The Power Of Social Networking

 June 22, 2009
Interview with Lon Safko, author of The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success

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Mike Carruthers:
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Myspace - these are incredibly popular social networking websites. So what's all the fuss about?

 Lon Safko:
Social networks just means that like-minded people - people that you have something in common with - can all aggregate in the same place and exchange these ideas and by doing that build this trusted network. 

Consultant Lon Safko, author of The Social Media Bible, says people do use these social media websites for fun but they are incredibly powerful business tools.

I've built ten companies in my career, I'm a serial entrepreneur and actually that's why I got excited about social media to begin with because I thought, "Wow if I could use the most powerful marketing tools ever created on the planet (this has done more to change marketing sales PR and the way we communicate than anything that's ever happened) and all these tools are free - that's where I want to be."

If you're not really into all this social networking stuff - where do you start?

First thing, get on LinkedIn, get your profile set up - be out there. You have to be in the game in order to win. So create your Facebook account, even if you don't know what to do with it yet. Set up your Twitter account, figure out how to send a couple of tweets and to receive a couple of tweets - just start playing with it until you get comfortable. The moment you understand the tool, a light bulb is going to go off over your head and you're going to say, "Oh my gosh this is wonderful - I get it."

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.