I read a discussion online last week regarding whether social media is a valuable tool to the AV industry. The debate continued over a few days with various input from different sides of the fence.

Judging by a lot of the responses to the above question, it appeared that particularly in the CI side of the industry; social media is not considered a path worth exploring. One person even commented that social media should simply be used for social use and not a target for business. I understand the reasoning behind this, but it is possible to separate professional feeds from personal and when used properly, the leads developed can be invaluable to the company. There are literally hundreds of social networks that you can use to advertise your company, all suitable for different industries, so you do have to test out the market and see what works for you. Social media isn’t something an organization does just for the sake of doing social media, (because everyone else is!) but rather to deliver business on objectives.

Personally, if smaller AV companies are looking where to start, I think LinkedIn is the one you cannot afford to ignore. LinkedIn is not simply a way of targeting new business/sales, but also an opportunity to increase awareness of your company or even the AV industry. It is a great platform to show potential clients the ‘people’ behind the brand, which encourages more enquiries. In the same way that people are more inclined to contact a company on recommendation, it puts them more at ease having communicated with them ‘socially’ initially, rather than calling an unknown company found in a phone book or search engine. The vast array of groups on LinkedIn also opens up a whole online community for you where you can discuss various issues or gain advice from numerous members representing different aspects of the AV industry.

So for those that are keen to explore LinkedIn for business, but are unsure of how to proceed, here are a few tips to get started:

1) Set up a profile.

Even if you are still learning the capabilities of LinkedIn and you’re not sure what to do beyond setting yourself up – This website is growing more and more every day, with an estimated member capacity of over 147 million, the networking opportunities are too great to be passed by.

2) Join groups.

Not just any groups; groups where the members might very well be your target audience. Whilst I myself had the immediate urge to simply join groups related to my company sector, by also looking at where your potential clients are likely to congregate, you are opening more channels for contact with them, and providing an opportunity to introduce your company.

3) Links.

Be it on your company profile page, personal page, or even an article you would like to post – Include links through which people can access your company information. This could be the website URL, a YouTube video or even back to your company profile page.

4) Keywords.

Within any activity you produce in LinkedIn, be sure to include relevant search terms that you would want your company to be found under. Obviously this goes for any sort of online blogging, but it’s a key point on LinkedIn to ensure your company’s entries appear higher in search results, therefore obtaining more exposure.

Finally, if you are still unsure whether social media is right for your company, I’ve included some 2012 stats taken from a couple of articles:

• Over 70 percent of the Internet population are using social networks. (This doesn’t just include Twitter and Facebook and it highlights that social media is now considered mainstream.)
• In Europe, 50 percent of people are a member of just one social network.
• Google+ already has 60 million users
• 36 percent of people have posted about a brand on social networking sites. (This means that people don’t just talk about their cheese sandwiches and which movie they saw last night on social media. Large proportions are talking about brands – their products, services and customer service. If your customers are talking about your brand then make sure you’re listening.)
• 42 percent of social media users have actually had a conversation with a brand via social networks. (This figure indicates that social media users are not afraid to contact brands over social networks.)
• LinkedIn’s members have reached approximately 147 million. Compared to January 2011, LinkedIn’s members have grown by 45 percent worldwide.
• The five countries with the highest number of LinkedIn Users:
  • United States (58.5 million)
  • India (13.3 million)
  • United Kingdom (8.4 million)
  • Brazil (6.8 million)
  • Canada (5.1 million)

Social Media is a huge part of our marketing world now, and judging by these statistics, it isn’t going anywhere. Interest in social media for business purposes continues to grow and if your company does not currently hold much of an online presence, I think the question to ask is not “what will I gain from this?” but perhaps “what am I missing out on?”