Are Social Networking Sites Good For Your Business?

I recently read an article that basically claimed the “here and now” in business marketing is social networking. I don’t completely agree with professional marketers pushing their clients into the online social networking world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of social networks – you’ll find my page on MySpace – but just because they’re the online hot spots right now, does it mean that they’re right for marketing your business or service?

In my opinion, there are a few big problems with businesses using social networking as a part of their marketing strategy:

1) Is it where you’ll find your prospective clients, and if so, is it where they’re looking for you? If your answer to these questions is yes, then feel free to quit reading this post, but if your answer is probably not, then why would you spin your marketing wheels talking with people who will not buy from you? For the sake of argument, I understand that the more online “friends” you have, the better your chances are for referrals, and thus these relationships could lead to more business. However, I have yet to have someone recommend a client to me they met on Facebook. I believe in networking, but networking with purpose. Your prospective clients probably are online somewhere, so find out where and join that conversation.

2) What else might prospective clients find out about your business…or employees? Imagine the horror if a prospect is looking at your business on one of the more popular social networking sites and ends up finding an employee’s page. There they might see wild party photos, blogs about how working with their boss sucks and other information that you would not otherwise present in a prospective client meeting. The big caution here is that when things are posted online, everyone can see it, and that includes prospective clients. We spend so much time and money trying to control our marketing messages, so why utilize a medium where controlling the message is not in our power?

3) “Doing” social networking the right way takes valuable time away from solid, proven marketing tactics. I’m not trying to sound old school here, I just think there are more time-effective mediums to network and market business. For one thing, new social networking sites pop up all the time, so even if you were to keep up with the new ones, you could spend all your time creating profiles, making friends and working the network. And be honest, how many times have you been on a social networking site to look for one specific thing and then you see an interesting video, then a funny blog post, then an intriguing profile…and all the sudden you look up and two hours have passed? It’s way too easy to get “lost” browsing around these sites and lose track of valuable marketing time.

I do have to say if you’re just starting your business or just starting out in a specific field, social networking can give you a good leg up, but I would focus on social networking sites that are more focused on the networking part rather than the social. The two sites I’m most familiar with that are great for business networking are LinkedIn, where people probably are looking for your business and Biznik, perfect if you are a solopreneur.

Know of other sites great for business networking? Let me know!