We are jumping on the social networking bandwagon, because we want to not miss the movement or we methodically search inclusion of this new direction in our whole marketing plan?
I excited when I hear about a new way to communicate with my customer base. There is a dialogue nothing more important than open with a client, as they can provide the important information that is required to promote a product or service of the company.
Allies, but how at all, just because it exists doesn't mean marketing channels, that it is right for you can be a very powerful social networks.
So, if you are looking to on board the social networking train jump, should be what you search for, how should you act, and what should you do?
I have a very simple way, look at social networking, which revolves around the word social, I like to interact on a social event [equate successor party.] At a party you want to be successful, what other people say mixing with the other guests, you have to hear, try, more about the people know you talk to, so that more information to keep the conversation flow have, in a sincere way to communicate, and finally, you want to not dominate the conversation, otherwise you can even up to the end of the evening talk. In many social environments that run you usually the same people over and over again, so that, if they were successful in previous interactions you can a person they are looking to speak with.
Another important point for the word social is that social networks are typically an informal gathering of people, the exchange of information, or just socialize might be interested in. This is the key component, why social networks are successful for general consumer use, but have a hard time, inclusion in the economic environment. Most their social network of choice by the desire to take part in a special interest Forum in drawn, what does anyone at a unique event to say or to view a video on a subject that they have to listen to an interest in. You're actively or passively take part, but that's their choice, and it is no exaggeration or alternative scene not only a part of the social network. So, if you are a company, you are directly a business conversation questions or why, you want to join the a social network is offline in a social network, the a barrier for the open communication can create, and communication.
So, if directly, to use a particular social network on the social networking bandwagon without a plan like you, you can end press your message to the customer and not ends, what they say; You will not earn trust. If you do not trust earn you can not then take the next steps in relation to the opening of a dialogue which you excluded, that soliciting would details of your product or service.
Important facts for a company to take into account, when the social network channels to work:
Be yourself - there is nothing to do worse for a business, then you create a false image on a social network and then found out. Hear what apart, do not dominate the conversation - is keep in mind this is a social network; People are involved in by their own choice. You must earn the right to participate; drive not the conversation. Bind authentic, do listen to not be transparent - these points to be honest with your communication, open to all feedback and comments will be. To participate in selective on the social networks in - if you yourself are, if you are is binding and not transparent, then it would be impossible, an active presence on every social network to keep, but no active presence on each have. If a social network channel not met your expectations then formulate a plan on another channel, look at and learn from your time on the other channels. Your marketing plan is before the controlling power - take your marketing-plan out the window, if you you should have considered the use of social networks in the whole marketing plan so that you are a social network, in fact, on a common outcome with your customers. Social networks are not a panacea; You are only a further channel with your customers to communicate, to manage your expectations and your perceptions. Social networking is a way of thinking - social networks are a tool that you use, but you differentiate from your competitors as you use this tool, and what you get by him.
As I said, I get excited when I hear about new ways to engage a conversation with a customer and the social-networking tools offer some great options depending on how you will interact with your customers and where you can find them. If it begins with your customers the marketing in the economy today, and especially with social networks, and it ends with your customers, make sure that you know your customers.
Social networking is another option within your entire marketing plan. Therefore, just as you each media document, product packaging assessment and analysis proofread feedback regarding services, you must actively involved and have a plan for the use of social networks that complements your marketing strategy.
As you the most out of your social network
Create a social network - social networking design made easy
Here are ten tips and points for those who want to create your own social network:
First, you decide whether your social network for a specific niche is provided or if there is general interest. Closed or open? Must users an invitation before they can join your network or your social network for all will be open? For starters, it is first advisable initially closed invitation. In this way, you can see how your social network launches first with only a few people. The creation of a social network can be time consuming especially in its initial phase. You take care that you have enough time to dedicate to this project, as you need things are updated. How another site key, to keep people back to your site is content. Make sure that you have received sufficient resources and materials to your content. It is important to keep always your content specifically for your users. How to create a social network just stop not. You need to ways for people to interact and to find together with each other. Think of tasks and activities for you users enjoy. Features and functionalities are two of the most important factors to a fast-growing network. Select only features that you think that the user must have. Photo-sharing is one of the most popular features of social networking sites. You can add further features, how to extend your network, but it is sure to stick to the basics for starters. Be sure to ask your users relevant information. Most people are usually turned off if you is too much information from them. Also, they offer users that hide option, some information from the public or by other users. Although this social networking is, some people are still concerned about their privacy. Is your social network just for a limited time or running it indefinitely? It is advisable that users about your plans for the development of social network let know. Security is also an important factor to take into account. Since this is your own social network, you have the possibility of control over your members. Give warnings or user ban inappropriate Act. It is important to keep in mind the well-being of your other members. Are looking for other social-networking Web sites and see what they have for their members on Commons. Find out just that under social networks, and take tips from them.
