Social Networking is all the rage now. You have your Facebook, Twitter, Digg, You Tube and several others that are appearing it seems weekly. Every time you turn around it seems there is a new one. I used to think social networking was something that was for teens. An example is My Space. I would think “Oh, that’s just for kids that like to talk to their friends and just goof off. but, I was so wrong!

I started to notice that the people that are successful Internet Marketers were on Facebook, My Space and Twitter and I thought why not try it. I have to say, that it has made a huge difference in my Internet Marketing business! I now understand a little more about networking with like minded people. Sure, I have had to weed out a few people that wanted to be my friend on some of these sites, but for the most part these have been legitimate business people. People who are like minded and are serious about their businesses.

I have also met people who can help me and people that I can help which is really gratifing! The people I have met are web designers, SEO Specialists, Business Consultants, Branding Specialists and so many other business professionals, and you know what I have made a few real friends. Kind of ironic isn’t it? I was the one that said it was for teens to talk to their friends.

So, you ask is Social Networking worth it for your business? You bet it is!

www.Rankmybar.com was designed to help users who are in need of some new and exciting bar experiences, or for the common business person who is not familiar with an area and would like to find a bar in the area. www.rankmybar.com connects users from all around the world to share some of their favorite experiences at these bars or clubs for others to view and get a sense of what the bar environment is all about.

Of course you can go to any site and find a bar, and even a rating on that bar. But nobody really knows what the dress code is, or how great of service the bar is, or even your chance of getting in. What www.rankmybar.com has developed is an easy ranking system that all types of users can view the ranking categories of the bar they are searching for before they actually go to the bar. On the bar page users can post their favorite pictures, write a review, and rank the bar. This insight will give users a better idea of what they are getting into before they go, so they can be fully prepared for their new experience. After visiting the bar, the user now has the power to go back to the bar page and rank it based on their experiences, and now add the bar to their bar list.

The social networking side of rankmybar.com encompasses a friendly social environment where users can add current friends, meet new friends, or reconnect to recently met bar goers. If you fail to get that persons number, just hope they are on rankmybar.com, go to the bar where you met, and write a comment and sooner rather than later you will be able to reconnect with that special someone.

http://www.Rankmybar.com offers two bar pages for users to view. If you are browsing for a bar and you do not see it on the list, simply go to your bars tab in Myaccount, and click add bar. Now you have the access to upload a new bar and have others rank it and share their experiences with you. The bar owner has the ability to sign up for a membership and take over their regular page and make it a premium page where they can add valuable information about their bar that is not visible on a regular bar add. The most important feature here is the discount coupon information. Bar owners can post any discount they would like to promote their bar with, whether it is a free cover, free drink, free game, or buy on get one free, the bar owner can post these valuable coupons at any time(so constantly check the bar page for discounts!).

Social networking is the up and coming way to grow your business. It’s a way to meet knew people, communicate with people you already know, learn from others, and share your business. There are rules that go with networking that will make or break your success.

There are three websites that are very popular with the business crowd right now. We will talk about these sites and how to network to your success.

* Twitter

Twitter is a live site where you can communicate with others. Its like instant messaging in that the messages come through right away. Its different in that you receive messages that are not directed to you, but sent by people that are listed as your followers.

One way to be successful with Twitter is to help others when they ask for advice. If one of your followers asks a question, answer it if you can. If they ask for comments on a blog post or change to a website, make a comment. If you know of a person that needs something that one of your followers offers, send them to that person. Make sure you tell the follower what you are doing so they know. That will build trust with them and they will do the same to you.

One way to have poor success with Twitter is to talk about your business all the time. Advertise your business all the time, talk about how you can help others with your business, don’t talk to others, don’t help others, etc. You lose followers like hot cakes when you do this. People don’t want to hear about your business all the time.

* Facebook

Facebook gives you the ability to communicate with others through groups and guest books. You can find friends, coworkers, clients, customers, and others on Facebook. There are groups you can join or you can create your own. With these groups you can network and learn from the people that are a part of these groups.

