A friend of mine recently came back from a conference at a prestigious West Coast (US) university on social media trends in business with particular focus on Silicon Valley. There was lots of information about how LinkedIn has revolutionized the human resources/recruiting function of companies. It was also noted that corporate communications was using social media to extend a firm’s reach to its external audiences via tools like Twitter and Facebook.

These two functions are mainly one-way and flat. Read my corporate announcement, but don’t engage me in dialogue about it. The LinkedIn application is its flattest – search the LinkedIn listings and on-line resumes for key words. If you’re not a recruiter or someone looking to work for a large company, what’s far more interesting on LinkedIn are the professional and interest groups that have formed. These create conversation around topics, issues, and questions. Twitter has grown to become one of the best lead generation tools that the marketing world has ever seen. Thought leaders share their insights through blogs.

In contrast, this is what I see weekly in social media from entrepreneurs around the world:

•Start-up stage entrepreneurs seeking knowledge about aspects of business they may not know much about (marketing, legal, product development standards, shipping, etc.)

•Entrepreneurs seeking successful industry mentors to help them avoid costly mistakes

•Young companies looking for strategic connections including partners and distributors

•Entrepreneurial firms engaging with potential and actual customers online in order to drive towards sales and customer satisfaction

•Entrepreneurs looking for potential investors through online referral

•Keeping a pulse on industry developments

•Small companies learn about overseas markets they would otherwise never have known

 

( Vivian )30 Jul,2012

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