Social networking is creating an exciting clamor of instantly accessible information, opinions, news, and visuals for any topic and drawing new relationships between people. In this atmosphere, business associations have a truly excellent chance to establish their own virtual communities as a way to harness all the benefits of social media to the advantage of their member companies. Amongst these social networking sites, a much more reputable and desirable option is LinkedIn. Unlike other social networking sites, its focus is entirely on establishing business connections by having people recognize their links to each other, and then find further business contacts by following the links.
With its page, The Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC) opts to take advantage of the growing acceptance of social media to provide a new set of social networking resources to its member companies. These resources include:
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To provide reliable and convenient updates and announcements
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The ability to find professional services or stores within the North Texas region and to give and receive feedback and references
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To provide calm, low-pressure ways to meet and chat with people outside of MTBC functions
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To provide opportunities to market one's business and expertise directly through advertising and indirectly through message boards
Moreover, this will become a way for the MTBC to better understand its community. The advantages of LinkedIn—the feedback, comments, the topics which generate interest, the kind of users who participate—all help measure the needs of the Metroplex, what interests and concerns local business people, and their relative engagement to the MTBC.
LinkedIn helps you take advantage of your professional network by helping you make better use of your contacts in providing faster access to insight and resources you can trust and by helping you help them in return.