For free you promote your business with social networking social networking
Every company is supposed to make a profit from your existence. This is often by selling a product or service. Your products and services to make must themselves religiously to promote business for potential customers to sell for a profit. The "golden rule" have your products or services which have found by the right prospects, you as a company to advertise.
Will questions, what could it be?
With online social networking sites is one of the many ways that you promote your online business, without spending money. Millions of people use every day to connect the Internet to communicate and network with social-networking platforms.
Social networking has been created, connect to others and online relationships to build help. That does not exclude, enterprises and entrepreneurs. To form friendships, while social networking the most common form is the social networking but as an entrepreneur, social-networking sites as a lever can be used, to gain credibility and prospects online, if properly used.
The most social networking websites are to the online friends and relations to make. There are however social networks created specifically for businesses and entrepreneurs to network, promote, advertise, and connect. This particular social networks allow entrepreneurs the possibility, sharing of business data, and others, which parts of your business and ideal for a shared interest to develop close relations. Social networking is beneficial not only to promote your business, but it gives you the opportunity as a business owner to learn in your area from others.
As stated above to promote social-networking sites that allow business, a great free advertising and marketing tool. However, it is recommended you, remember to remember, the way to friendships make and not necessarily on social networking for your business use. Not assume that some social networks, not for you or your company are. Can social networks like MySpace, Friendster and Yahoo! 360, to your business prospects find potential and connect with clients that will do business with you. This should be your goal by social networking for your business.
After you take the leap into the social networking, you begin to create a profile for your site. This usually includes a photo, a bio and interest section. Some social networks, you can post videos, blogs etc. Use this to your advantage without spamming others. This is off a great turning point in the social networking arena. Use your profile not strictly to promote your business. Join the fun, some added value, lessons and learn. Social network users can smell a fake business trick a mile away. Take care how you interact with others through your profile page.
If you decide to have a social network for your company to promote, if you can connect correctly, this benefits that increase your bottom line of companies to build credibility, and help you to find potential customers. The possibilities are endless.
How to create your social network
The fastest and most popular build your social network can be explained by joining social networking services, websites and communities. These networking platforms to help you simply create your social network. Can interact for free with other people with same interests as you social networking sites and services. There are even some social networking sites with the primary goal of connecting people for business travellers. For lost on social networking sites, old classmates, colleagues or friends you add them to your social network, as you go. The best way to get your social network to build, be not shy. This is hard for some people, because they typically are the "wall flowers of the prom dance" when it comes to meet new people. Interaction is the key to networking. You must really myself out there and make the first move, introduction, e-Mail, post or message. Do not be afraid, talk discussion, and connect with people who are, why are you on social-networking Web site. It is also for persistent will. Stay active on these types of sites and services. You never know when you find or miss the opportunity.
So, check the websites or services that you have joined in the course of time. Remain about things. Is another good way to build your social network, you will find out, what is the best kind of social networking sites meets your needs. If you really want to build your social network more than a social-networking community you join. Join as many of them that need to fit your desired. The participation is another way to build your social network. Participation in local groups, discussions, chats, message boards, blogs and comments. The more you participate you become the more likely a connection with other people produce and useful information with each other start release. If you stay with your social-networking sites persistently you build your social network in a strong group of contacts and make a King ransom in the process.
Importance of social networks for business
Introduction:
Companies after ever increasing the speed of utilization of internet and social networks by individuals decided to use social networks to become more and more popular in terms of their banding strategies, positioning, marketing activities, customers services and feedbacks, implementation of e-CRM and alike. People use social networks in order to communicate, share their ideas, and use the flow of information and other means of publishing information about themselves.
