Social networks for business are now essential for companies to stay competitive. As the use of the mobile Internet grows, people are online more than ever as they can connect from any location with Wi-Fi, or 3G/4G access.

Business social networks can help companies reach out to new customers and to keep in contact with existing ones. Many companies use social media for customer support and for gauging reaction to newly introduced products.

Here is our list of the 10 best social business networks.

1. Facebook

Although not specifically focused on business users, Facebook is the world’s largest social website. Almost all large corporations have a presence on Facebook and many companies have multiple pages on this platform. The idea on Facebook is to interact regularly with your community of friends to include existing customers and people interested in your company.

2. Twitter

Twitter is also not specific for business use, but it is too big for companies to ignore. Twitter differs from Facebook in that the format only allows short status updates similar to those used for texting. For this reason, Twitter is popular with young people that grew up with texting. Many celebrities use Twitter to reach out to fans and companies are increasingly turning to the site for customer and technical support.

3. LinkedIn

This site is specifically for business people and professionals. LinkedIn is a perfect platform for companies looking to hire new employees and contractors or to find partners and investors. The platform is less appropriate for outreach to customers or potential customers unless you have a business-to-business organization.

4. YouTube

The video hosting website offers companies a great vehicle for offering multimedia productions in video format. For example, you could produce videos that highlight products or that demonstrate how to use products. YouTube provides businesses with a free platform for publishing TV-like advertisements. However, for your videos to get watched, you will need to expand your social network so people can find your links.

5. Flickr

Flickr is a photo hosting website that allows you to upload pictures of your products, business property, employees, events, etc. You can best employ this website together with other platforms on your business social network list like Twitter.

6. StartupNation

Startups can use this website to connect with other entrepreneurs that are launching new businesses. The site offers many services including seminars, podcasts, blogs, forums and articles focused on the subject of starting up a business. The site also offers competitions that act as incubators for new business ideas.

7. PartnerUp

As the name implies, this platform is for the business social network list of those looking for new partners. Whether you are seeking new investors or contractors to help with specific jobs, this network allows you to specifically ask others for the services or resources that you need. Users can also offer advice on how to find new partners and investors. PartnerUp is more for small and medium-sized businesses and they have a Resource Directory for placing ads and RFPs.

8. Klout

The Klout website is more about measuring your social influence online, but it also has direct social networking functions. As a Klout member, you can discover the reach of your social marketing campaigns along with the influence of your social community. This is a great way to see whether your efforts are working although it does not offer any method for measuring ROI in dollar terms. You can increase your social clout by interacting with other Klout users including providing recommendations for others based on their fields of expertise. The idea is to get friends in your network to reciprocate and recommend you as well.

9. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk

Mechanical Turk is a crowd-sourcing social platform. Many business social networks cater specifically to other businesses and professionals looking for services. At Mechanical Turk, you can find people offering to perform a wide range of tasks for a fee. Amazon takes a 10 percent commission on all transactions.

10. Google+

In the future, Google+ may rank higher on the list of the best social business networks, but for now, people are still watching the new platform. Google has tried many times before to break into social media in a big way, but with limited success. The new site is very much like Facebook, but it offers ways to group friends into different “Circles” for easier management and interaction.

With this list of social networks for business, you will be well on your way to establishing a strong social presence on the Internet. Remember that effective social networking requires that you interact with your online community on a regular basis. Stale social media pages become practically useless. By providing your friends, fans and other community members with regular updates and content they will come to look for news from you consistently.

Learn how to post information on your products or services, or just any news that pertains to your business. For example, a sporting goods store could post interesting news articles from the sports world so that friends come to expect such stories.

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If you have a LinkedIn company page, great! Below are a few tips on how to make it more professional. If you don’t have a LinkedIn page, then get on it and make one! The tips below will help get you create a LinkedIn page and utilize it to the max.

Include All of Your Local Business Information
Now, first things first. It’s important to include the basic information about your local business in your LinkedIn company page. This allows those who view the page to better understand what your company is all about. It’s very easy to do. All you have to do is go to the ‘Admin tools’ dropdown bar and click on ‘Edit.’ Once you click there, LinkedIn will allow you to add your local business information.

Showcase and Promote Your Local Business Products and Services.
After adding your local business’s basic (and complete) information through LinkedIn, it’s time to start showcasing your company’s products. All you have to do is click on ‘Admin tools’ like you did when editing the basic information, and then click on ‘Add a product or service.’ Follow the step-by-step instructions LinkedIn gives you so you can showcase the products or any services your local business offers.

Also under the ‘Admin tools’ drop down menu is the option ‘Promote my products & services.’ What could be better than this LinkedIn allowing you to not only showcase your products, but promote them as well? Once you click on the ‘Promote my products & services’ option, you will have four easy steps to complete. If you aren’t quite sure what to do or what this feature does, LinkedIn has also added a ‘Common Questions’ box which will appear on the right side of the page, giving you a better understanding of where your ads will appear, what all can be added to the ads, etc.

You Can Use LinkedIn to Post Jobs!
Once you have the basic information about your company added, and you’ve conquered showcasing and promoting your products and services, consider posting any job openings you may have. You can do this by going to the ‘Careers’ tab. Even if you already have posted the job opening elsewhere, this will allow those who use LinkedIn to view the opening. Plus, the more places you have the job opening posted, the more variety of people you’ll have apply. You may find your next best employee this way.

Don’t Forget About LinkedIn’s Analytic Tools
So, you’ve conquered these three tips. What next? It’s always nice to be able to see how your pages are doing. If you’d like to view the amount of unique visitors you receive, or keep track of your local business page views, you’re able to. LinkedIn has an ‘analytics’ tab just for that, among other measurement features. Thank you LinkedIn! This makes it a lot easier for you to view how your LinkedIn page is doing right from your LinkedIn page, where with many other sites you may have to find online tools to do this for you.
After you’ve followed through with these tips, don’t stop there. Continue doing what you need to do to better your local business LinkedIn page by keeping the content current and up to date on a frequent basis. Attract more people, and maybe hire a few.

Chris Marentis, founder and CEO of the Surefire Social Marketing System, is a recognized expert in the field of local business marketing leveraging website development, local search engine optimization and social media marketing to generate leads and brand local businesses throughout the digital web.

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