Letting your Business take Advantage of Social Networking

It is now easier than ever to start-up a new business and thousands do so everyday. Ten clicks of the mouse and you can call yourself a company director and have some business cards made up to say so too! It is easy to have a great idea, many people do while on their fifth double vodka between friends. Comments being passed around like "of course I came up with the idea of Facebook before that Mark Zukerberg, I just wish I had followed it through!"

It is true that small good ideas do grow in to the modern online behemoths that we see today like Facebook and Google to name but a few, but there are many other much smaller companies below the radar that are becoming fantastically successful even in these times of recession. All it takes is good planning, organisation and a little luck along the way at the risk of sounding overly simplistic!

Not many business have deep pockets when starting up and have to make us of every available tool especially if they are free or involve a little co-promotion. More and more I see that so many new company websites missing out on the free promotional tools such as social networking links and feeds.

It is true that Facebook first came on to the net for people to check up on former classmates, bullies, crushes and ex girlfriends. Now with membership passing the 500 million mark Facebook is fast becoming a great way to promote your business and whats more it can be for free! Simply sign up or log in to Facebook and register your company name so you can have a webpage to advertise your company, its products and features. When is free advertising not a good thing I ask you?

At the risk of sounding like a Facebook employee there are many other social networking sites that offer similar opportunities, why not churp, I mean tweet like a bird from the roof tops about your company on twitter. It may take time and effort but what a great way to inform potential customers of new products and important news. Further to this you can add the sites Digg, StumbleUpon, Google Buzz, Del.icio.us, My Space, Bebo and there are more. Yes they all take time to complete but if the only work that you have to do is flex your finger muscles and check your spelling surely it is worth it instead of reaching for the credit card and giving yourself more bills!

Social networking is but one tool that a new business can use to promote its resources and products, there are many other free pieces of software and online tools that can help a company get ahead, or at the very least get off the ground. I am sure there are many other sites out there if people should wish to comment and enlighten me and other readers I greatly welcome your comments.