Another important business reason for communities is referral. Whether your company is looking for new customers or for new employees, websites are quickly becoming the most efficient tool for establishing new relationships.

While sites like LinkedIn, shown in Figure 12-22, are primarily focused on individuals rather than companies, they are important resources for your business and need to be treated like a community, either by training your employees on their use or by monitoring your presence.

Figure 12-22. LinkedIn is a social community targeted at business users

Clearly, there are many reasons to engage your community, whether your goals are better marketing, improved support, broader reach, or simply to find out what’s going on across the Web in case you need to get involved.

The best way to learn about communities is to join the conversation. And like any conversation, that’s a matter of figuring out who’s talking, what they’re saying, and where they’re saying it.