NETworking: Do's and Don'ts of Using Social Internet Sites for Business

More and more Utah entrepreneurs are getting twitterpated over Twitter, the social networking site that allows you to send updates, or tweets, of up to 140 characters. From a brief search on Twitter, you quickly discover that Brock Blake, CEO of Funding Universe, is "Hosting a LivePitch event in Logan." Social media guru Jesse Stay says, "You're Invited to the First Utah CoWorking Offices." JibberJobber CEO Jason Alba tweets, "ABC.com suggests JibberJobber as a gift for friends who are laid off."

Twitter and Facebook are no longer just for college kids who want to post their party pics. Businesses increasingly use these sites to promote brands, products and services, and as a means to building more authentic business relationships. But how effective are they, really?

Forrester Research predicts that "Enterprise 2.0" applications - buttoned-up versions of the Web 2.0 apps we all know and love - will be a $4.6 billion industry by 2013. Social networks will make up the bulk of that, with nearly $2 billion invested in them. Behind social networking, the Forrester report asserts that the "Enterprise 2.0" landscape of 2013 will consist of mashups ($682 million), RSS technologies ($563 million), wikis ($451 million), blogs ($340 million) and podcasting ($273 million).

"A business that doesn't take the little time required to blog or use social networking is ignoring one of the lowest-cost, highest returns on investments they can make," says Paul Allen, CEO of MyFamily.com, and a social networking enthusiast. "In just minutes you can set up a Facebook group or event and get dozens of interested people there. It's a low-cost way to find potential contractors, employees or business partners," he says.

Entrepreneur and marketing consultant Chris Knudsen offers a more cautionary voice. "Just because a company isn't on a social networking site doesn't mean they aren't considering its value or aren't in tune with their market," he says. "Social networking may not be where your customer-base spends its time. Every business needs to look at social networking in the same way they look at any other marketing activity: what's the cost, what's the ROI, etc. If you don't do it right, you're just another ‘me-too' adopter."
Social media experts and entrepreneurs share six do's and don'ts of social networking for businesses.

1. Be authentic.

"If you have a stuffy, bureaucratic culture, then don't waste your time on social network sites," says Joel Postman, principal of California-based Socialized, a consultancy that helps companies use social media in public relations, marketing and communications. "Applying old media strategies to new media is the biggest no-no. In the corporate environment, there are so many gatekeepers. Many large companies use Twitter or Facebook like one more corporate communications vehicle. But by the time someone sees something, it's been so massaged and filtered - it's lifeless. Be honest and original. For smaller companies, which are typically younger and more familiar with social media etiquette, the biggest no-no is to think social networking is a miracle cure that will take the place of all other PR or marketing initiatives."

2. Defend your brand.

"Whether or not you choose to engage in social media, people are still talking about your brand. You might as well be a part of the conversation," says Brian Watkins, PR manager of social media at Omniture. Watkins also leads the Utah Technology Council peer-to-peer clinic on social media in public relations. "I monitor everything that's being said about our different products online. I've been using Summize (which Twitter recently acquired and renamed Twitter Search) - and TweetScan, tools on Twitter, to get a real-time sense of what people are saying about us."

3. Keep your message relevant.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, the largest independent online shoe retailer, is on Twitter almost every day. "He may tweet trivial things like ‘Oh, I need a cup of coffee,' but that's much more interesting coming from a CEO," Postman says. Also, Hsieh takes it several steps further by engaging Twitter followers with questions about products. He once asked, "What is your favorite shoe brand and why do you like it? Send me your answers and I'll randomly select one of you to go to L.A., and I'll pay for it," according to Postman.
"Asking a question is one of the best ways to get people to follow you on social media sites," says Jason Alba, CEO of the job search management site JibberJobber.com, and author of "I'm on LinkedIn - Now What?" and a co-author of "I'm on Facebook - Now What?" "Also, when I write a blog post, I tweet about it and include a link to my post. I have about 800 Twitter followers and 600 friends on Facebook. My Facebook has the Twitter application, so the message gets out to a lot of people."

4. Remember, quality and quantity matter.

The value of your social networks is largely based on the quality, and to some extent quantity, of people in them. Connect with people with like experience and interests, the same schools and employers, or those who are potential mentors. "Don't add connections simply to display an impressive number," Postman says. "Quality trumps quantity...connect, don't collect."
But quantity is still important. "If you have five connections on Facebook, or five people following you on Twitter, there's not going to be a big enough impact," Alba says. "If you have 5,000 people in your contacts, then tweeting about products or industry news will help get your message out. Right now, I think Twitter is the best networking tool. It's a major viral connection." Alba recommends that job seekers have at least 65 LinkedIn connections - those who have agreed to be part of a person's network - and use the "answers" feature to get advice from other users.

5. Don't forget your manners.

While nearly all social networks have rules for participation (don't post obscenities or copyrighted material, for example), the etiquette for adding people to each network is defined by the mores of those on the network, Postman says. He offers a few guidelines:

• Users should be particularly careful to avoid the appearance of flirtation and inappropriate comments and messages. Use the same rules as you would in the workplace.
• Don't send blatantly commercial messages. Business networking is OK. Shameless promotion and cold calling is not.
• If the network allows, give the person you are inviting some context for the invitation.
• Do not take it badly if someone declines or ignores your invitation to connect. That's their option.

6. Beware of legal implications.

If you're a bigger company, there are a lot of legal risks involved. There are regulations for full disclosure, accounting laws regarding when you can disclose financial data, etc. If you have a CEO on a blog or Facebook, those regulations still apply. The same is true for competitive practices. If a top-tier blogger calls their competitors "lame" or "irrelevant," you could get into unfair business practices or risk your reputation.
    
Consider the Alternatives

Eric Eliason, CEO and founder of Logan-based Meosphere, says alumni networks are the best networking tool for him. "I'm not as social as Twitter or Facebook. I don't think you get a lot out of those as a business. Alumni sites work best for me. When I needed to fill a position in the Netherlands. I reached out through the alumni network and found someone right away."



**Facebook**

In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg founded The Facebook while still a student at Harvard University. Facebook membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Ivy League and later to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone age 13 and older. The was removed from its name after purchasing the domain name facebook.com in 2005 for $200,000.

• More than 90 million active users
• Most-trafficked Web site in the world and the No. 1 photo sharing application on the Web, according to comScore
• More than 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate and high school networks

**LinkedIn**

Aimed at career-minded, white-collar workers, LinkedIn is for people looking more for networking than the social aspects. It connects people in the workplace helping them search for new jobs and make professional contacts. In June 2008, it announced that it had raised $53 million in capital primarily from Bain CapitalVentures, a Boston-based private equity firm. Mostly for professional development, it doesn't have the broader applications of Twitter or Facebook.

• More than 24 million registered users spanning 150 industries
• Attracts 1.2 million new members every month

**Twitter**

With just 140 characters, Twitter allows users to post text-based updates, or tweets. Twitter started as a research and development project inside San Francisco startup company Obvious LLC in March 2006. It was initially used internally by the company and officially launched in October 2006. In March 2007, the service won the South by Southwest Web Award in the blog category. Jack Dorsey, widely acknowledged as the man behind the concept of Twitter, gave the following playful acceptance speech at SXSW: "We'd like to thank you in 140 characters or less. And we just did!" In April 2007, Obvious LLC spun off the service as a separate entity under the name Twitter Inc.

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