The best experience with social networking for business would allow a business to generate contacts in revenue more quickly than it would take in person. The only reason a business should engage in any activity is that the activity will generate an opportunity for the business to make more money. Social media or social networking is no different. A business should only engage in social networking or social media if the activity generates revenue for the business. Any other use of social networking or social media will not help a business achieve their goals.

Social networking or social media is a new form of communication between two parties. Those two parties could be a business to business or a business to consumer situation. However, social media allows these two parties to meet and have a conversation that is mutually beneficial for both parties. This is really how business begins, and social media can be the fastest way for a business to communicate with its vendors or consumers. The use of social media can significantly speed the ability of a business to communicate with those vendors or consumers. Therefore, social networking for business purposes can help a business generate more revenue almost on demand.

However, a business that uses social media or social networking should be able to hide its contacts from those people who should not be associating with each other. For example, a business does not want their consumers speaking with their vendors. A conversation between a consumer and a vendor can lead to a business being cut out of the transaction. This loss of the transaction leads to reduce revenues for a business. The ability of a social network to selectively choose who a ”friend” or “follower” can see is very important when a business uses social media or social networking. A business should expect a certain amount of privacy built-in to the network so that they continue to do business profitably and without the worry of being cut out of transactions.

Another thing a social network should be able to do is to allow file sharing across members of the community. The ability to share files can be a major distinction between a social media platform that works for business and a social media platform that does not work for business. The ability to file share is very important because changes in policy and direction of the business can be made very quickly.

Presentations can also be changed on the fly if the right files are available to the presenter using a strong network built for business. This file sharing should be protected as well. As there are certain members of the community who do not need the information or should not have access to it. The best experience in using a social network is for that network to provide the right security to enable a business to do business on their terms.

The best experience with a social platform for business will allow a business to create more revenue and have secure sharing of information with those parties that should be privy to that information. The ability to set permissions for communication and file sharing is very important in social media, especially in business. A business needs to select the right platform that will allow them to generate more revenue and have secure communications across all lines.

Author's Bio: 

Scott Buendia is a consultant for Bizbuilt.com. In addition, all the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here.