Business in Social Networking

The internet is undoubtedly the new marketplace.  Well of course, going to shopping malls personally is not yet an extinct activity, but then, business is almost as active via web especially for those who could not find time going out.  Now that’s the power of technology, and social networking should take credit for such breakthrough as well. 

More than their emergence, the growing popularity of social network sites has greatly contributed to the revolution of commerce, trade, and marketing.  With almost everyone in all parts of the globe accessing the internet and consequently all being potential customers, companies have targeted social sites as sites for advertisements through links.  This is not to mention that there are stores on the web selling and delivering items.

Social network sites become avenues for business minded individuals for the realization of their undertakings.  There are some small time entrepreneurs (such as retailers of dry goods) who use their user profiles in social networks to display their items for sale with the necessary details and descriptions of each product.

In a less direct involvement, advertisers post in social network sites links that will lead to the advertisers’ company.  If you notice, whatever the content of a webpage you are viewing, it is usually surrounded by boxes with related short texts and hyperlinks.  Once you click on these links, that means the ad is effective and these ads shall earn from your clicking of the link.

Another surprising advancement is the posting of blogs.  From its original purpose of being an avenue of expression and mainly used as an online journal, a diary or narrative of personal happenings, blogs have now become avenues for testimonials for effectivity of products.  Sometimes, blogs will become feature articles of companies and what goods or services they offer.  In the same way with sidebar advertisements, some texts in the blog will serve as links to the companies or to the goods.

These phenomena in social networking have made trade easier for companies and patrons. Along with the advantages of this development however, are also the risks.

Having to deal with virtual people, connections made through the web may be very prone to shams and fraud.  Your active participation in whatever activity you do gives more assurance of the quality of results that you get.  Your expectation as a purchaser of certain goods may not be met.  Shopping for example, is still best done personally because photos of items posted in online shops may not be as good as it looks.  When you are not satisfied with the purchase, you’d still have to process your complaints and encounter operators and the likes before your concern is addressed.  You might even get trapped in a culture of bureaucracy since you would not immediately know who will attend to your concern.

Advertising through other websites may not be under your control as these websites and their contents are independent from you. While business in social networking is working in the status quo, nothing still beats going through business transactions yourself so you can monitor their developments and this goes both to being the marketer and the customer.
 

Bruno Auger

Tags: blogging, blogs , social networks, social networking, advertising