Best Social Media App for Professional Sales

There are multiple layers to Social Media in terms of the types of services and applications. Almost all are free, while some offer various degrees of payment to access certain features. So what are the best Social Media applications for sales and professional networking? We suggest a couple below and maybe you have some of your own to recommend?

First we wanted to suggest that there are some Social Networking services that are more geared towards simply connecting and sharing that aren't conducive to professional networking. A good example is MySpace, which is, we think, more geared toward the music lover and from our research is a "younger" space. Additionally, Social Networking is simply one part of Social Media that enables the establishment of direct connecting relationships.

We've looked at the most popular Social Networks on the Web for ease-of-use, ability to connect and useful applications built in.

Facebook: Surprisingly, Facebook came out long after MySpace and was intended for high-schools, universities and so on. Once it went available to the masses it quickly became the De Facto standard in North America and second to Bebo in the UK. Facebook offers lots of ways to actively build your reputation as a professional, albeit a little more family oriented.

LinkedIn: Certainly the most popular Social Network for business in North America and number two in the UK and growing on mainland Europe. LinkedIn avoids a lot of the "consumer" oriented applications like Facebook, but also limits some of the ways you can cleverly connect with prospects, customers and associates.

ecademy: This professional oriented site was more popular than LinkedIn and the two are in a heated battle. Personally, I found ecademy to be a little cumsy and aggressive at trying to upsell you with all kinds of "codes and colours" that had me rather confused. I still check in every now and then, but personally, LinkedIn works far easier and is faster.

Sermo: This is the Social Network for doctors, and diagnosis of patient conditions have resulted from this service. You'll have to be a doctor to register; no hypocondriacs allowed.

Beyond these three basic Social Networking tools, you start to get specialized and finding the contacts becomes a little more difficult. There are several "specialty" Social Networks for artists, musicians and automotive buffs. You can even build your own Social Network, but that's for a later discussion.

Have any Social Networks you use for professional connections?