In terms of clarification of analysis on customer satisfaction, customer retention, and customer relationship management and customer feedbacks, social networks play a pivotal role. As a result companies have tried to utilize Social network services in order to better serve customers and obtain other various objectives. Most companies recognized that social network sites (SNSs) like Napster, Facebook, and Twitter and so on are the best places to them in order to highlight their brand image through which they can increase their market share, and sustainability.
What is a Social Network?
It is considered as a platform through which social relations will be built among people and information sharing will be facilitated. Through social networks sites personal information and relationships can be shared and users can stay in touch.
Most of SNSs provide a personal page for posting, ability to search for friends and other issues like updating profile and personal data and have the ability to restrict and/or conceal the mentioned information by page owner from the eyes of public or specific people.
These Online facilities (SNSs) have improved the movements of individuals on online tasks, especially in the mentioned social networks for the purpose of maintaining friendships regardless of distance (geographical limitation). Not only that but also it enables people to find better jobs and partners.
Regarding the acceptance of these sites by people, companies have become interested to get involved in this process through which they can sell their products and services and better serve customer 's needs and wants and through analysis of consumer buying patterns and their feedbacks they can fine tune their decision making process as well as their strategies.
Below information reveals the fact that how rapidly number of social networks increase since 1997.
1997: SixDegrees.com
1998: ---
1999: Asian Avenue, Live Journal, Black Planet
2000: LunarStorm (SNS relaunch), Migente
2001: Cyworld, Ryze
2002: Fotolog, Friendster, SkyBlog
2003: CouchSurfing, LinkedIn, MySpace, HI5, Tribe.net,
2004: Orkut, Dogster, Flicker, Facebook (Harward only), Mixi, Piczo, Hyves, Catster
2005: YouTube, Zanga, Yahoo.360, Facebook (Highschool networks), Bebo, Ning, Asian Avenue & BlackPlanet (relaunched)
2006 till now: QQ, Windows Live Space, Facebook (Corporate Networks), Twitter, MyChurch, and then Facebook (Everyone)
Many companies during previous decade as a result of increasing the use of these networks have decided to penetrate into SNSs in order to find the relevant information of people, elicit information and analyze them in order to make appropriate decision based on market moves; not only in terms of customers but also in terms of competitors and rules and regulations. They aim at finding useful information in order to do external (Scanning, monitoring, forecasting, assessing), and industry analysis (5 forces of porter) as well as competitor analysis.
Usefulness of Social Networks:
Considering SNSs as a marketing tool, they help companies to interact with customers and create online communities and pages,
Updating latest activity of companies, advertisements and providing customers with applications necessary or useful in order to increase the traffic of their page, blog or community,
Facilitate the process of being aware of the company, and promote ideas, products and services,
Skipping search engine optimizations rankings,
It helps to get feedback from customers and to better implement the concept o electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) and to classify valuable customers in order to serve them with value creating activities,
Focus on market, global reach, limitless number of customers who can be served, to better segment the market and customers,
Enables different model of advertising such word of mouth, suggestions for specific group or niche and so on.
Fastest way to get information and finding opportunities,
Social Networking Sites and E-commerce Businesses:
Although other methods of communication exist, they are to some extent different comparing to SNSs. Social network is a place in which individuals become fan of a page, they see each other and based on their mutual interest they become capable of interacting with each other and make a community on their own.
The mentioned issue is the result of shifting the power through utilization of SNSs from company to consumers. More social networks get popular, the tougher is the implementation of business based on traditional procedures therefore; companies must consider market moves in this case. Besides, by digging up the information available on these networks identification of valuable customers would be easier and a business can serve its valuable customers much better in this regard.
Regarding the accessibility of individuals to internet, companies moved from Brick and Mortar to Click and Mortar or to virtual one which resulted in operational efficiency improvement as well as generating revenue.
