What Is A Social Business Networking Platform?

A social business networking platform is a website where companies, entrepreneurs, and individuals can create profiles, upload their personal and professional information, and connect with people in their industry. These platforms are used to build business relationships and expand a company's network. Instead of just staying within your company's network, a social business networking platform can help you build a more diverse and extensive network that can be a great asset to your business. With a social business networking platform, you can also launch your personal and professional brand, connect with new people and expand your network. What's more, these sites can help you find new customers and grow your business.

In this article, we'll discuss the top social business networking platforms so you can find the best option for you.

What Is A Professional Networking App?

As the name suggests, professional networking apps are used to build your professional network.

Professional networking apps generally allow you to create your profile and then connect with other people who have made their profiles on the app. Similar to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, most professional networking apps also enable you to share updates, links, or articles with your network.

Professional networking sites are not just about making friends and expanding your social circle. However, most of these apps also have a search function to search for people by their name or company. The primary purpose of these sites is to help you grow professionally and build your business relationships.

What Are The Benefits Of Professional Networking Apps?

Enhance Your Brand:

Whether it's LinkedIn or another platform, professional networking apps allow you to build your brand. You can create a profile that shows what you do and connects with other professionals in your industry.

Get Leads:

Professional networking apps are great for finding leads. For example, if you're a freelance graphic designer, you can use LinkedIn to land clients and projects. The key is to search for people. 

You can best find leads through these applications if you focus on the question: "Who is looking for my services, and how do I start conversations with them?"

Build Relationships:

Networking doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to develop relationships with people. Fortunately, professional networking apps help you build relationships without going out of your way. You don't have to attend events or get-togethers to meet people in your industry anymore. All you need is an app on your smartphone or tablet.

Conduct Research:

Research is critical in any business endeavor. Professional networking apps allow you to research prospective clients and additional business opportunities.

What to Look for When Selecting a Social Business Networking Platform

The social business networking platform you select should fit in with your business goals. For example, if you want to grow your brand awareness among consumers and customers, a social media site may be more appropriate than a professional site like LinkedIn. When comparing different options, make sure to consider the following:

• Platforms for professionals and businesses

• Free vs. paid membership

• Social media integration

• Mobile app

• Integration with other platforms like email or CRM system

• Security features (password strength)

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the most popular social media site for professionals. With profiles, you can upload your resume, which will help potential employers find you when they search on LinkedIn. You can also post articles, join groups, and start conversations with people in your field to find like-minded individuals.

LinkedIn's interface is simple and easy to use; there are no ads, and you don't have to worry about any privacy issues. In addition to your professional profile, you can create a company page where your employees or business partners can share information about your company.

If you want to hide some of your details from other LinkedIn users, such as marital status or family pictures, you can do so by editing your profile settings.

Pros:

1. Includes job searches and listings

2. You can manage a company page on LinkedIn.

3. Lets you target job postings based on location, industry, company size, and more.

4. It has a more extensive network with over 400 million members.

5. It is one of the most potent tools for B2B marketing.

6. Great for generating leads, promoting content, and recruiting new talent.

Cons:

1. It may not be as effective at generating consumer/customer leads as Facebook or Twitter, depending on your industry.

2. You can't share images or links on LinkedIn except in limited circumstances.

3. It is challenging to build a large audience on LinkedIn — it's better for smaller groups with which you are personally connected.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular social media networks and has more than two billion monthly active users. It's been around since 2004 and became the largest social network in 2008, surpassing MySpace. Facebook is free to sign up and use.

The best thing about Facebook is that it gives you many tools to grow your business and expand your network. You can create a profile for your company, add events, upload videos, share articles, and stay connected with people who have liked your page or event. You can find new connections by promoting posts to your followers and promoting your business on Facebook.

Facebook also offers an advertising platform where you can target specific audiences by location, gender, age-range, interests, or other demographics. Additionally, you can use the platform to create custom ads that run on both desktop and mobile devices.

Pros:

1. Everyone uses it. If you're going to try to reach just one social network, this is probably the one you want.

2. The ads are excellent, and they're inexpensive compared with other networks. Facebook ads allow incredible targeting of your audience so that you can do a good job reaching your demographic at a reasonable price.

3. You can post lots of content, such as text updates, images, and videos.

Cons:

1. Facebook is increasingly focusing on content from friends and family rather than from business pages in users' feeds — which means that companies have had to pay more for people to see their content in recent years. It's becoming less popular with younger users, who see it as an "old" social network or something their parents and grandparents use. If you're trying to reach college-age customers, this may not be the best choice due to the high competition for people's attention there.

