As social networks become ubiquitous, small and midsize businesses need to understand how they can exploit them to create business value. bMighty spoke with Plaxo's John McCrea to learn why smaller businesses need to get into social media now, how to do it, and what's about to change.
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Social networking is a great way to keep in touch with friends, but as usage increases and the concept enters the mainstream businesspeople are asking: Is there business value here? To find out we spoke with John McCrea, VP of marketing for social network developer Plaxo. McCrea discussed the different phases of social networking, how the sites have evolved, how they can function in a business setting, and how they can contribute to a smaller business' bottom line in some subtle and some not so subtle ways. Most important, McCrea shared his thoughts about where social networking is headed and how businesses should position themselves to be ready for the Web of the future.
bMighty: Is there business value in social networking for small and midsize businesses?
John McCrea: There are a few phases to social networking. The first phase was Friendster, MySpace, and clones and it was pretty frivolous. Everyone connected as a friend. Strangers came together online. The second phase was about who you knew, maintaining and enriching your relationships. It was a way not to lose touch with people as you changed jobs or moved. The latest phase is an online representation of real world activity. Small and midsize businesses were always people who spent money on their Rolodexes and then on database software. They survive and thrive based on the power of personal networks.
bMighty: How are small and midsize businesses using social networks?
McCrea: I'll point to Plaxo as a network address book and Pulse as an online service as examples. Plaxo was a precursor to an Internet-based service and it's comprised of members keeping up their contact information on their "implied profile page." Even then, many users would share birthdates and would get e-mails about who changed jobs, whose birthday it is, etc. It allowed people to connect and send flowers on a birthday or congratulate someone on a new job. It made networking stuff easier to do and made a smaller businessperson appear well organized and thoughtful. Pulse brings the address book to life. Users can connect up with different services on the Web. They can share postings on Flickr or a blog, where getting an audience can be hard.
On Yelp, people write reviews. One of the things I found as a heavy user of social media is it's about what I'm promoting and what I'm sharing and what I'm consuming. I can see what people are saying about this brand. I look at Yelp and Twitter and see what they're saying about a business.
Web 2.0 lets people participate in a conversation. If you see they are saying bad things about your business, you can jump in and correct that. If it's true, you can fix those things and let the readers know.
bMighty: Is there a value in internal social networking for small and midsize businesses?
McCrea: At Plaxo we have 50 employees and we have a Plaxo employee group in Pulse. A guy who joined us a few months ago from Cisco already knows these people. People who like to work in small and midsize companies enjoy the camaraderie. It also unburdens the e-mail system. In a small and midsize business, there's a lot of chatter in e-mail -- you don't want people sending around attachments all the time. If I go to Hawaii for vacation, I can share the pictures.
If you're trying to win a significant piece of business from someone, then by virtue of them on Pulse [or a social network] you can know if they were in Napa for a wine tour. You can see if they like Chardonnay. It makes it easier to have a fun conversation. It makes you a more effective businessperson.
Because the nature of sharing in a social network is not driven by consumers, if you're not interested, you just skip it. With e-mail you really can't do that. We have abandoned social networking phase one where everyone is your friend and now you can choose if someone is your friend or work or family. People get categorized.
A user could create a poll and then share it with business connections, saying, for instance, our business is considering adding the following new features or services. Which one would you like to see us add? You can get a rich conversation going.
bMighty: So, is there value in smaller businesses joining social networks -- like Facebook?
McCrea: We're so early in the world of social media that I would say small and midsize businesses would do well to have representation on Facebook, Linked In, and Pulse.
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It's not a zero-sum game. Use all the tools. The third phase is just about to dawn and it is fundamentally about social networking and the Web becoming social, that's the world of the future.
Mainstream users will use dozens of services, sites will be socially enabled, and your real identity and circle of relationships will become portable and useful all over the Web. If you are the kind of person who wants to do that now, it's hard. You have to create a new profile at each site. A bunch of us are solving that so your friends' list becomes portable. In that world, sites that aggregate from across the Web become not only useful but vital.
Naomi Grossman is assistant editor of bMighty.com.