As companies are moving toward the above mentioned issue (adaptation of EC), they utilize several strategies to achieve success. They used various strategies in business and corporate level to reduce costs of transaction, reducing delivery time, to better serve the customers and to better manage them, and to better inform them about the current activities performing by the business especially for service companies. Accordingly, due to massive passion of individuals in case of using social networks like Facebook, twitter and so on, companies decided to reduce the gap between themselves and consumers by following consumers passion therefore, they started to make use of social networks and possibly other web 2.0 applications on extend their businesses.
In this era, almost all companies have websites and among them, some have social network to better communicate with customers which is linked to a website by the use of social plugins. Consequently, it is highly suggested to businesses that if they are not being first mover in Social networks, at least do never miss the chance of being late mover.
Impact of Social Networks on Marketing:
As it is mentioned above, individuals will be attracted to join famous social networks in order to create a profile and connect with existing members or pages or businesses. Once a profile created, users can interact with each other; send invitation for others to join. By the time a link shaped, communication to a friend, group members become easy because users tend to organize themselves by affinity, life stage, and psychographics which would be an excellent chance for targeted marketing.
Impact of Social Networks on Purchase Intention:
Through the use of social network as mentioned before members share their ideas, they may talk about different thing even including the recent product they bought or a particular type of service given to them or offered by a company. Many people around the world believe in talking to other consumers in order to get the required information before purchasing for a good or service (a matter of trust factor-word of mouth). And nowadays consumers due to availability of information on the internet they prefer to search online and when going online they more like to go to social networks in order to find more information from other customers, and what have been shared on social network pages of a particular company about certain type of good or service.
Form the eyes of marketers the information shared is vital for companies regarding the fact that information shared are the real facts mentioning by customers/consumers, and friends or fans of a particular group may rely or trust on other people (or fans) when saying facts.
In terms of marketing, in social networks various marketing aspects can be covered.
Word of mouth, Market research, Market segmentation, General marketing, Communication between customers as well as employees, Public relations, Customer service Management of reputation and brand positioning,
Marketers use network marketing because of its various benefits which some of them are:
Product increase and brand awareness,
Being online helps companies to increase the awareness of their products and services especially through social networks sites.
By every interaction, marketers try to indirectly lead members or fans to follow the news of companies and everything and remember the brand and website.
Increase the traffic,
All companies try to increase the traffic of their websites by using various methods like communicating, recommending and postings on SNSs followed by a link in order to guide a fan or member to the official website and let them know their available products and services.
Improve search engine optimization (SEO),
In order to increase the popularity of a website companies need to share more links everywhere so that search engines find the contents follows by link easily. In this case people will read more of the content a company shared. Social media must be part of search engine optimization strategy.
It is worth mentioning that the value of finding content on SNSs is very much because they appear natural to search engines.
Increase loyalty of customers,
Brand loyalty will be achieved when a company can promote its services or products via social networks. By releasing true valuable content, trust go up and reputation of company increases.
In the process of using social media customers feel that they are participants rather than being only a user. If they feel they are participant they will be more involved and as a result of customer involvement and value creating activities of company customer loyalty increases.
Increase the success rate of lunching new good,
Regarding the fact that flow of information is very high in SNSs, understanding customer needs and want become easier which can be considered as a unique opportunity of social networks. Accordingly, companies can serve customers better by lunching goods appropriate to the tastes of consumers and manage product development process in order to increase customer loyalty and retention.
Impact of Social Networks on Sales:
SNSs are helpful in case of acquiring more benefit and possibly increase market share in competitive market. Through the utilization of social networks companies will find new method to serve customers better based on their expectations and their needs, to find customers, communicate with them and understand them in order to acquire new customers and also to retain the existing one.
Although it is a good opportunity, in some organization still a vague attitude toward utilization of social networks exists. Through social networks a salesperson can achieve benefit of having access to profiles before the commencement of communication.
SNSs and e-commerce businesses have made the world very small because they have eliminated the geographical limitations as a barrier for marketing and sales and by going online, they reduced the number of intermediaries therefore; firms may sell more and achieve more profit.
To exemplify, Facebook has millions users and many of them are over 18years old and its traffic is high. Therefore Facebook can be a very good place to do promotional, customer centric activities in order to increase sales. Also lots of pages exists that users are involved in. Sales persons and marketers can analyze the insights of the pages. Every page reveals information about daily, weekly and monthly active users, demographic information, daily feedbacks and so on which can be used to analyze the customer behavior pattern and customer relationship management which ultimately results in increase in sales.
