So, Social Networking, quite the buzz at the moment… or should I say it became “the buzz” as soon as everyone cottoned onto the fact that Facebook and MySpace are Social Networking sites 
Seriously though, the impact of Social Networking has extended way beyond the actual “social” realm and has become a very serious online marketing tool… And is vitality important to any marketing strategy. Why?
Quite simply, there are over 700 social networking sites online and EVERYONE from students to corporate execs are hanging out, and interacting with other like-minded individuals, on at least one of them.
A great example of the power of a social network can be seen on LinkedIn – the largest online business network in the world – most users interact and recommend one another via this portal and stats show that a large number of businesses refer one another through this channel. The classic age-old method of using a client or contact that gets recommended by someone else, or also known as good-old fashioned “word of mouth” marketing. In this world of capitalism and numerous competitive offerings the benefit of having someone you trust recommend a product or service, takes a big chunk out of the guess-work. Tada… and that is the crux of social networking
Ok, there are numerous other benefits to effective social networking and these include:
- Creation of brand awareness – the more sites you network on, the more brand awareness you create.
- Helps you manage your online reputation
- Increased traffic
- More traffic from the community means decreased dependence on search engines for all traffic
- Web content will get indexed faster
- Community links to you – Higher quality and assist in SEO
- Informed about competitor movements and feedback from your target markets
I mentioned that there are over 700 social bookmarking sites online, and figured I would touch 3 sites that are seeming to gain a bit of play in the online environment over the last few months…
1. Video Publishing and Entertainment - Web TV gets a new Social Network. Enter Hobnox, the latest social network that connect people via video. Users can also create and edit their own videos online using the free Hobnox software… pretty cool! (Thanks to Bryce for this one)
2. Social Networking for Mom’s – Big business enters the social networking arena. Sprint and Unilever have funded the venture with the aim of attracting millions of Mom’s to the site. What makes it so effective in its attractiveness is that it combines big-budget Hollywood style production techniques to get Mom’s to the site. Some Big names in Hollywood have signed-up to star in the consumer generated stories that are published on the website – Some really good and funny video content. Check out http://www.inthemotherhood.com/
3. Green Social Networks – To ease the daily pains (and to help your social conscience) visit and sign-up to Greenopolis. People band together online, to date, discuss politics or lose weight . this all happens in a community whose members help each other live in a more earth-friendly manner. Pretty cool!
See, don’t you feel better already
Whether the spin-offs of Facebook and MySpace are here for the long-haul remains to be seen, but for now everyone is capilitilising on the Social Networking rush… so be sure you don’t get left behind!
