to:
* create a comprehensive profile, fans club or business pages that is available 24/7
* exchange ideas and advice among the peers
* establish meaningful business connections with the world
* post products, services, blogs and events (real time)
* embed video, maps, Twitter and more on their profile

If you check out all the online social community site, you can be sure that most of the sites is very easy to signup and connected to, the 3 general simple steps to join an online community are:
1. Create a profile
2. Explore the community
3. Start connecting

Let’s look at some of the social networking websites that is business oriented, in other words, focus more on the business community, which are LinkedIn, Entrepreneur Connect and BusinessClub.MY.

LinkedIn – Relationships Matter. (Membership: Free)

LinkedIn is a professional network that allows you to be introduced to and collaborate with other professionals. The latest LinkedIn facts that they published on their website:
* LinkedIn has over 53 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world.
* A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of our members are outside the U.S.
* Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

Entrepreneur Connect - Start networking with entrepreneurs just like you. (Membership: Free)

Entrepreneur Connect is the social network where small-business owners can create a profile, explore the community, share ideas and make connections. This site is not intended for mass self-promotion, but rather should be a positive destination where entrepreneurs can exchange real advice and make lasting connections.

BusinessClub.MY - Connections.Exposures.Opportunities. (Membership: Annual Subscription)

BusinessClub.MY is an online business community. Leveraging on Malaysia’s linguistic advantage and strategic geographic location, and the convenient of the internet, BusinessClub.MY is able to bridge the business community from both side of the world – the East and the West, creating unlimited opportunities out of unlimited resources and unlimited space. (About BusinessClub.MY)

Of course, the king of all the social networking site at the time of writing is Facebook (at the moment)!

Facebook is a global social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region. So, if you know how to fully utilize facebook and leveraging the largest community in Facebook, you are sure to get an explosive publicity for your business.

As an additional business readings, you can check out the facebook marketing slides from WebShaper.

Above are just some of the business networking sites we recommend, there are plenty of niche sites out there. Get a few that suits your profession and business most and start exploring the new advertising and promotion medium for your branding strategies and branding identity!

Business Networking Sites

Let’s look at a video clip about this topic:

In conclusion, if you could wisely use these business networking sites, you will be able to stay informed about your contacts and industry, find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals, and control your professional identity online.

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