Twitter

Twitter is the perfect social network for business. It's a robust platform that you can use to find potential customers, connect with new people and grow your network. If you think Twitter is only for personal use, think again.

Twitter is home to many entrepreneurs and small businesses using the site to improve their branding and grow their business contacts. Many small businesses consider Twitter one of their most valuable channels for marketing success.

Businesses on Twitter can connect with people from all over the world who have similar interests or are in the same industry. Brands can also tap into Twitter trends and conversations about their industry, which can help them identify new opportunities.

If you're not yet using Twitter as part of your marketing efforts, now is an excellent time to give it a try! Plus, it's easy to share information on Twitter quickly through tweets and retweets. You can also post images or videos on Twitter that will likely be retweeted by your followers--which will help increase your company's exposure.

Pros:

1. Twitter is great for building relationships with potential and current customers.

2. You can use Twitter to find new customers and connect with them.

3. Twitter is an excellent platform for growing your network.

4. You can use Twitter to share your company's story and connect with potential investors.

5. Twitter is a great way to stay top of mind with your customers and keep them updated on your company's latest news and developments.

Cons:

1. It can be challenging to grow your follower base on Twitter.

2. Twitter can be noisy, and it can be hard to stand out from the crowd.

3. You need to be able to write good tweets that will capture people's attention.

Reddit

Reddit is a social news and entertainment website where registered users submit content such as links or text posts. Registered users can then vote up or down to organize the posts and determine their position on the site's pages. The most popular submissions appear on the front page or at the top of a category.

A business profile on Reddit allows you to post content relevant to your company, share your opinions with other Redditors, answer questions, etc. You can also create a subreddit – a section of your profile dedicated to specific topics – which will allow you to develop an audience focused on a topic.

Pros:

1. The Reddit community is highly engaged and passionate about a variety of topics.

2. As a business, you can share content relevant to your company and engage with the Reddit community.

3. You can also create a subreddit that will allow you to develop an audience focused on a specific topic.

Cons:

1. The Reddit community can be hostile and critical of businesses.

2. It can be challenging to stand out from the other content on Reddit.

Hubspot

Hubspot is a leading social business networking platform designed to help businesses grow. It offers a product suite of CRMs, social media, email marketing, and sales tools. The Hubspot platform integrates seamlessly with all its services, so you don't have to invest in multiple benefits.

The HubSpot CRM offers lead management to get better insights into who your leads are, which will help you create better content for them. You can also use this CRM to manage contacts more efficiently, saving you time in the long run. In addition, the HubSpot CRM comes with live chat software that lets your customers talk to customer service team members on their site. So, if a customer needs help or has any questions about your products, they can chat with the customer service team member and instantly get an answer from an expert.

Pros:

1. HubSpot provides a full range of marketing tools, including email marketing, blogging, landing pages, and social media management.

2. The company offers advanced conversion tracking and analytics capabilities.

3. It provides comprehensive training resources, such as eBooks, tutorials, and blog posts.

4. The customer support team is available 24 hours a day via phone, live chat, or email.

Cons:

1. It can be challenging to use for users who are not technically savvy.

2. The price may be too high for small businesses with limited budgets.

SetSchedule

Unlike your standard networking platforms, the SetSchedule 3.0 App is targeted to a community of entrepreneurs that want to grow their network of collaborators, broadcast their services, and share professional insight to a target demographic of professionals. While still provide real-time connections between home shoppers and top local agents, the SetSchedule 3.0 App goes beyond your normal business flow by capitalizing on mutual interests, specific goals, and tons of professional resources. SetSchedule is helping in a new, bold, and unique way.

Pros:

1. Professionals can sign up and download the SetSchedule app for free. It's available for both iPhone and Android devices. From there, you'll select your profession. The user can only add one profession during set-up, but more titles can be added to the profile after sign-up completion.

2. Users can ASK the Pro or Broadcast their queries and business by targeting a specific profession or location.

3. You can create teams and collaborate with other professionals to expand your network and complete tasks.

Cons:

1. To avoid dummy accounts and to make sure that valid professionals are collaborating in the app, there are multiple steps to verify your account: adding a profile picture, connecting social media accounts, adding a bio, adding five connections.

2. Only available in the US region and not yet available in other countries.

Final Thought

A social business networking platform is a website or app that allows you to connect with other business professionals, and could be the next step your business needs to skyrocket. If you are looking to connect with other business professionals, check out these platforms!