Why should I hire a professional social networker instead of doing it myself?

Let me give my disclaimer first, DIY (‘do-it-yourself’ for my acronym virgins) is a great tool. Everything and anything is on the Internet these days. But because social networks absolutely demand time to stay in the loop with contacts 24/7 a professional will know how to use this time productively. Put that together with their expertise and that is one mean marketing tool.
I’ll put it into perspective. On average Facebook has 250,000 new registrants per day* and lets say your goal is to connect with 1% of those new users. That means you have to contact 2,500 users a day. Well on average small business owners work 10 hours a day (if not more right?) which would then mean that they need to contact 250 users every hour. I don’t know a business owner that has time to Facebook at all, let alone 10 hours a day worth.
Now, the example I just gave only talks about contacting new users. But I want to point out that using social network marketing to stay in contact with current or long time customers is also valuable in that it keeps your business in the back of their mind all the time instead of just once a month as they throw away yet another mailer. Most businesses only get a customers name and phone number when really getting their email is way more effective then getting their phone number. Why? Because calling customers off a phone list is old school! Consumers have a defense already built up to over the phone pitches. Think about it, when you have a salesman on the phone what is your automatic response? “Not interested.”
What about hiring someone? Content managers generally charge 39 dollars an hour*, which means in one month a company that has a full time content manager could be shelling out $6,240 in wages to have a successful Myspace or Facebook account. For being a free service that is an expensive profile. The bottom line is, professional social networkers are an invaluable tool to companies that are serious about effective marketing.

*http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/01/09/social-network-stats-facebook-myspace-reunion-jan-2008/

2http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_compresult_national_IT10000291.html

Why is social networking more advantageous then regular networking?

Social networking allows a business to increase their word-of-mouth marketing, helps them get their name out there through a unique channel and gives them real time information on what current trends are.
For example, say you and I meet at a mutual friends party, get to talking and after adding each other on Facebook become good friends. A couple of weeks down the road you need to buy a domain name and remember that I am a web designer. When you call me to get some advice I refer you to my favorite seller and without much question you go where I recommended because you trust my opinion. Well social networking allows a business to become the 'hypothetical me' in the story. This comes in especially handy when that 'hypothetical me' owns, or is an affiliate of, the domain seller that I sent my friend to. Also, after that friend has bought their domain and have had a pleasant experience with the domain seller they are likely to refer other friends to that seller as I did. Or even if that friend has an unpleasant experience the chances are very good that they will post about it online, allowing a business to gather intelligence on why that user walked away unhappy.
Now some of my clients have asked, "Well isn't that sort of sneaky? Pretending to be their friend to get the sale?" To which I reply, "Who is pretending?" The point of social networking is not to trick users into buying from you. It is another way to network. Period. Users are there to socialize. NOT to be marketed at. (To read why I am so zealous about this read 'Why businesses fail in social networking....' here.)

The first of many SN posts...

Welcome to the first post of my new business. This is a strange feeling, I am actually nervous typing this up for "everyone" to view. Because I have so many followers... and stuff.... :S Ok here goes.
Social Network Your Business the weblog is going to be where I write down all the information I gather as I attempt to build my social networking business (which can be found at http://wwwsocialnetworkyourbusiness.com/). What? What is a social networking business? Well let me explain.
I need to start at the beginning of my story so that you understand where this idea came from.
I was at my father in laws last sunday and as I was showing him how to use Facebook to get a group going for a book he just wrote, "The 5 Laws That Determine All of Lifes Outcomes," by Brett Harward (there you go Brett, love you), he turned to me and said, "You know what you should do? You should teach business owners how to social network using Facebook and Myspace etc. and then charge a fee for it because I have so many clients that have asked me how to get into social network marketing."
At first I thought to myself, why would someone pay me to show them how to use something as simple as Facebook? Until it hit me that really, its not all that simple. Especially for the generations older then me that didn't grow up arguing if Mac or PC is better.
Not to mention, business owners just plain don't have the time to check their Twitter feeds and friend status all day. Which is where I come in.
Now, I am all about free stuff so as I research and gather I am just going to write it down here for those DIY people. But for those business owners that would rather just pay someone to handle it, ('it' being building the profiles, adding friends, keeping in the loop with friends and up to date with networking features) I will be more then happy to take their money and do it for them. With flair I might add.