People are talking… Are you part of the conversation?

In previous years, marketers and businesses directed their messages to an audience in the form of a push. An ad was produced, the consumer listened, and if the message connected, the customer would follow the call to action.

Things are a little different now. Consumers are the ones who are seeking out brands. Instead of a push method, messages are being distributed through a conversation between brands and consumers. This conversation is facilitated through the Web and social media.

People are talking. They say good things and bad things, and they might be talking about you. You can ignore them, or you can become one of them. Have you joined the conversation?

By joining the conversation, you will know what is being said, and you will be able to make contributions. Your contributions help direct the tone and direction of things being said. It’s always better to be able to contribute to a conversation so your message is spread more in the manner you would like it rather than depending on others to get it right.

Before you jump in, let’s go over a few important things.

• Social networking is all about enabling conversations. It is important to let people talk and to talk back.
• You can’t control the conversation, but you can influence it. Remember that annoying kid in high school who always had something to say and shot down everyone else’s ideas? Don’t be that kid. Be the one who made you think their ideas were your ideas, too.
• Influence is the foundation upon which all viable relationships are built. Social networking is all about forming a relationship. Make sure that relationship is open and honest. A few negative comments can actually make you seem more genuine — after all, everybody makes mistakes.

Now that we’ve gone over the basics, lets talk about a few popular social networks.

Facebook.com

You’ve probably heard of Facebook. It started in 2004 and with more than 300 million users has been growing at lightning speed ever since. Facebook says its mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Millions of people, businesses and organizations use Facebook every day to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, promote events and learn more about the people they meet.

If you want to use Facebook to help promote your business or service, you need to create a fan page. You can add basic information, photos, videos, articles (called notes), links and status updates to your page. Your fans can add photos, videos, links and comments to your page if you let them, which we recommend you do.

MySpace.com

MySpace existed before Facebook but has recently seen a drop in visitors. MySpace is a technology company connecting people through personal expression, content and culture. The site has a good layout for musicians to showcase their talents. MySpace empowers its global community to experience the Internet through a social lens by integrating personal profiles, photos, videos, mobile, messaging, games and the world’s largest music community.

On your MySpace account, you can upload personal information, photos, videos, songs, games, comments and a blog. You can create a list of friends who also have MySpace profiles. Make your profile public, or keep everything between you and your friends.

Twitter.com

Twitter is a micro-blog. It is a real-time, short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens — from breaking world news to updates from friends.

On Twitter, you get 140 characters to tell the world what you are doing, what you are thinking or what you find interesting at the moment. Use it to link to interesting articles, direct users to your Web site or to talk about things going on in the world or with your business.

LinkedIn.com

This is a network for business professionals and it is all about connections.

LinkedIn says it can be used to find past and present colleagues quickly and discover inside connections when you’re looking for a new business opportunity. The network is full of industry experts willing to share advice.

The form for creating a LinkedIn account asks users to complete a resume-like profile and create a company profile and a list of employees with LinkedIn profiles.

So are you ready to start networking? If this has been enough to thoroughly confuse you, or if you don’t have time to do it all yourself, call us at Visionworks. We would love to get you started with social media. We will even help you maintain your social networking accounts if you need a little help. It’s time to start the conversation.

Lili Vianello is President of Visionworks, a Columbia-based full-service marketing and communications firm offering Web design and maintenance. Contributions to this article were made by Visionworks staff members. Portions were also liberally borrowed from Facebook.com, MySpace.com, Twitter.com and LinkedIn.com.