Tips on Selecting a Social Networking Site From the Most Popular Social Networking Sites
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Tips on Selecting a Social Networking Site From the Most Popular Social Networking Sites
What are the essential steps of selecting a social networking site? There is no right or wrong way. Do whatever works best for you. But start small!
It's important with any marketing strategy or tactic to focus your attention on one element at a time. Trying to juggle too many tactics least to:
* Overwhelm
* Missed steps
* Missed opportunities
* Weak implementation
As with any marketing strategy, you must concentrate on one tactic at a time, so you can optimize it and then move onto your next task or tactic. Social networking is one tactic of your marketing strategies. Implementing the 'start small' philosophy means focusing on one social networking service at a time. Creating profiles on too many sites will short change your marketing effort. None of sites will receive your full attention and thus they'll likely fall short of your goals.
However, if you focus on creating a profile and optimizing one social networking site at a time, you can maximize your efforts.Plan what social networking site you're going to focus on first, second and maybe even third. That way your plan and strategy can support each other.
For example, if you choose to focus on Facebook first you may want to focus on twitter second. There are many ways to cross promote Twitter and Facebook activities. Each social networking site and effort can be used on the other and vice versa.
Choose Your Target
With more than 200 main stream social networking sites it can be difficult to decide which site is the right site to invest your time, money, and energy. Let's take a look at a few criteria to consider.
Popularity - Where Can You Find the Most People?
It is beneficial to focus your attention on the social networking site with the most members. It's like advertising during the SuperBowl. It may cost you a bit more but you'll be reaching more people.
Some of the most popular social networking sites include:
Facebook
www.facebook.com. Founded in 2004, their mission is: "Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected."
They claim:
* More than 500 million active users.
* More than 70 translations available on the site
* About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
* People on Facebook install 20 million applications every day
* Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites
* Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day
* More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore's U.S. Top 100 websites and over half of comScore's Global Top 100 websites
MySpace
www.MySpace.com Founded in 2003, MySpace is "a leading social entertainment destination powered by the passions of fans. Aimed at a Gen Y audience, MySpace drives social interaction by providing a highly personalized experience around entertainment and connecting people to the music, celebrities, TV, movies, and games that they love."
According to the factsheet on their website, "MySpace has more than 100 million users worldwide, half of which are in the U.S. Our fans are defined as Gen Y, whose numbers on our site grew over 23 percent this year. MySpace has a 50 percent market share in the 13-35 demographic in the US. MySpace is localized in 30 countries and translated into 16 languages"
Twitter
www.Twitter.com. "Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations."
As of September, 2010 Twitter has 175 million registered users. And 95 million tweets are written per day.
Tagged
www.Tagged.com . "Other social networks are for staying in touch with people you already know. At Tagged, we make it easy to meet new people through social games, friend suggestions, browsing profiles, group interests and much more."
You can create an account using your Twitter, Facebook or MySpace id thus combining your efforts.
Tagged claims to have over 100 million members and 25 million monthly visitors.
YouTube
www.YouTube.com "Founded in February 2005, YouTube allows billions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small."
On their press page, YouTube claims:
* More than 2 billion views per day
* 24 hours of video uploaded every minute
* More video uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three major US networks created in 60 years
* YouTube is localized in 25 countries across 43 languages
* YouTube's demographic is broad: 18-54 years old
* YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010
YahooAnswers
www.yahooanswers.com "Find out everything there is to know about Yahoo! Answers." Created in 2006 as Ask Yahoo, Yahoo Answers is a social network that operates on a scoring system. The more you interact, the higher your score. Yahoo! Answers staff claim 200 million users worldwide and 15 million users visiting daily.
LinkedIn
www.LinkedIn is a professional networking site. It's a place to build professional connections or further your career. Launched in 2003, "LinkedIn operates the world's largest professional network on the Internet.
On their about page, they claim:
* More than 90 million members in over 200 countries and territories.
* More than half of LinkedIn members are located outside of the United States.
* There were nearly two billion people searches on LinkedIn in 2010."
********
Note: Social Networking and Social Bookmarking are different. Social Bookmarking is the practice of bookmarking web pages and sharing them with an online community. It is also a good business building strategy.
