I encourage all of our clients to get profiles on the big social networking sites: LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook. Invariably when I mention Facebook the CEO or owner of the client company will look at me with more than a little skepticism. “Isn’t that the site my teenager is on?” is a typical next question.
While, yes your teenager might be on Facebook, more and more CEOs, thought leaders and technology gurus are posting profiles and joining groups on these networking sites. Facebook announced the details of its new advertising program in New York yesterday. Facebook now will give advertisers the ability to create their own profile pages on its system that will let users identify themselves as fans of a product. Each user’s news feed will let others view the products she endorses such as “Shelley is a fan of Apple Computer”.
So take notice small businesses. Can you afford not the have a profile on these sites? The word of mouth and validation marketing alone is worth the time and effort.