News and Features
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On LinkedIn (left), users post professional profiles and seek connections. On Facebook (right), companies can create fan pages and seek followers.
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The business case for social media, part 1:
how companies use LinkedIn and Facebook
Why people in marketing, sales and recruiting roles are befriending the top social networking sites
By Pam George
Skip Shuda decided to conduct an informal survey. On three social media sites — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn — he posed a question: What is your topmost reason for using social media? The list of possibilities included searching, recruiting, selling and building credentials.
The goal was to see why users favored certain sites. LinkedIn respondents, for instance, cited networking and job leads, while Facebookers sought to deepen family, friend and business relationships. “They each have a unique imprint,”said Shuda, CEO of Team and a Dream, a Wayne firm whose specialties include social media, Internet marketing and marketing strategies.
Twitter responses flew in within the first 30 minutes and then stalled, reflecting the immediacy of that medium. LinkedIn and Facebook responses were steady, even after 24 hours. “It was interesting that most of the answers came from Facebook,” Shuda says. “But the highest quality answers came from LinkedIn; people invested more time and responded thoughtfully.”
Understanding that the sites serve different purposes can help marketers create a social media strategy. But social media has developed at such a fast pace in such a short time that it’s challenging to keep up — let alone integrate it into a marketing plan. To disregard it, however, could put you behind the competition.
Many businesses decide to start their social media experiment with one of the networking sites: LinkedIn or Facebook. Often this is because employees are already familiar with online networking from having used it for personal reasons.
LinkedIn for professional connections
LinkedIn is “an absolute dream — without question,” says Matt McCloskey, Senior Vice President of Sales for Blue Bell-based Turnberry Solutions, who has installed the social networking platform on his iPhone.
Robert Boyer, Chief Marketing Officer of Ixilix in Springfield, a division of Fastech Integrated Solutions, has been using LinkedIn for about six years. “When you’re interacting with people on the sales side who are in their 20s and 30s, you have to go where the people are,” he explains.
LinkedIn provides users with ways to search and find existing clients, colleagues, coworkers and classmates. Once linked, users can view their connections’ connections. Clearly, it’s a boon for job-seekers and salespeople.
McCloskey likes that recruiters can find potential candidates by typing a job title in the search function, which will bring up the profile of everyone with that title. (Certain search capabilities require upgraded membership fees.) His two most recent hires were found using LinkedIn.
To work the sales angle, he says it’s important to frequently post status updates, as they are sent to all of your connections. Joining interest groups and commenting on discussion topics are other good ways to get exposure on LinkedIn.
Plaxo and Orkut are competitors of LinkedIn and Facebook that also facilitate meeting new people through your existing contacts. But most users want just one such provider. “I thought, ‘What am I doing? This is redundant,’” Shuda says. “I let my Plaxo go dormant.”
Facebook for friends, family — and fans
Boyer is more likely to use LinkedIn than Facebook. “I don’t have time for that personal stuff,” he explains. Yet increasingly, Facebook does more than let you know what your friends are up to. It also lets you have conversations with customers, impart product information and learn a thing or two.
Over the past few years, Facebook has become the go-to social networking tool, outdistancing its rival, MySpace. Credit the demographics. With a median age of 26, MySpace remains the domain of younger users. Facebook’s median age rose from 26 in 2008 to 33 in 2009, according to a Pew Internet & American Life survey.
When it comes to business, MySpace is primarily a venue musicians and the venues that showcase them. “If you’re doing something in music, that is where you need to be,” Shuda says.
Other types of businesses are gravitating toward Facebook. “Many people have individual Facebook pages, so they start with what they know,” says Lee Mikles, CEO and Co-Founder of The Archer Group, an interactive marketing company in Wilmington.
In June, the Valley Forge Convention & Visitors Bureau started a Facebook page: Visit Valley Forge. “I would say we’ve just touched the surface,” says Paul Decker, President of the bureau. “We use it to promote our product — the entire destination of Montgomery County.”
Promoting a product or service is one goal. But social networking sites can also help companies gather information. When a restaurateur wanted to know if men would go to a restaurant named Betty’s, his marketing rep posed the question to her friends on Facebook. More than 15 respondents weighed in, giving their opinion not only on the name but also on the proposed menu.
Bailey Fucanan, Director of Communications for the Valley Forge Convention & Visitors Bureau, noted that while visitors to the Facebook page were asking about historic sites they were also asking about specific activities like zip-lining. “We want to get people talking and find out what they like,” she says. “People have different interests.”
Fan Page or Group Page?
Companies can connect with clients and prospects on Facebook through a Fan Page or a Group Page.
Visit Valley Forge is a Fan Page, a type of page created when Facebook executives realized people wanted to connect with brands and celebrities. Unlike a Friend Page, which requires the owner’s permission to view, a Fan Page is open. You simply click on the icon that invites you to become a fan.
A Group Page can be open to all of Facebook or restricted to a network, such as travel professionals. To join a restricted group, you need the administrator’s permission. The administrator is identified, so when he or she posts something, you know who it’s from.
The biggest advantages of a Fan Page: It is indexed by external search engines like Google, and when a user becomes a fan it is noted on their home page and on the news feed that their friends receive. A Fan Page can also host applications.
Content must be fan-focused
As with Twitter, the focus of Part Two in this series, Facebook is about interaction. The content, therefore, should stimulate interest by sharing useful or interesting information.
“You need to pay it forward,” says Mark Schmukler, Managing Partner of Sagefrog Marketing Group in Doylestown. “If you promote yourself too much, they’ll eat you right up.”
Sagefrog uses Facebook to impart industry news and company news. Adding links, videos and photographs increases the chance your message will go “viral,” meaning fans will pass it on to their friends.
Postings on the Visit Valley Forge Fan Page include information on the annual March-in of the Continental Army, a link to the 2010 Visitors Guide, and links to attractions and photographs, which often elicit responses, especially from expatriates.
“You need to add value,” Mikles says. “And the value is defined by the user, not by the business. That is a shift for marketers.”
Next: Part 2 will focus on Twitter and Part 3 on blogging.
