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The Entrepreneurial Agenda by Robb Mandelbaum
October 14, 2008
On Social Networks, Give and You Shall Receive
Posted by Howard Greenstein at 10:50 AM
Many businesses are using social networks to find customers--so many, in fact, that it's no longer enough to merely have a presence on these networks. To stand out, you need to connect in ways that not only further your ends, but benefit your potential customers as well.
A case in point is an interesting company called Train Signal, the number 12 fastest growing educational company in this year's Inc. 5000. Train Signal provides training for IT professionals to pass certification exams from companies like Microsoft and Cisco, plus information on the exams themselves. It also provide a great deal of free "how-to" articles and videos for IT pros at all skill levels.
I recently spoke with Iman Jalali, Train Signal's director of sales and marketing. "We actively strive to maintain and increase relationship with our customers," Jalali says. "We achieve this using many different avenues, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, our blog and forums, and the good old-fashioned phone." They must be doing something right in this economy, since they've broken sales projections for the year and exceeded last year's numbers with two months to go. Roughly 30% of sales are coming from international customers.
How are they using the networks? Their blog is an active space and they spend time and money keeping it up. "I really feel like a company blog should be treated as its own living, breathing entity, rather than a chore," Jalali says. "It should make you feel like you walked into the company's office and you now have a personal connection with that company." (By the way, this sounds a bit like what Mark LePage said in "Building Success By Blogging: An Architect's Story" in July.) Train Signal's blog features entries from many different trainers on different topics. It also has featured polls asking customers what kinds of courses and topics they're looking for. The customers drive the content, and that brings them back.
Train Signal's chief executive, product development director, instructors and bloggers are all on Twitter. CEO Scott Skinger (@trainsignal on Twitter) says that Twitter has helped him learn more about the personal interests of employees, letting him create better relationships with them. Not only do the employees learn about each other on this virtual water cooler; they're also interacting with current and potential customers. When they see someone talking about a competitor's training product, they offer their own as a free trial. They'll do promotions for discounts to followers who respond back to tweets quickly. "Twitter is an essential aspect of our outreach," says Jalali. "I currently regard it as the best way compared to LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networks."
Facebook is a recent addition to their arsenal. An end user fan of their training set up the group without the company's approval. But the fan agreed to make Jalali an administrator so he could keep tabs on the space. They're working to develop more promotions and communication for their Facebook audience.
On LinkedIn, Train Signal finds job candidates, looks at competitor's employee structure and experience, and watches the competition's hiring. They also actively answer questions on the LinkedIn's Questions and Answers forums, showing they know what they're talking about, and gaining friends and supporters by giving away good information.
The IT professionals that are Train Signal's market are especially likely to use many of these social tools. But more and more your customers will be on them as well. Let me know what you think of Train Signal's use of these tools and how you tend to use them yourself.
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Thanks for sharing the experience of Train Signal.
Clearly they are using all the tools available to them and keeping up with the social networking trends.
I saw a great quote from Alister Cameron (www.alistercameron.com) recently which said that the new generation DON’T CARE ABOUT AN AD.
THEY CARE WHAT THEIR FRIENDS THINK.
Makes all of us need to be connected more socially through the net or face the fact that our businesses just won't grow through the old traditional marketing methods
I wish I read more that entrepreneurs use social networking to forge new customers relationships. The problem is that LinkedIn is perceived as an open job site apart from anything else. But there are other sites such as WeCanDo.BIZ which work to broker valuable new B2B relationships. You really can find new customers with tools like Biz Needs matching members with urgent business needs with other members with solutions.
I hope to see the role of social networks for business expanding in the coming months to make them even more compelling to entrepreneurs.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
I like the idea of using social networks not only for networking but to increase the "transparency" of your company. With all the recent issues from companies that most of us trusted it's important to be as transparent and real as possible. Building trust with clients and customers is only going to be harder in the coming months and years and interaction with a real person via Twitter or Facebook might really help.
Social networks ARE the way to tap into and better serve clients in the future. Fortunately people like OneDegreeConnected.com are forging the new tools which help businesses leverage all of their social connections (Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, etc) into a viable, measurable and trackable business opportunity! The future is NOW! (Watch this one, just coming off an outstanding BETA performance and poised to explode.)
Social networks shouldn't be approached as a tool with measurable results and for tracakable oppurtunities. It is one element of change/evolution in business culture that is needed similar to Scott's comment about "transparency".
The difference between successful businesses and the not so fortunate ones will be the ones who not only grasp the advantages of social networking/media, but the ones who truly understand it and change the way they think and conduct business.
Businesses need communities, online and offline, to be the voice of their companies. The way we build these communities is to embrace them and "welcome" them into our companies. If you're trying to decide on future product releases, have your customers help you decide. If you're trying to market a new product, have the customer help spread the word.
Welcome people into your companies, because they're the ones who'll make you or break you.
Social networks shouldn't be approached as a tool with measurable results and for tracakable opportunities. It is one element of change/evolution in business culture that is needed similar to Scott's comment about "transparency".
The difference between successful businesses and the not so fortunate ones will be the ones who truly grasp not only the advantages of social networking/media, but the ones who truly understand it and change the way they think and conduct business.
Businesses need communities, online and offline, to be the voice of their companies. The way we build these communities is to embrace them and "welcome" them into our companies. If you're trying to decide on future product releases, have your customers help you decide. If you're trying to market a new product, have the customer help spread the word.
Welcome people into your companies, because they're the ones who'll make you or break you.
When used correctly and effectively, social networking not only brings in more business, it also facilitates communication and maintains relationships with your current clients, customers, and peers. Remember that creating and maintaining your social networking page is only the first step in relationship building. Proactive research and outreach is another important step in looking for new business opportunities and partners. Most importantly, be consistent. Dedicate time each day to checking, researching, and maintaining your accounts to feel a significant business boost. Gini Dietrich, CEO, Arment Dietrich, Inc.
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