In the last post we talked about some common myths and misconceptions associated with social media marketing. In this article, we are going to take some time and talk about a few different networks that may be perfect for marketing your business.
When you hear the term social networking, a few sites immediately come to mind. Even though there are hundreds of social media, bookmarking and networking websites online. When it comes to marketing, your focus should be on the top social networking sites because they dominate a much larger part of the market than all the others combined.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the top social networking sites and what they have to offer their users.
Billions of people use Facebook every day to keep up with friends, share photos, links, videos, and to learn more about the people they meet. It provides many different avenues of communication allowing members to connect in a way that is convenient and comfortable for them.
It provides users with a sense of community by offering groups, pages, applications and games that make networking with friends, family and colleagues easy and enjoyable, making it one of the top social networks online.
Twitter is another popular social network that uses a micro-blogging platform, which allows users to follow and connect, by posting short messages of a 140 characters or less (soon to be changed to 280).
Savvy marketers amass a large list of followers and feed them short, yet effective updates throughout the day. This micro format makes creating content much easier than other forms of blogging and social networking. You can quickly post your marketing message from anywhere using your computer, tablet, laptop or phone. Twitter can be a social marketer’s dream come.
Pinterest is still the relative new kid on the block, but is rapidly climbing the ranks to become one of the most popular social networks online.
What makes it so appealing is its visual nature. Virtual pinboards make it easy for users to organize and share all the beautiful images they have on their computers or find on the web. Businesses can use pinboards to showcase products, share helpful infographics, plan events, and even organize an online catalog of sorts. Another advantage of Pinterest is that it is really a “search engine” disguised as a “social platform”. The advantage of this is the fact that your content becomes immediately available to all users that use the search feature, no friends or followers required.
This strictly mobile network is taking the world by storm. It is one of the fast growing social networking platforms to date. It boasts members in the many millions with the users posting an average of 40 million photos every month. Business owners can harness the visual power of this network by posting timely photos of themselves, their business and happy customers using their products.
This network was developed specifically for business networking and is a definite must in any business SMM campaign. It is an excellent place to connect with other business professionals in your industry. Business owners can create a profile, add their resume and build a list of followers. Another important aspect of this powerful network is that members can recommend and endorse each other, which helps build strategic alliances and a solid online reputation for your brand and yourself.
Flickr
This social network also revolves around photo sharing. Users create accounts and fill them with their favorite photos, and other users can view and leave comments. Flickr photos can be commented on, tagged, edited and shared, facilitating communication and networking purely through photography.
Digg
This social network has been around for a few years and isn’t a household name like the other networks listed above, but don’t count it out. What makes it unique is that it revolves around sharing media and news with other users in the community. Businesses can harness the power of this social network by adding a “Digg It” button to their websites to help in encouraging social sharing of their content.
As mentioned above there are hundreds of online social networks and this list has just scratched the surface. You should definitely explore each of them individually. You should also look for other social networks that you can use to spread your marketing message to the masses, because you never know which one will work best for you until you try.
Make sure you look for our next article soon. We will be discussing importance of getting to know the social networks you plan to market on.