Consequently, through penetrating into social networks, businesses have an access to vast majority of consumers. So creating account in social networks and joining groups leads to expand contacts and increase sales.
Impact of Social Networks on Services:
Individuals using social networks are increasing day by day. So the rate of communication among them increases. These communications can be about social stuff or about a product or service they purchased. These communications among individuals can be considered as an opportunity and also a challenge for customer service departments. Customers mainly like to receive a service based on their preferred channels. Because customers reveal their opinion widely if they are not pleased which result in detrimental impact on a firm's product or service.
Through social networks companies receive feedbacks from customers which lead them to improve the quality of services/products as well as finding the best opportunity based on customer's needs and wants. Therefore customer service channels like Facebook, twitter and alike can be used as a tool for performing value creating activities.
It is worth mentioning that through SNSs many problems between customers and company can be solved on the spot and it would be easier to reduce cost of services.
In this case some social networking accelerator tools exist like (Microsoft Dynamics CRM) to better manage, handle and monitor customers. These tools perform activities like:
Monitoring SNSs for branding issues and keywords, Tracking customers,
SNSs also provide efficient multi-channel service which leads to reduce customer service calls and direct contacts and costs related issues.
Some social network accelerators help to better analyze customer's feedback and to track the feedbacks easily. Not only that but also to monitor their activities and participating in communities to identify customers service pattern and trend.
Conclusion:
Regarding all the above mentioned issues and facts, social networks can be an excellent driver for a business in so many terms whether the company is click and mortar or virtual. By having access to social networks communication with customers will be easier, companies can focus on marketing aspects as well as sales improvement by utilization of customer relationship management and public relation management. Due to intense rivalry in existing global market, it can be considered as a core competency in order to achieve competitive advantage against rivals which leads to increase in sustainability, profitability and maintaining market share.
Internet marketing on social networks
If your an internet marketer, affiliate marketer, entrepreneur or someone who wants to use internet marketing on social networks, there are a few tactics and strategies you'll need to consider before going after your intended target market.
Taking the time to carefully construct a social marketing campaign plan can be the difference between success and dismal results. Here are 7 marketing strategies, tactics and questions I would consider before attempting to use social media and social networks for marketing online.
Are you wanting to use social networks to brand yourself or your company? If so, then your approach would be entirely different than someone who is simply wishing to create numerous backlinks from high authority page ranked social sites. A branding campaign would obviously require a bit more time and effort. If your simply taking the shotgun approach and trying to get backlinks in an effort to rank highly in the search engines, then you may want to create a buffer between your social network profiles and social bookmarking efforts. In other words, once you have used the social bookmarking sites and have created social network profiles that have a link pointing back to your site, promote and link those sites which already have authority in order to give your main site a little extra boost.
2. Hobby or Money Site?
If your utilizing social networks to promote your hobby/special interest site then you probably don't need to overthink your overall social media campaign. On the other hand, if your in this to make money, then your social networking profile and efforts need to reflect this in a balanced way. Add a fair amount of info, photos, videos and content to your profiles so that you do not give off the vibe that your simply on the social site to promote yourself or your site. Take the time to search out friends with relevant interests, as opposed to getting trigger happy with friends requests. Join groups that fall within the target market you should have already identified. Lastly, although you need to add content to your profiles to mix it up a bit, remember that your trying to drive potential prospects into your sales funnel or your offer. Your overall goal of your social networking profile should be focused on this, otherwise you might as well just consider your efforts a hobby.
3. Who is your Target Audience/Market/Niche?
This may seem obvious to some, but you should consider who it is your trying to market to on social networks. Hopefully you've done your homework, researched your niche and determined the demographics of who is most likely to be interested in your offer or what your promoting. For example, lets say you've identified that males between the ages of 45-55 are more likely to be interested in your offer, website your promoting, etc. It would not make much sense to spend an enormous amount of time on a social network who's main user audience generally tends to be 14-21 years old. It's a lot like traffic generation. Untargeted traffic, at the end of the day, will only eat up your bandwidth and focusing your efforts on social networks that don't match up with your target audience will only eat up your time.
