Perceptis Facebook Strategy Featured in "Inside Business"
Perceptis's Facebook and Web 2.0 strategy was featured in the latest issue of Inside Business magazine:
Face(book) it, online social networking can mean business.
By: Dan Hanson
February 2008 Issue
You need to find a skilled widget technician so you thumb through your trusty Rolodex. But that is so last century. There's a better solution. Today, business professionals alike use online social networks to keep in touch with their contacts and to make new connections.
The power of Web 2.0 tools on the Internet bring the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon trivia game to the business world. Remember that game where someone named a movie actor and players had to link them to actor Kevin Bacon in as few links as possible? This was a spin–off of a 1929 theory claiming anyone on earth can be connected to any other person in five or fewer people.
Online networks can connect you and your contacts to the contacts of your contacts and then their contacts and so on.
I was first invited to join LinkedIn about four years ago. I signed up and then, basically, let the membership collect dust. Since then, about once a week I have received a message saying, "The following people would like to add you as a connection on LinkedIn." Not being active on the site, I moved the messages to a folder to address "some day."
But that day has finally arrived. Many people I know and respect are using these services that I have begun to test. And you, dear readers, will be the first to know how things turn out in the next few months.
In the meantime, here are some basics.
MySpace: Unless you are a teenager (or musician), forget it. Like Trix, silly rabbit, MySpace is for kids. The site's tagline says it all: "MySpace — a place for friends." It has fun multimedia and a huge user base, but it is not a business tool — unless tweens and teens are your business.
Facebook is "a social utility that connects you with the people around you." It is most popular with college students. A controversial 2007 study suggested Facebook attracts college–bound kids, while MySpace attracts kids with no plans of going to college.
Perceptis is a Cleveland firm providing help desk, call center and information technology services to the higher education, nonprofit and commercial markets. CEO Bill Bradfield says Perceptis has a Facebook presence because "that's the market we go after. Facebook lives in that space." He is a "huge believer in the power of Web 2.0 and personal interaction over brochure–ware, like peer–to–peer help and tools that grow and make things richer."
Perceptis created its own self–help tool called SmartiPantz, which incorporates Web 2.0 tools. It allows, for example, a top 10 list of user questions to update automatically in real time.
If college students are your market, you should be on Facebook. CIO Insight magazine says JPMorgan Chase "targets the college demographic with a Facebook group built around a credit card loyalty program. The Chase +1 group has about 34,000 members, and offers rewards and financial advice. The idea is to win over valuable customers early and keep them for years."
But be careful. This is the wild, wild Internet and college kids that you're dealing with. Chase became the target of a vulgar Facebook page complaining about the company.
Facebook has a good amount of multimedia without being overwhelming like MySpace. It is an alternative to consider if your business needs exposure to an upwardly mobile, educated group of people from college to the grave.
LinkedIn is the most popular business social networking site. Its Web site says, "Get the most from your professional network: Re–connect — find past and present colleagues and classmates quickly. LinkedIn makes staying in touch simple. Power your career — discover inside connections when you're looking for a job or new business opportunity. Get answers — your network is full of industry experts willing to share advice. Have a question? Just ask."
Fox 8 Meteorologist Brad Sussman uses LinkedIn because it "has a more professional client base. I like it because with my 'job diversity,' I can keep my radio, TV, Illini Alumni Club, ALS Association contacts and friends all linked together."
"My LinkedIn participation has been very valuable," says Dave Whittle of WebWorking Services. "I've used it for networking, to establish personal credibility, to communicate to others what I'm up to, to stay in touch with friends and business associates, to identify and pursue business opportunities, to solicit prospective clients, and to reach out and renew contact to old friends and acquaintances."
Whittle is also on Facebook, Classmates.com, MySpace, Plaxo and Spock. Although, he's "found LinkedIn to be the best for my purposes, and it seems to be the most popular among those I know. Most of those in my family, however, seem to have gravitated toward Facebook, so I use that for personal and family networking and keeping in touch."
There are many other sites, such as Ryze, Plaxo, Twitter and Spock, to consider. Spock is a search application that allows you to see what people are saying about your friends and colleagues. It is becoming very popular with tech innovators.
Bradfield has been on LinkedIn for three or four years and has put out requests to his circle of contacts for new employees. He is trying Spock and thinks a "help-related island" on SecondLife, the 3D online virtual world created and controlled by its residents, could be big. "We are a service company," he says. "We want to make end users happier and more productive without having to call."
Over the next few months, I'll continue my investigation into these sites and the people who use them. So far it seems that LinkedIn is the way to go for most business professionals. But remember, there are caveats to consider.
Should you accept invitations from people who are lower in the food chain than you? (For example, should a CIO link to an entry–level programmer?) Does that dilute your status? How much information should you provide? If your business relationships are a competitive advantage, why would you share them with the world?
We'll also look at how you can use bookmarking sites and other social software to gather, maintain and share information that your employees have accumulated into one big knowledge base. Welcome to the world of Web 2.0.