Socializing on Networks Unrelated to Your Business: Good Practice or Waste of Time?

When utilizing social networks to promote your products and services, it's good to know that through general sites like Facebook and Twitter you have the ability to grow a following and interact with people willing to opt in to your updates. These all-encompassing media sites attract a variety of demographics and act as a strong catch-all for your business. You may find through your fan page, too, that you can determine if women more often than men are active in feedback, or if the majority of fans come from a specific area - perhaps not necessarily where you are based. If you believe these are the only social platforms at your disposal for fostering trust among potential customers and clients, however, you could be selling yourself short.

As developers fine tune social media to offer Internet users more options for their specific interests, we'll see a rise in usage of niche portals. Already Yelp.com, a search and review site for local restaurants and other businesses, claims 10 million unique visits a month. You can bet it's a popular place for browsing recommendations, and the site's accompanying smart phone apps makes it all the easier to access. Depending on your business, you might not think it's worth your time to establish a profile on such a site. Yet, when you consider the traffic generated there, you have to ask yourself, why not?

On the Internet, a profile is a profile - an opportunity to promote. As I am a professional writer, one might expect me to limit my online activity to places where I'm most apt to promote my work. It's true I spend quite a bit of time blogging and on Twitter, posting links to those blogs. However, I also like to twist the old adage of all work and no play to integrate my personal interests into outside-the-box marketing. I dine out often, so I use Yelp to record reviews and get opinions on new spots from other users. On my Yelp profile, I have my URLs listed so anybody passing through knows where else to find me. So far, 120 people have come by since I launched the profile - there's 120 potential click-throughs. Because I also depend on name recognition in search, the profile is likely to come up in search - not as high as official sites, I hope, but the link will be there to displace something unrelated that gets in the way.

If you have interests outside of work, taking advantage of specialized networks like Yelp for dining, Goodreads for reading, WAYN for travel, and even Blip.fm for music may benefit you in a number of ways. For one, many of these niche networks integrate with each other, allowing you to create a more rounded profile of yourself. People will see that you are an actual human being rather than an automaton design to spout business updates. Also, you have the space on your profiles to advertise what you do. Visitors with profiles elsewhere, who otherwise might not have found you on Twitter and Facebook, may just click through from a minor network to follow you deeper. The trust you build across different networks can spread beyond the Internet, so never rule out personal networking for the purpose of growing your business.