Legitimising Social Media for Business

Last month, Jen Bishop, the innovative editor of Dynamic Business magazine, Australia’s largest subscription magazine for small business sent a tweet on Twitter asking people who they would most like to see featured in their November issue. She contacted me shortly afterwards and we met for a coffee meeting interview.

This month, I’m not only featured in an article in the magazine, I also made the front cover.

Aside from being humbled by the honour, profile and exposure, in my mind it’s also resulted in three great outcomes for social media and business:

Online Networking for Business Value

Don’t waste time online, plan to make the most of your connections.  

By now, you’ve either been invited, have signed up or are passively or actively using an online networking site such as Linkedin or even Facebook. Like many people, you’re wondering how to benefit from spending time on these online tools beyond finding former colleagues, posting comments and occasionally seeing what the kids are up to.

The main benefit of participating in online networking is that you gain access to communities which were traditionally closed to you. Social media sites create interconnected webs of individuals, meaning that millions of people of relevance are now just a few clicks away from receiving an electronic message from anyone within the network; possibly you.

As an avid and active user of online networking, I’ve developed some guidance for professionals to get the most out of the experience. Here are the 4 Ps according to Iggy!