Social Bookmarking sites are sites like:
* StumbleUpon
* Digg
* De.lic.ious
********
There are other advantages to joining a very popular social networking site - developers. The sites with most members motivate developers to create ways to enhance your experience. For instance, Twitter has a number of secondary tools you can use to schedule posts, to track results and to cross promote on sites like Facebook. So popular social networking site are easier to use simply due to the number of developer applications and secondary software products available.
Does the Social Networking Site Cater To Your Audience? AKA User Statistics
You need to select a popular social networking site that caters to your audience. It can be a popolar social networking site but if your target audience it is not using it, it is not an effective marketiong strategy. So how do you find out if your audience is using a social networking site?
Browse the site and look at who is using it.
Ask your readers and website visitors what sites they use - publish a survey on your blog or website and offer a giveaway in exchange for their response.
Visit the social networking site's home page and review their statistics and user information.
For example, Facebook lists the following statistics:
Does It Fit Into Your Plan?
Many social networking sites are easy to use and offer an plenty of features. Others do not. Make a list of what you want to accomplish with social networking before you decide which site to use. Once you have your goals established, you can compare sites based on that information.
For example, Facebook offers the ability to create a Fan Page. A Fan Page works almost like a website on Facebook. You can also add a sales page, welcome video, content and any number of links and promotions on your wall. All these feature make it extremely easy to create a community and a brand.
You can customize your Facebook Fan pages, by adding photos, discussion forums, micro-blogging, videos, and events. Also with the Fan page you the differentiate between "friends" and "fans". An update to your Fan page does not show up on your profile wall. This means you can post things to your fan page that your friends don't see. It's a nice way to separate your business activities from your personal activities. It will also prevent what may feel like SPAM to your friends. This feature makes it simple to promote without any hesitation. And when you feel like sharing information with your friends you can simply "Share" a fan page post on your profile. A Fan page also provides you with analytics tools and data points so you can test and track your success.
So remember, that your first step when creating a social networking plan is to consider what site you'll use first. Examine the pros and cons. Make sure your audience is present on the site. Ensure the site fits your plans and objectives. Review the outside applications and tools that can make your social networking efforts easy and quick.
For more awesome social media tips check out -
350 Social Media Tactics, 7 Steps to Social Media Success
and Facebook Profits.
Dania
www.makingmoneyhowto.biz
www.homebusinesstalk.biz
www.momsebizblog.blogspot.com
What are the essential steps of selecting a social networking site? There is no right or wrong way. Do whatever works best for you. But start small!
It's important with any marketing strategy or tactic to focus your attention on one element at a time. Trying to juggle too many tactics least to:
* Overwhelm
* Missed steps
* Missed opportunities
* Weak implementation
As with any marketing strategy, you must concentrate on one tactic at a time, so you can optimize it and then move onto your next task or tactic. Social networking is one tactic of your marketing strategies. Implementing the 'start small' philosophy means focusing on one social networking service at a time. Creating profiles on too many sites will short change your marketing effort. None of sites will receive your full attention and thus they'll likely fall short of your goals.
However, if you focus on creating a profile and optimizing one social networking site at a time, you can maximize your efforts.Plan what social networking site you're going to focus on first, second and maybe even third. That way your plan and strategy can support each other.
For example, if you choose to focus on Facebook first you may want to focus on twitter second. There are many ways to cross promote Twitter and Facebook activities. Each social networking site and effort can be used on the other and vice versa.
Choose Your Target
With more than 200 main stream social networking sites it can be difficult to decide which site is the right site to invest your time, money, and energy. Let's take a look at a few criteria to consider.
Popularity - Where Can You Find the Most People?
It is beneficial to focus your attention on the social networking site with the most members. It's like advertising during the SuperBowl. It may cost you a bit more but you'll be reaching more people.
Some of the most popular social networking sites include:
www.facebook.com. Founded in 2004, their mission is: "Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected."
They claim:
* More than 500 million active users.
* More than 70 translations available on the site
* About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
* People on Facebook install 20 million applications every day
* Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites
* Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day
* More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore's U.S. Top 100 websites and over half of comScore's Global Top 100 websites
MySpace
www.MySpace.com Founded in 2003, MySpace is "a leading social entertainment destination powered by the passions of fans. Aimed at a Gen Y audience, MySpace drives social interaction by providing a highly personalized experience around entertainment and connecting people to the music, celebrities, TV, movies, and games that they love."