Just like Twitter, you don’t want to over do it with your business talk. The best thing to do is talk to people, get to know them, share exciting things that are happening, and so on. It’s ok to talk about your business, just don’t do it the entire time while you are online.

* LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the way networking was supposed to be. When you set up a LinkedIn account, you add your experience, past positions held, education, recommendations, and websites. It’s a way of building trust so people will be able to feel comfortable working with you.

LinkedIn also has groups that you can join. These groups are a way to network with others that are in the same type of business as you or groups that are full of your target market. You can share valuable information with the participants of the group and you can also learn from these people.

Networking is vital for business owners. If it’s done the correct way, you will be successful in business. When it’s done incorrectly, people won’t want to do business with you. Heres to your networking success! 

There is a lot of talk around these days about social networking.  Sites are popping up all over:  MySpace is the granddaddy, but there is also FaceBook, Twitter, Squidoo, YouTube and many others.  These sites were designed around the idea that people could meet and interact on the Internet.  But savvy marketers have also figured out that they are an amazing source of never-ending leads for their businesses.

How can that be?  Isn’t MySpace for my teenage daughter?  And YouTube is full of crazy funny animal videos, right?  How does that factor into my business?

All of these sites can factor in to your business very importantly.  Think of the “old-school” networking you know about.  You join Kiwanis, Rotary Club, Soroptimist and you pass around your business cards and make friends.  The clubs are designed to do good works in the community but they are used very effectively to promote business among their members.

Social networking sites are similar.  You sign on, set up a page and begin to invite friends over for a chat.  Then you expand and invite other people you haven’t met yet — new friends.  You find things you have in common and build relationships.  You get to know each other.  As you build relationships, you will attract people who are like you.  They have similar interests or they can relate to your “story.”

Once your new friends come to know, like and trust you, they will be open to hearing about what you are doing in your life.  They learn a little about your business and, because they’ve come to respect you, they want to learn more and — bingo — they click on your link and opt-in.

Social networking, when done right, is highly respectful and is not a hard sell.  You attract people, draw them in based on who you honestly are.  And because like attracts like, the people who seek you out will be folks you will enjoy working with.  It is an ingenious process and yet it is highly individual as well.

So, tell your teenage daughter to move on over.  It’s your turn to get a MySpace account and start looking for friends.

Social networking is one of the many ways through Web 2.0 to make your business go viral. It includes sites like Facebook and MySpace, as well as tons of niche sites devoted to specific topics. What all of these sites have in common is that they are in some way interactive.

At the same time, social networking does overlap with certain elements of Web 2.0. Sites like YouTube, a video sharing site, allows you to build a profile, post comments on videos, upload your own videos, and even allow others to subscribe to your channel.

When planning to make your business go viral using social networking, you first need a plan. Choose which social networking sites you want to market on.

I recommend not signing up for more than three to five. If you want to get the best results, you will need to focus your efforts on only a few sites. This will help you get the best results.

One thing to remember is not to limit yourself to sites like Facebook and MySpace. YouTube is an excellent site to join, especially if you like video. There are others like Hi5 and Friendster that are similar to Facebook and MySpace. Because they attract different demographic groups, you have an opportunity to extend your reach online for free.

Once you have chosen the sites you want to market on, sign up for your account. Most of these sites are free. Complete your profile. Add as much information about yourself and your business as you can. Privacy is an important issue, and you want to protect your privacy.

If you intend to make money on the internet though, you will have to sacrifice some of your privacy for the sake of credibility. This doesn’t mean to tell everyone everything about yourself. Just provide enough information to show that you are a real person.

The next step is to get out and “make friends.” When making friends on any of these sites, the most important thing you want to remember is to choose people who share common interests, as well as business interests. You don’t want to waste your time connecting with those who aren’t interested in the products or services you sell.

