Business Social Networking
Earlier this week I received a phone call from a guy who told me he wanted an ESA performed on a commercial property he was buying. After explaining that EDR is an information service and that our customers are the ones who do assessments, I asked him how he heard about me and EDR. His response was that he conducted a search within the ActiveRain Real Estate Network for "environmental assessments" and came across my profile.
If you're not familiar, ActiveRain is a social networking site for people involved in real estate (mainly residential although some commerical groups have formed within the community). Think of it as MySpace for people involved in real estate.
I set up a profile several months ago in ActiveRain (www.activerain.com) as well as in several other networking sites including LinkedIn and BizNik and each profile has already produced multiple benefits. Now I must admit that I originally did so as more of an experiment than anything else. I was curious to learn about what these services were all about and how EDR should be using these services to our advantage.
The results so far have been positive. LinkedIn has produced several contacts for us with people in related fields that have led to research projects for the company.
For those of us who are generally 40 or over, I think there's a tendency to quickly disregard these new platforms as simply toys for a younger generation. This is a mistake. While MySpace and FaceBook are probably not going to generate business leads for a company, these business social networking site will if you are an active participant and spend some time in the community. Conducting a search for "environmental professionals" in ActiveRain and LinkedIn produces hundreds of findings which then lead to plenty of background information on each profile. EDR is currently using these sites in several ways, including recruitment and business development.
As for the person who found me in ActiveRain, I was able to refer him to a local environmental consultant (and EDR customer) who got the job and was very appreciative of the referral....not bad for 5 minutes of my time.
If you're not familiar, ActiveRain is a social networking site for people involved in real estate (mainly residential although some commerical groups have formed within the community). Think of it as MySpace for people involved in real estate.
I set up a profile several months ago in ActiveRain (www.activerain.com) as well as in several other networking sites including LinkedIn and BizNik and each profile has already produced multiple benefits. Now I must admit that I originally did so as more of an experiment than anything else. I was curious to learn about what these services were all about and how EDR should be using these services to our advantage.
The results so far have been positive. LinkedIn has produced several contacts for us with people in related fields that have led to research projects for the company.
For those of us who are generally 40 or over, I think there's a tendency to quickly disregard these new platforms as simply toys for a younger generation. This is a mistake. While MySpace and FaceBook are probably not going to generate business leads for a company, these business social networking site will if you are an active participant and spend some time in the community. Conducting a search for "environmental professionals" in ActiveRain and LinkedIn produces hundreds of findings which then lead to plenty of background information on each profile. EDR is currently using these sites in several ways, including recruitment and business development.
As for the person who found me in ActiveRain, I was able to refer him to a local environmental consultant (and EDR customer) who got the job and was very appreciative of the referral....not bad for 5 minutes of my time.
Labels: ActiveRain, LinkedIn, social networking
posted by Rob Barber at
8/22/2007 06:04:00 AM
2 Comments
