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Social networking sites are cool all over again as businesses embrace them for marketing and keeping in touch with customers and peers.

By Herman Mehling

A few years ago, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter were the coolest way for teenagers and young adults to connect with each other. Now, these sites are becoming cool all over again as businesses use them to connect with customers, employees, peers, and business organizations.

So just how did the once-alternative world of teenage networking morph into a platform for bona fide business marketing? The simple answer: Millions of people visit social networking sites every day--millions who could be in the market for, well, just about anything.

Member communities (which include social networks and blogs) are visited by more than two-thirds of the global online population, according to Global Faces and Networked Places, a recent report from the Nielsen Company. The report also noted that this community sector is growing twice as fast as any of the other four largest sectors (search, portals, PC software, and email). Nielsen also found that Facebook, the world's most popular social network, is visited monthly by three in every 10 people online.

"There are more than 300 million Facebook users and 50 million LinkedIn users, so we see tremendous opportunities to be on those sites," says Jim Locke, president of VAR AxonTech LLC in Whittier, Calif. "Some of my customers have Facebook accounts, so it is easy for me to invite them to my company blog and to stay connected with them."

He also relies on social networking to stay in touch with peers--other VARs that sell to SMBs. Locke is a founding member of the SMB Technology Network, a community of 650 IT consultants and resellers who provide technology products and services.

While Locke has not found any major new business through social networking, other VARs have. "We have gotten some significant deals from customers coming in through our employees' Facebook pages," says Richard Vaughn, vice president of I-Tech Support Inc., an Orlando, Fla.-based VAR that encourages employees to engage in social networking.

Recently, Vaughn received a timely tweet that enabled him to close a deal minutes before entering a meeting to pitch a new client. "If I hadn't been on Twitter, I would never have gotten that information," says Vaughn, who reckons his company has notched up a 500 percent ROI on its outlay in social networking.

In addition to helping I-Tech win new business, social networking enables the VAR to do more personalized marketing. "If you have a Facebook or Twitter account and your clients have one, it is easier to push people into a blog or a video," says Vaughn. "We get a better response rate from social marketing sites than traditional email marketing."

However, there is more to social networking than simply marketing. According to Rebecca Kelley, director of social marketing at 10e20, a New York-based Internet marketing company specializing in social media marketing and search engine optimization, "The real value in social networking is in making connections, building your brand, and providing good customer service."

If you have any questions about the information above or wish to obtain a no obligation quote on how to integrate Twitter or Facebook into your business market plans, please contact Benson & Associates helpdesk at 1-877-247-1664.

Originally Available at: http://www.systembuilderpro.com/article/16027/Twitter-and-Facebook-for-Business/