The third step to marketing on these sites is to get out there and participate. Just putting up a profile simply isn’t enough. You need to get involved. Look at ways to go viral on the site. Depending on the type of sites you have chosen, all it may take is a video, the right free report, or an application.

It’s very easy for you to go viral on these sites simply because there are so many ways to do it. How you choose to do it is up to you.

Does that sound like a business launch model or in any case a way how to start business? Does it sound more like a teenagers after school hobby.

If this is unusual but still it is one of to-days best ways to reach big amount of targeted target group and to launch the business with the means of viral marketing and with very low costs. If done right, the efficiency is quaranteed, because the social networking sites are very popular.

The idea is to hunt for discussion groups that focus on the business topic you have, starting chats and covertly creating hype for your clients.

Many companies are paying good money to college students for doing this, which is the sign that this kind of word of mouth marketing works. It has become a serious medium and thanks to the popularity and newness, it offers a great way how to start business straight in the right way.

The Internet metrics company com.Score reported that in June 2007 Facebook had over 52 million visitors and the rival MySpace over 114 million. The market consists over 300 social networking sites. So no doupt, the audience is there and it leaves you a challence how to start business and to draw their attention.

Those companies,which have hired an army of students to chat on behalf of themselves will meet serious backlash, if the other users will find out this.Other companies try to market their products by recruiting people for using blogs, chat rooms and social sites, who then mention the product in the copy as if it would be their own, honest opinion. These campaigns do not raise the image of these mediums and can lead to the situation, where the site become inflated.

Transparency has its problems, since most people on social networks will ignore or complain about businesses that attempt to join in. There is also concern that, as commercially minded users flood the sites, it will create an air of suspicion. It does start to get people more skeptical about things because then they have to ask, are you getting paid for this?

One dangerous feature is linked with the social networking sites. Their users are young people, who are constantly looking for the next big thing, which will shorten the lifespan of the popular sites and the whole industry.

So the long term success of these sites depends on their ability to keep the interests of their users. This requires a lot of developement because this industry shouts fresness. One of the future success factor is most obviously the technological improvements, which lift or kill some of these sites.So the question is, who will invent the next big thing? Well, it is already here and coming. It operates through mobile phones.

Facebook sees the future more as an information producer for the users rather than as a pure chat room.

So it has realized that chatting has very little value for the chatters and will invest more into real value producing things.

Social networking sites get a part of their revenue by selling advertising space, i.e. banner and text ads to their clients.

For a private entrepreneur these sites work best, when used in a personal way, like a personal blog. The posting style should be from me to you and honest. My opinion is that an enthusiastic and active presentations work best and the straight advertising should be avoided.

Social networking sites can be very beneficial to your business. However, like with anything, it can also be a waste of time if you don’t put the proper care and attention into it. Surprisingly, it takes less effort than you might imagine. Here are some simple tools to use when surfing the social networking wave.

- Be aggressive in your approach. Once you have signed up, go out and add as many friends as you can. The more friends you have, the more of an audience you can speak to.

- Add the right people. While adding anyone can’t hurt your business chances, you also want to be sure to add a majority of individuals geared toward your target audience. You don’t have to steer blind looking for them. You can go into any forum and find all the specific business professionals you could ask for.

- Join a forum. Here is a place for you to discuss relevant topics with like-minded people. You can post ads and connect with other professionals to grow your list of potential clients.

- Check your page regularly. Staying on top of new messages and alerts will keep you current on returning those messages. When others see that you are regular and quick to respond, they feel more likely to trust you.

- Update your site. Keeping your site fresh is always a plus. Whether you change the color, scheme, content, or ads, it will keep others continually checking to see what’s new with you and your business.

- Keep in contact with people. Let your “friends” know what you are up to and what you are currently offering. Remind them at least once a week what a great offer you have. This can be in a bulletin or personal message. Staying fresh in their mind means that when they are ready to do business, they will think of you first.

Utilizing social networking sites to expand your business can prove to be very beneficial, as long as you play by their rules. Follow these tips and the rest with come to fruition. Happy hunting!