!: Social Networking Sites 101 - Part 2 "Unexplored Avenue for Businesses"

Especially if you are in business, it is important that you have your own Company/Business "Fan page" in at the very least, Facebook. Facebook even suggests that business owners spend a minimum of 10 minutes a day just posting new content, updates, answering questions, and placing promos and new discounts for all of their existing fans. For Twitter, the principle is also the same, business owners need to set aside time either in the morning or before end of business day to engage followers. It is important to send updates regularly, if you have any news that is noteworthy, and reply if there are any inquiries sent.

But how exactly do you start doing this? It is so easy to put up your own social networking page but it may be a bit of a challenge to maintain it, especially if you have multiple accounts. Setting a social networking account is not hard; most of the social sites give users simple steps that literally make it possible for anybody set up an account. The challenge mainly lies in organizing, updating and improving these social sites to complement your business' goals and objectives. A business owner or user must make sure that: 1 | you have the capability of building a network and audience that would subscribe to your updates -there is no use posting anything if nobody is there to read and comment on these posts 2 |have actual content to use and post on your page - even if you have an audience, without any updates, it is useless to sustain your user's interest 3 | and lastly you must set aside that consistent time of day to spend on posting those updates and answering queries. These three ingredients go hand in hand and are easier said than done because very few people or businesses today have the resources or time to do all of them.

So why even consider having online social networking presence at all? Now more than ever, we have got to understand that Social Networking Sites are communities in itself filled with potential customers. They will give us access to more information, untapped clients, and with it more sales and profit. So not having any presence in any of these popular social sites would really be detrimental to any that are looking to increase their sales base and business worth.

Social media gives users and business owners, an avenue to get your message out there and invoke a call to action for any and all that may be interested in conversing with you or better yet reach people that would want to do business with you. Not only do you get potential traffic directed to your existing website (if you have a personal or a company website) but you also get a chance to engage your users and potential customers online and in real time. This reality is important in bringing more work or sales to your company.

It is important to regularly talk and give updates using these social sites within a specific schedule and in rhythm so that your online users and untapped client base would not lose their interest in you or your business. Determining the actual times when engagement and activity is highest for your social sites should be a priority. After which, you can use these times and concentrate on those schedules in particular, as prime choices for going online and posting those updates. Once you already have your audience engaged and conversing, it is just a matter of time till you see improvements in traffic to your website and increase in sales or business opportunities for your company.

Do not ignore or take for granted this new platform given to us in this day and age. It is important to participate and create your own social networking sites. It is not enough that you have a website; you need to have some other venue that will help augment your online presence. Social sites are already a necessity nowadays so don't be left behind. If you don't take the time to create and maintain your own Facebook or Twitter then you may be missing out on a lot of things. Now is the time to act. Survey the list of Social Networking Sites above, pick one or 2 and create your account.

Next time, lets deal with how you - the user/business owner - can start maintaining these social sites. How do you build an audience, continuously provide postings and content, and maybe the most tricky part of things, how and when do you set aside time to maintain these social sites? If done correctly you would be in for the ride of your online life.

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