On Thursday, Daryl H. Bryant delivered a guest presentation on social networking - an area in which the Hudson Horizons CEO and founder has long-time experience, and impressive success.
The seminar, held in Clifton, NJ and hosted by the North Jersey Regional Chamber of Commerce, was entitled "How Your Business Can Profit from Our Experience." The six guest speakers, including Mr. Bryant, each took the stage to deliver their know-how and insight on a variety of issues. Discussion topics ranged from Advertising & Sales to Public Relations; Investments & Retiring to Banking & Lending; and, of course, Social Networking.
About thirty exceptional attendees listened as Mr. Bryant emphasized the importance of social networking in a Web 2.0 environment, the advantages it carries for employers and their companies, and three of the most prominent social networking platforms available today.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Bryant this morning, who spoke passionately about the wonderful benefits social networking has for businesses.
"Social platforms help people build solid foundations on the web- LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter in particular. They increase networking connections, and provide an excellent venue for discussions that revolve around niche industries."
Here's a brief overview of Mr. Bryant's social networking presentation:
1) LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com
In many ways, LinkedIn is like an online resume. It's a place where professionals can:
- reconnect with former colleagues, peers, and supervisors
- stay connected with current coworkers and employees
- branch out to potential clients and hiring companies
LinkedIn members can register for free, create unique profiles, and share:
- current job information
- detailed professional experience
- background education
- recommendations from endorsers
- LinkedIn connections
- Links to personal websites, blogs, and other social networks
- personal information and interests
2) Facebook - http://www.facebook.com
Facebook has two great ways to let folks get their message out there: personal profiles and business pages.
Profiles are for individual people, whereas business/fan pages are used to promote organizations, companies, stores, etc. Recent network revamps have given pages a lot of the same capabilities as profiles-now companies can share status updates on pages, post photo albums on pages, communicate with fans through pages, and much more.
Aside from connecting with old friends and making new acquaintances, Mr. Bryant expressed that a fundamental purpose of Facebook profiles and pages is to show people your achievements.
"I have a personal profile, and then a business page for Hudson Horizons," Mr. Bryant continued. "But even my profile is all business. Whenever an important event comes up, or if Hudson Horizons is featured in a newspaper or press release, and most recently on the Fox Business channel, I post about it on Facebook. Friends are interested to see what me and the company are up to, and it makes a great impression on potential clients."Twitter - http://twitter.com
3) Twitter - http://twitter.com
Not everyone at the seminar knew exactly what Twitter was, so Mr. Bryant explained it in the simplest, most basic sense: real-time communication stream. But one of the greatest things about Twitter is the fact that you choose whose feeds to follow. This means that you'll rarely be spammed, or overloaded with irrelevant content, because the content you receive is entirely up to you. This also means that you can directly connect with your target demographic based on their tweets.
Twitter's real-time stream is very easy to search, thanks to keywords weighted with hashtags (#), and customized search panels in varying desktop and web-based applications. For example, as the CEO of a rising Web Development Company, Mr. Bryant has search panels set up that filter for phrases such as "looking for web developer," and has connected with genuine, potential clients after noticing their corresponding tweets.
Wrapping up, Mr. Bryant underlined the undisputable importance of social networking, and of these three popular social services.
"Nowadays, companies must be on one, if not all of these platforms, or in the very least, have an understanding of the whereabouts of their target audiences. If they're not, they're missing out on invaluable opportunities to learn more, strengthen their business, and connect directly with their customers."
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