US SBs embrace social networking sites

NEW YORK, USA: More than 600,000 small businesses (SBs, or companies with up to 99 employees) in the United States will deploy integrated social networking services in the next 12 months—up from about 300,000 currently, according to the latest study by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

In percentage terms, 300,000 represents about 5 percent of the total number of SBs in the U.S. “As social networking evolves, we can see the emergence of targeted offerings for business users,” says Nikki Lamba, New York-based analyst at AMI Partners. “In order to attract a greater share of SBs, social networking services must provide customized services that SBs can leverage in order to realize their business goals.” 

SBs form an emerging audience for social networking services. While the proliferation of these services among the general public has been extraordinary, SBs remain a largely untapped opportunity—what could amount to a small boon for those willing to seek them out during these troubled economic times. 

In response to this gap, social networking services are creating branches dedicated to SBs and entrepreneurs. Examples of this include Linked-In Company Groups, Moli Small Business Center and Ryze.com. Features extended to business users are heightened security to ensure stricter privacy controls, facilitation of businesses relationships among users and knowledge sharing based on experiences.

The study also points out that over the next 12 months about 500,000 SBs will use social networking as a resource for advertising and promotional activities. As the number of social networking sites continues to multiply, particularly those aimed at SBs, the prospects of targeted advertising continue to remain positive. SBs can also tailor their social networking to create a stronger brand for their business and allow for communities to form around their product or service offering.

“As SBs struggle with the current economic downturn, business-focused social networking offers an effective, relatively inexpensive and lucrative opportunity to keep steady communication with existing partners and clients as well as incubating new relationships,” says Lamba. “A growing number of businesses are already riding the wave and stand to gain from continued usage of social networking for business purposes. Those businesses not currently using social networking services will find that the resources available will be especially useful in competing under current market conditions.”

Social networking services are web-based online communities that enable people to interact with each other via an online forum. These networks are often specialized and based on various associations such as universities, hobbies, and business interests. Since the launch of Facebook and MySpace a few years ago, the popularity of such services has grown rapidly in the U.S.