4. Consider Outsourcing Your Social Networking Efforts
It can be quite tedious and time consuming to create profiles, upload content, manage friends requests, and everything else that goes along with participating and marketing on social networks. If you have the financial means to do so, you may want to consider outsourcing the tasks of signing up on social networks and maintaining the day to day activities that go with it. If your just starting out, and have more time on your hands than money in your pocket to burn, you'll probably want to manage your social profiles yourself. On the other hand, only you can determine what your time is worth. You may just find that its worth spending X amount of dollars per month to outsource your social networking efforts so that you can focus on other aspects of your business.
5. Consider Purchasing Advertising Space
Most social networks offer advertising space and in most cases it's relatively inexpensive. Maybe you would like to determine whether its even worth creating a presence on a certain social site. Why not run a small test campaign to see how responsive your target audience is on a given network? Most sites enable you to drill down by various demographics for your ad campaigns, use that to your advantage and test the waters out. If your ads and offers are converting, keep the ad running and then take the time to either create a presence on that social network or outsource that task.
6. Remember Why Your There in the First Place
It's easy to get distracted in our day to day lives. Nowhere is that probably more evident than on the web, and it could be argued that social networks are the biggest time waster of them all for some people. It's very easy to look up from your monitor and realize you just spent 30 minutes Twittering about nothing, an hour and a half watching and rating viral videos on YouTube, adding friends, blocking friends that turn out to be spammers, ignoring spammy bulletins and friends statuses on MySpace, installing apps on Facebook, stumbling on StumbleUpon, Sphinning hoping others Sphinn you back...and before you know it 3 hours have gone by and what have you accomplished? Oh and don't forget, you haven't even checked your email yet. After you skim through the spam that made it past your junk folder, and the emails from all the social sites, the "so-and-so" is now following you on Twitter (who happens to be following 3,000 other people while only being followed by perhaps 5 people). Are your beginning to get the picture?
Social Networks can be a great place to market your offers, brand yourself and your companies considering the sheer number of people who hangout and interact on these sites. Just remember not to loose track of time, stay focused on your original reason for being on these sites in the first place. It can be a great to make some new friends, network a little and all that. But if your main reason for using social networks is to market yourself or your services and lead people into your sales funnel, remember that and focus your time strategically.
7. Create a Presence on Smaller Niche Based Social Networks
If you came across a social network that happened to consist of a small group of avid enthusiasts pertaining to the niche market you just happened to be targeting or had an particular interest in yourself, for example, a golfing social network and you were trying to market a golfing product online as an affiliate... would you consider creating a social profile presence on that particular site? Would you consider buying advertising space on that niche based social site? What if the site was just launched and had not yet built up a member base yet, but the site looked like it had a lot of potential? There are numerous niched based social networking sites coming online these days. While there is obviously room for more than just one or two players in any given niche based social networking site category, the ones that come across as complete cookie-cutter sites, out-of the box scripts and that are never able to attain a decent sized member base will eventually fold and close up shop if the niche is a fairly competitive one. Others will grow over time, evolve and be a gathering point of people who share similar interests. Why not create a profile on these niche based sites before there are 100's if not 1000's of members so that your profile is the one new members see first? Some of these niched based social sites are like diamonds in the rough, just waiting to be mined, that will grow over time into a highly targeted user base just waiting to be marketed to with a relevant offer. Personally, I'd much rather market to 50 - 100 people on a smaller network whom were obviously prequalified, targeted leads as opposed to joining a social site with millions of members and have a 1000 friends to contend with whom are not the least bit interested in the niche I was targeting or the offer I was trying to present. While your creating a presence on the larger social sites like Facebook and MySpace, try to identify some of the smaller social networking sites coming online that pertain to your market/target niche and create a presence there while these sites are in their infancy. Who knows, you may just discover a few niche based social networks that turn out to be hidden goldmines for your market before your competitors do.
Is it social media-what? A Guide to benefit from social networking
SM is an umbrella term that encompasses the technologies and the activities that people use to share experiences, ideas and information with each other. The term is still evolving. The term "SOCIAL MEDIA" most often refers to activities that integrate technology, social (or human) interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio - better known as "user generated content" [an example of UGC would be videos on YouTube.]
