A business network can be defined as a group of people that have some kind of commercial relationship. For example the relationships between boss-employee, buyer-supplier, and colleague-colleague.
Purpose
Business Networks are formed to leverage the presence of a firms offerings and to advance the reach to prospective buyers of those offerings.
Another purpose for a business network is to expand ones knowledge base without extending ones hours for learning and accomplishing new tasks. By utilizing the experiences and knowledge of others within your business network you are able to work more efficiently in the areas of your own expertise.
Use of Social Networking Services
As business is increasingly carried on across the globe, there has become a strong need for business networking to take place on a more virtual level. There are a myriad of social networking tools which have been created to fulfill these needs. Together with software which provides access to on-line meetings and instant messaging, people are able to both access and increase their networks of business professionals without traveling.
Leverage of social media in corporations is an undeniable evolution in our corporate world. No one can ignore the fact that better connected people and better networked companies are more successful. Organizations with deeper alliances and partnerships lead over the ones that work on their own. However, the design and current profiles within todays social networks will evolve to be more business friendly then we will see mass adoption of the medium by businesses.
Maximizing Social Networks for Businesses
Much has been written about online branding for individuals and for businesses. Advertisers are flocking to social networks with the aim of insuring their presence within personal networks that have affinities to products or services offered. The traditional advertising approach is aimed at attracting buyers through awareness and unique messages using different mediums.
Todays social networks are designed for individuals to create profiles categorized by meta tags indicating a taxonomy of affinities. A business has presence in a network through its people. In the near future a business will have presence within networks by having its own business profile. These business profiles will include a listing of its products and services, e-commerce engines for people to exchange products and services and links to the people in the network whom represent the interest of the business. The rules for business profiling will be different than those for individual profiles. The rules of the game will again change.
Social networks will then become ripe ground for businesses to directly market and sell their products and services to people and other businesses. While many may say that is already true today the difference is enabling businesses to have a direct vs. indirect presence within networks. To enable businesses to connect with other businesses and to have their presence seen directly rather than only through people in a network that just happen to work for a particular business.
Enabling businesses to have and manage their own profiles within networks and to exchange goods and services may in fact be the process that further ignites the medium to be more than a "social network". Many business spend thousands of dollars to attend and have a presence at trade shows and conventions throughout any given year. Social networks represent a medium for a 24/7 trade show at a fraction of the cost of "physical trade shows and conventions".
Just think about the possibilities. What say you?