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Megan & Linda Baumann
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Social Marketing
Click HERE for info on these social networking sites and MORE.
- Facebook
- MySpace
- LinkedIn
- Merchant Circle
List your business online:
- YellowPages.com
- DexKnows.com
Don't discount social networks as something just for young people. Although social networks such as
MySpace (known for being an online hangout for the high schoolers) and FaceBook (which targets the
college crowd) have garnered much press in the social networking space in 2006, other
professionally-focused online networks are being used in many ways in the business and association realms,
and social networking is poised for growth in these areas:

* Customer and member relationship development. Online social networks allow a prospective customer to
easily facilitate a real, human-level connection with individuals within an organization. This enables genuine
business relationships to form and puts an authentic human face on the interaction, changing the external
perception of an organization from sterile to a collection of individuals who are ready to help.

* The use of the network to find experts or locate knowledge to better support customers. The vast
majority of organizational knowledge exists only in the heads of its members. Inside an organization, online
networks with even basic profiles of its individuals' experience, location and interests can greatly reduce the
time required for organizational problem-solving, through enabling faster connection between a questioner
and the person who has solved similar problems in the past.

* Better service by providing customers with the "whole product." It is rare that a single organization can
provide all the pieces needed to meet and create an entire solution. For example, even though a real
estate agent aids in the process of buying a home, the customer must have an entire network of other
service providers, such as title company, bank, insurance agents and contractors to complete the purchase.
By creating a strong network of complementary providers with similar philosophies and business practices, a
single service provider can provide a much greater proposition to a prospective customer than an individual
working without the benefit of the network.

* Creation of "all-star" teams that are right for each customer. Especially in service organizations, creating
both the right set of skills and the right culture are key to creating a connection with a prospective
customer. An internal social networking system enables the individuals responsible to creating relationships
with prospects to pull together the "right" team to meet the prospective customer's needs and, at the
same time, pull together the unique group of individuals who will resonate with the prospect at a personal
level.

As technology has progressed at an ever-increasing rate, the things that are actually beginning to bring
customers closer to an organization are not technical at all. It's an interesting bit of irony. And it's inevitable.
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