Examples of social media applications are Google Groups (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Youmeo (social network aggregation), Last.fm (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Flickr (photo sharing), Twitter (social networking and microblogging) and other microblogs such as Jaiku and Pownce.
--- What is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?
SMM is where you use social media networking and user-generated content platforms to promote a product, service or content. SMM typically involves creating and participating in a "conversation" with the target audience, rather than blatantly advertising to them.
SMM can also include creating and promoting viral content that is meant to be shared by users. Many marketers are not comfortable with the lack of control over social media but when approached properly, social networks can be extremely effective channels for building product evangelism, reputation management or corporate branding
--- Why is it becoming so popular?
I believe it's simply because it mirrors our true nature. We are gregarious by nature and for once we are able to use technology easily to reach out and connect in new and exciting ways. It's still all so new too, there are new frontiers popping up regularly and it's a bit like the early Internet "gold rush" days during the 90's
--- Is every Social Media site for every entrepreneur?
They might not think so, but it is. You do it naturally every day, SM online is simply the same thing applied technologically.
--- How does a business owner determine which site is the best match for them?
Good question. Not all SM Sites are equal. I typically advise people to think "classical marketing" and don't let the 'flashing lights' fool you. Visit the site, pat attention to the conversation. "Lurk" for a while. Ask a question, see what happens. Each environment has its own rules. Blunder in and start shouting and you'll get flamed. Respect the environments 'sub culture' and you'll do fine. An obvious example of this in action is a site that caters to "gamers" - you instinctively know that if you're selling insurance you would have a tough time in that environment. Like I said, think like a classical marketer.
--- Are there some "best practices" steps to starting and maintaining your SMM sites? And how do I make social networking work for me?
- Social Media Marketing
Many a company has forgotten the old maxim, "Act in haste, repent at your leisure..." The same warning should be applied to companies rushing to get in on the social media marketing wave.
If you hear things at work like "We should have a blog," or "Let's join Facebook," I suggest [respectfully] that maybe you are about to make a whopper of a mistake.
Here's why...
- Backwards is bad
You are starting your social media strategy design backwards - and this will lead to trouble.
In any other business endeavor we start by figuring out what we want to accomplish. Social media technologies are not magical. They're just tools too. It's time to stop doing social media marketing because it's trendy and instead do it because it works!
- 4 Things to Remember
(1) The web is about people. You need to know your audience. Understand their capabilities, their hangouts online, their language and behaviors. If you're targeting business travelers then consider rating and review sites for example. Just don't guess...
(2) Figure out what will be different when you are done. This is the "why" behind your plans. Do you want to create a close knit community or a product testing ground. Understand the motive's behind your actions.
(3) What outcomes and objectives are you seeking to achieve. Consider the end result and how you will measure it. A fuzzy or fluffy end result is almost as bad as not specifying one at all. How will you measure success?
(4) What technology to choose. Only answer this question when you've completed the others because then you'll know with clarity and confidence.
In conclusion, if you recognize classic business planning and management principles amongst these notes you'd be correct. The game may have changed, but the rules are still the same. Plan first, then act with confidence.
--- How long is this new type of marketing going to take to master?
The actual skills are quite simple - you likely already have them mastered. What you need to learn is the PROCESS. That takes a little time, but frankly not that much.
--- What if I don't know many people to invite to my network?
No problem. Answer this question "If you are the ANSWER, what was the QUESTION?" Armed with that answer you can locate groups of people who would need what you offer. You can then invite them to participate and you can SHARE your knowledge and expertise to PROVE you are the answer to their problem. Use your favourite search engine to locate these people - simply type in the QUESTION or problem. Remember, if people knew the answer they wouldn't be looking :)
--- How can I get business through SMM?
It's a funny thing when I'm asked this. We do it daily, so I marvel at the fact people think it's different online. Sure there's a layer of technology in the mix, but it's still about people getting to know people. Remember the old maxim, people buy from people they like and trust.
SMM simply enables (or should I say empowers) you to do this more effectively.
--- Why Most Brands Fail on Social Networks
A new report from JupiterResearch sheds light on what many online marketers suspected for quite some time. Most brands are failing to make impact on social networks...
