Just wanted to have your feedback on the social network tool you were using and how pleased you were with it.
Many of us use Twitter and Facebook, but what about "slightly less used" professional networks such as LinkedIn. I'm debating whether I should invest some time into it (or risk wasting time....).
So, what do you use, how much time do you spend on it and if you are using LinkedIn, have you manage to generate for business or useful new contacts form it?
Hi Valerie, I use Twitter, Facebook & Linkedln _ they all work in different ways for me.
I have actually picked up work (design orders) through facebook.
I spend at least 2 hours each day on the social networking sites.
As far as Linkedln is concerned I use it through Twitter and it’s still very new to me.
Kylee
I use Facebook, Linked in & Twitter although my Facebook automatically updates Twitter to stop me having to duplicate myself. My linked in contacts are all from my IT Contracting days wheras Facebook & Twitter is related to my little websites in France. I mostly update SFN though at the moment and spend less time on the others.
On top of the FB and twitter networks, from a personal experience I would recommend you spend some time building a network on Linkedin. Linkedin is opening up to a lot of business areas networks (IT, Finance, Banking, Arts and so on), you will get much, much more exposure form a business point of view than Facebook (FB is still viewed as a “friend network”). I can only recommend you take part in like minded groups on Linkedin (or create one if you would like) .
Bare in mind that the more networks you build the more exposure you will get. The word of mouth in business or corporate networks is powerfull.
Hello. I have a personal and business Twitter account. For Facebook, I have a business page but not a business account. For networks I do use Linked In and have juste started using Viadeo. I found a new network for 'giving away offer and the like - see Foursquare.com
I am using Facebook and Twitter, for our new website, bit too early to give much feedback at the moment. I have registered with Linkedln and am studying the site now like you to see if it is worthwhile, time will tell. Have also registered yesterday with Stumbleupon, there again too early to know feedback.
Hi. I live in France, but my clients are almost all in the US and for that I find LinkedIn the place to be for business. I use Facebook for personal and friends from business, and Twitter for business. I only have a very small following on Twitter (less than 50) but because I work in a niche market, graphic and web designers, I have already had business from it. The thing that makes LinkedIn work for me, other than the credibility already mentioned, is the groups. They are a very good place to get to know people and become known.
I have one account on FaceBook for personal stuff, and a group within that for what was Normandy Networking. (That NN name was taken by someone else, so I am having to reinvent it as Normandy in Business, which I’m in the process of doing… )
I have 2 Twitter accounts, one personal (JudyMansfield) and one for First Rate FX (JudyFRFX).
I also have a LinkedIn account which, like others, I use to either check out people, or to link with those who don’t use FaceBook.
I’ve an account here of course, which I haven’t used enough because of time constraints, but which I must get round to. I also have one with Xing (hardly used), and one with InterNations. I used InterNations a lot at the beginning, but there were a lot of expat ‘kids’ on there, and it is geared mainly to cities, so have let it lapse.
Maybe I should ask to have the Normandy in Business group on here (what do you think Catharine and James?)
Thanks for sharing your positive experience on LinkedIn. I suppose it is very much like Twitter, you have to join in and have a look around for a while, until you really gather its full potential.
Groups definitely seems to be the interesting side for me both on LinkedIn and Video.
Facebook and Twitter are fabulous tools and much more established, but whilst they are also much less formal they are also successful at being anonymous and hiding real identities. Some person “in France” is Tweeting at the moment declaring to “bring British business together in France” whilst declining to give any personal details, location or website. I find that really disagreable.
It is also very possible that you will have the same contacts on LinkedIn that you will have on Twitter, Facebook and SFN! But what information your contacts share on each of these different platforms may be very different.
I use LinkedIn all the time and more recently Viadeo. I also find the validations of these ‘corporate’ sites quite useful if entering into any relationship with a new business partner.
LinkedIn does take some getting used to, but after 6 months I don’t think you would find it a waste of time.
Hi Kathryn, this really make sense to me. I am not trying to build relationship with corporate businesses, so will probably stay away for a while.
What is interesting is that Viadeo, the French equivalent of LinkedIn (aimed for professionnals to keep in touch with their peers) seems to be peaking up for smaller businesses. Many French associations for small business owner, such as FEDAE are getting quite pushy via the groups and forum.
Sandra - how have you managed to have a profile account for a business? I was under the impression that Facebook was very against having a profile for a business and that if you are caught they close the page down?
Please let me know if I have this wrong as I would love to have a Profile for my busines (www.guide2brittany.com) but currently only have a business page linked to my personal profile.
I think it depends on the type of contacts you want and who your target audience is. I have some Linked In only contacts who don’t FB or twitter - these tend to be corporate types who have a professional face on when out of the home and family life is strictly behind closed doors. Most of these tend to be men over 35 who have missed the start of the social networking era and aren’t going to start now. Many of them hold senior positions - director / CEO of international organisations for whom daily twittering / fb-ing just isn’t an option really. If these are the type of people you want to attract then LI is an essential. Linked In is also very good for proving credentials - if someone says they have worked for x, y, z then they should have contacts from x,y,z in their LI account. A reluctance to link on LI does ring an alarm bell for me as it can mean (and has meant in several cases!) that the person is ‘exaggerating’ their experience/position/background etc. I wouldn’t look at LI as a waste of time although it is not a primary networking tool for me currently as my target audience is elsewhere…
Thanks for your feedback. I’m sharing both your views on LindedIn. I’ve started to get more group messages from niche communities that are of interest to me (business, auto-entrepreneurs, expats in France), but I feel that I am going to have to invest to much time for little return. From what I gather so far, the contacts I make on LinkedIn were existing contacts from FB or Twitter…
What about other business owners from our group?
PS to Wendy: I’m using Freshbooks for my accounts which is pretty simple. I pay about 14 euros per month, but it is definitely worth it.
I’m the same as Sandra, I’m happiest on Facebook and here of course, I Tweet the posts from my FB page automatically and although I’m on Linkedin and have connected with a couple of people, I interact with them here or on FB…Ages ago, I asked for advice on Bookkeeping and I’ve been meaning to say thank-you for advising me to go back to pen and paper…fortunately I learned double entry on a free course in the UK, years ago, it’s certainly much easier than the Ciel free Autoentrepreneur software.
Dear Valerie, I have one twitter account which I tend to use for business only, 3 facebook profile accounts (2 for business, 1 for personal) and 2 facebook pages for business. I also have a Linkedin account which I set up some time ago, but never use. Most of the contacts I have on Linkedin are colleagues or friends with businesses and most of these people either use twitter or Facebook. My twitter account, only had for about 5 months, try and post something daily, but Facebook I am on everyday. Facebook is one of my main referrers for my websites. And of course SFN is now high on the list for networking. So the summary is Linkedin is a waste of time, for me anyway! Sandra