Integration of Business Networks and Social
Networks

Ever since its inception, the Internet became powerful tool for businesses for many reasons, but the more recent integration of business networks and social networks has completely transformed the landscape of the Internet.

Erik Qualman, Author of Socialnomics

In this exclusive LoveToKnow Social Networking interview, Erik Qualman, the Vice President of EF Education based out of Lucerne, Switzerland, describes some of the many ways that individuals, small businesses and large businesses can make use of the Internet's many social networks to grow and expand their business.

LTK: Your bio notes that in addition to publishing your book Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, you've published articles in Forbes and Business Week and you've attended conferences and given talks on the topic of social networking economics. Could you describe a little bit about how you got to this point?

EQ: This goes back to 1994, I was working for an ad agency at Pontiac and Cadillac, and we had to do conference reports with the names of different people in the agency as well as the clients who were at the meeting. So at one point I said, why not just use email for this since it's faster? This was at a time when hardly anyone was really using email, so at that point the CEO of the ad agency goes, "What is going on here? Who is this character, is he some sort of technology superhero or something?" *laugh*

LTK: *laugh*

EQ: So then the CEO was asking me what I thought I was doing, and so I had to explain to him that email was a better delivery mechanism because it saves on paper, it saves time and third and most importantly it offers better tracking. From there, as the web exploded, they were starting to work on the company website, and so the CEO thought of bringing in "superhero guy" as I seemed to know what I was doing. Since then, my experience has always been on the e-business, e-commerce side.

Within the last several years, I realized that social media was huge - that it's going to be a game changer. So I thought I really needed to change my focus from brand equity to social media because it was so huge.

LTK: So since 1994, you've not only seen the evolution of social networking but also the evolution of the Internet itself?

EQ: Yes exactly, and it's been a great position for me to be in because I've worked for these companies, so I can see from an insider's perspective what these companies are struggling with. And you see these shifts happen every three or four years. First it was email, and then you've got the web, and then you had the portal wars and then the browser wars and then the search wars - and now you're engaged in social media.

LTK: Does taking advantage of social networks for marketing and promotion require significant investment in time or resources?

EQ: This is actually something I talk about in the book - the first thing a company should do is identify which sector is going to give them the best chance for success. So to use a cliche, it's best to walk before you run. The reason all of the companies are jumping in fairly quickly is because the hard cost and investment is fairly light. It doesn't take much to gauge what people are talking about or "Tweeting" about your brand. That being said, there are also some hidden internal costs that you have to be careful about which is the labor it can take to manage some of these projects, but this stuff is relatively super light when you think about the money that's spent on brand and branding.

Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business

LTK: Would you generally describe Facebook and Twitter as the most viable social media marketing tools for businesses? If not - are there other networks you prefer?

EQ: I hate to give this answer, but it's true - it depends on what your business is. This is a question I get all the time, "Which one should I focus on?" Well, it kind of depends on your business. If you're a band, you'd want to focus on MySpace. If you're a small business, for example a small dance studio, you'd be better off creating a couple of 5-minute videos - one being how to tango dance and one being how to salsa dance - and posting those videos on YouTube. If you're a local politician it might be better to use a tool like Delicious to figure out what people in the local area are bookmarking. Are they bookmarking health care, are they bookmarking taxes? What are they Tweeting about? If you are a politician and you can figure out what seems to be their interests, that's what you should be addressing and talking to. So it varies across the map, whether you're a politician, small business or big business, which tools you should focus on.

LTK: Do you think a business or individual might be better off hiring a social networking professional to figure out what tools are best for their particular niche?

EQ: I think that nine times out of ten you're going to have a good guess where your customers are going. Although, it doesn't hurt to have someone come in to either confirm what you're thinking or to give you some insight on something. For example there are some special social networks out there, like there's a site that's called Ravelry.com. That's a social network that's focused on the knitting environment. So, if you're a producer of yarn or small knitting shop, you might not be aware of that. So, if you bring in someone, they can help you become aware of resources like that. They can also help you set up what are called "listening posts" or "listening stations," meaning what's being said about you out on the web. So a person that works with small business can say, "Okay, this is how you sign up for Google Alerts, Yahoo Alerts or how you search for Twitter.com to search your brand and to see what's being said about you."

LTK: Do you see blogging as a viable way to market?

EQ: Yes, by all means. Blogging's huge, but you have to make sure you have something that's relevant today and that people are really interested in what you have to say. By all means, if you're a company you probably have that information that nobody else has, but just make sure you stay on point and really own whatever space or niche that you do own. Don't try to be everything to everybody.

LTK: How can either large businesses or even individuals use these social networks to do business without appearing like "sales" people and turning off their friends or even family from the ultimate message?

EQ: I think that a lot of people actually do the opposite. They put up a Twitter page and their Facebook page and they immediately start shouting at users about everything that's great about them. You just don't introduce yourself that way. So I always like to say that the keys are; first listen, then interact and then you sell. A lot that goes into the selling is that it can be a softer message or it can be a hard message. People don't mind being sold to as long as it's germane to the conversation.

LTK: Businesses that do set up a Twitter account or Facebook page often find that their network doesn't grow, even though many of the employees or associates of the business join the network. Do you have any tips that you consider the most important for those businesses that want to optimize those existing social media efforts?

EQ: Yes, it's tough. One key thing is, sometimes you don't want to have everyone internally hop on the network, because on the fanpage you can see where those people are coming from and if you've got people from the company you've kind of shot yourself in the foot. Once you have about 100 or 200 followers, then you can have 10 to 15 employees on it because you'd expect to have some employees from the company there. The second piece of advice is that sometimes you have to spend a little bit of cash to kind of feed the growth. There's been several case studies where the company made a couple of pay-per-click ads and fanpage ads and built up a little bit of scale from the three hundred people or so who saw their ad and became fans, and then everyone else could see that and also became fans and it spread from there.

LTK: If any readers would like to learn more about your book or what you're up to, where should they go?

EQ: The best place to go is Socialnomics.com, or you can follow @Equalman on Twitter. Socialnomics is probably the best place as there are active blog posts every week and there's the video that got several hundred thousand views on YouTube.

The book Socialnomics is available at any major bookstore in the country and there's also a Kindle version on Amazon as well.

LTK: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today.

EQ: Thanks a lot, I appreciate you reaching out to me. It's been a great chat.

LovetoKnow Social Networking would like to thank Erik for taking the time to talk about the integration of business networks and social networks, and readers interested in learning more should pick up a copy of Socialnomics from Amazon.

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