Starting Your Own Business - 3 Questions You Need to Ask About a Social Networking Strategy

Starting a business in today's climate with today's technology is different to starting a business even 5 years ago. One of the biggest innovations of recent times has been the plethore of popular social media and networking sites. It is changing the way that people interact.

As a business person you cannot ignore social media and networking sites. However, if you are starting your own business, you should not just jump in to social networking haphazardly. Whilst it is important that you do get started with social media, you also need to make sure that you are strategic in your approach. This article contains three questions you must answer before you get started.

What are you trying to accomplish with your social networking- What are you trying to achieve? There are a few options available to you. Social networking can be a new sales channel or it can be an opportunity to boost your brand. Whatever you decide that you are going to do you need to make sure that your activities are uniform. Don't confuse your existing customers or potential customers. It will be very off-putting

What do you believe in and what are your core values- You cannot pretend to be something that you are not. What do you believe in? Your social networking activities should represent your beliefs and values. If you have a charity that you support you should let your social networking contacts know about this charity. If you are going to get involved in social networking you need to make people realize that your business is not just the product or service. You need to share some of your personality.

What is the narrative- Your narrative is your personal story. You should always be working on your personal narrative. You need to put out there what you want people to think and say about you. If you aren't developing your own narrative then somebody else will be developing a narrative for you. If you are not controlling your story then chances are that the story that is being put out there will be wrong or only half complete.

If you are starting your own business today you need to look at social media sites. It is increasingly pervasive in society. Before you leap in to social networking haphazardly you need to make sure that you have goals and that you share your core values and your narrative with those who connect with you at these social networking sites.

Hamish Jones is the founder of Best Business Deals. Check out the blog for more advice on starting your own business.