According to the factsheet on their website, "MySpace has more than 100 million users worldwide, half of which are in the U.S. Our fans are defined as Gen Y, whose numbers on our site grew over 23 percent this year. MySpace has a 50 percent market share in the 13-35 demographic in the US. MySpace is localized in 30 countries and translated into 16 languages"
www.Twitter.com. "Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations."
As of September, 2010 Twitter has 175 million registered users. And 95 million tweets are written per day.
Tagged
www.Tagged.com . "Other social networks are for staying in touch with people you already know. At Tagged, we make it easy to meet new people through social games, friend suggestions, browsing profiles, group interests and much more."
You can create an account using your Twitter, Facebook or MySpace id thus combining your efforts.
Tagged claims to have over 100 million members and 25 million monthly visitors.
YouTube
www.YouTube.com "Founded in February 2005, YouTube allows billions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small."
On their press page, YouTube claims:
* More than 2 billion views per day
* 24 hours of video uploaded every minute
* More video uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three major US networks created in 60 years
* YouTube is localized in 25 countries across 43 languages
* YouTube's demographic is broad: 18-54 years old
* YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010
YahooAnswers
www.yahooanswers.com "Find out everything there is to know about Yahoo! Answers." Created in 2006 as Ask Yahoo, Yahoo Answers is a social network that operates on a scoring system. The more you interact, the higher your score. Yahoo! Answers staff claim 200 million users worldwide and 15 million users visiting daily.
www.LinkedIn is a professional networking site. It's a place to build professional connections or further your career. Launched in 2003, "LinkedIn operates the world's largest professional network on the Internet.
On their about page, they claim:
* More than 90 million members in over 200 countries and territories.
* More than half of LinkedIn members are located outside of the United States.
* There were nearly two billion people searches on LinkedIn in 2010."
********
Note: Social Networking and Social Bookmarking are different. Social Bookmarking is the practice of bookmarking web pages and sharing them with an online community. It is also a good business building strategy.
Social Bookmarking sites are sites like:
* StumbleUpon
* Digg
* De.lic.ious
********
There are other advantages to joining a very popular social networking site - developers. The sites with most members motivate developers to create ways to enhance your experience. For instance, Twitter has a number of secondary tools you can use to schedule posts, to track results and to cross promote on sites like Facebook. So popular social networking site are easier to use simply due to the number of developer applications and secondary software products available.
Does the Social Networking Site Cater To Your Audience? AKA User Statistics
You need to select a popular social networking site that caters to your audience. It can be a popolar social networking site but if your target audience it is not using it, it is not an effective marketiong strategy. So how do you find out if your audience is using a social networking site?
Browse the site and look at who is using it.
Ask your readers and website visitors what sites they use - publish a survey on your blog or website and offer a giveaway in exchange for their response.
Visit the social networking site's home page and review their statistics and user information.
For example, Facebook lists the following statistics:
- More than 500 million active users
- 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
- Average user has 130 friends
- People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
- There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
- Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
- Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
- More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.
Does It Fit Into Your Plan?
Many social networking sites are easy to use and offer an plenty of features. Others do not. Make a list of what you want to accomplish with social networking before you decide which site to use. Once you have your goals established, you can compare sites based on that information.
For example, Facebook offers the ability to create a Fan Page. A Fan Page works almost like a website on Facebook. You can also add a sales page, welcome video, content and any number of links and promotions on your wall. All these feature make it extremely easy to create a community and a brand.
You can customize your Facebook Fan pages, by adding photos, discussion forums, micro-blogging, videos, and events. Also with the Fan page you the differentiate between "friends" and "fans". An update to your Fan page does not show up on your profile wall. This means you can post things to your fan page that your friends don't see. It's a nice way to separate your business activities from your personal activities. It will also prevent what may feel like SPAM to your friends. This feature makes it simple to promote without any hesitation. And when you feel like sharing information with your friends you can simply "Share" a fan page post on your profile. A Fan page also provides you with analytics tools and data points so you can test and track your success.
So remember, that your first step when creating a social networking plan is to consider what site you'll use first. Examine the pros and cons. Make sure your audience is present on the site. Ensure the site fits your plans and objectives. Review the outside applications and tools that can make your social networking efforts easy and quick.
For more awesome social media tips check out -
350 Social Media Tactics, 7 Steps to Social Media Success
and Facebook Profits.
Dania
www.makingmoneyhowto.biz
www.homebusinesstalk.biz
www.momsebizblog.blogspot.com