Naughton's Law states: "We invariably over-estimate the short-term implications of new communications technologies, and we grievously underestimate their long term impacts." Every brand should be online in the best way, know its consumers, and maximize the benefit of its online offering to those consumers.
Here are some startling facts from the report:
- Startling Facts:
(*) The average branded social networking page has only 6,494 friends.
(*) Many advertisers are still building branded social networking pages that broadcast content rather than inviting users to interact.
(*) "Most advertisers simply don't know how to market properly within social networks." - JupiterResearch
- New Research Suggests:
(*) You should promote your SM pages with paid adverts rather than relying on viral marketing to get the message out. Building viral buzz is harder than you think.
(*) You need to engage users on the page. Even simple forms of engagement, such as contests, on average doubled the number of friends acquired by each branded page.
(*) You must also appeal to social networkers' love of multimedia to get noticed. Social Networkers are twice as likely to visit a branded page focused on media content than a branded page focused on products.
--- How does the non-writer do this type of marketing?
It really shouldn't pose a problem. The 'Net is vast and there's room for each of us to be AUTHENTIC. Even behind the shield of a computer many of us seem able to sense a scoundrel or someone "putting on airs".
If you can email you can do SM. If you can talk you can SM. If you have a pulse... you get the idea.
--- Do the Social Media Marketing sites have fees to pay?
Typically NO. I advise you to initially avoid any sites that ask for payment until you know precisely what you are paying for. There are some good fee based sites out there, but the good ones also offer a free version too - start there if you wish. Let the results determine the level of investment you are prepared to make.
--- Are there some sites that you would recommend for business people?
LinkedIn.com
eCademy.com
SelfGrowth.com
Ning.com - 'create your own' Social Media website.
--- Will I have to spend hours a day keeping in touch with all of the people who write to me?
You will need to invest time and energy in your online marketing. Whether it's YOU that does this or one of your staff is entirely up to you. But you cannot expect a "set and forget" solution to something that is inherently human.
--- How can I protect myself from "weirdoes?"
Be careful. Don't give away sensitive or private information online. You will always be exposed to some degree to odd people. I get some very odd emails and propositions, however you need to remember this is business, and although you are using "personal skills" to network online, never forget that.
--- How can I come across as a professional on these sites, and is it possible to do "real" business this way?
Yes. Publish a professional PROFILE. Show you are a professional and act accordingly and you will be perceived as such. Include family photos of you dressed as a clown at your kids birthday party at your own peril. Remember, online your "goofs" are eternal and will haunt you forever. Online reputation is area you need to tread carefully within. It's a bit off topic, but that's why I tell teenagers that they should be very careful about the pictures and posts they put on these social websites. Because in a few years the recruiters will be Googling them and this will be part of their "resume" and frankly it can be a career killer before it even starts.
--- Why do some people seem to get good results and others just get discouraged?
As with all things in life some people quit too early. Social Media Marketing and Social Networking takes time. It's like any relationship you develop with another human, rushing to the finish just gets you slapped... Metaphorically and literally too!
Also, success online isn't about one big thing, it's about a cluster of little things done consistently with focus and commitment. The strongest trees take the longest to grow. Online things happen a lot faster, but still there is a time commitment, think 6 to 12 months and you'll be thinking along the right lines.
--- Is there a "fast start" strategy once I sign up for a Social media marketing site?
There is. Create a professional profile. Publish some content establishing you as an expert in your field. The 'readers' will approve and so will the search engines. Explore the active or "hot zones" within the SM site, pay attention to the type of communication and then dive in. Give first. Build kudos and credit before you try asking for anything.
To keep up, use technology to "feed" your SM presence from your other sites like your blog or website. I use technology to syndicate and publish my content to all my SM sites with the push of one button. It makes connecting and staying up to date a breeze.
Remember to invite your friends to join you. Add a promotional button on your "other" sites - for instance if you decide to join Twitter, you can put a "Follow Me" link on your website. Connect, Communicate and Commit. Now 'rinse and repeat.'
--- Extra Topics...
- The 16 Rules of Social Media Optimization
Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a set of methods for generating publicity through social media, online communities and community websites. Methods of SMO include adding RSS feeds, adding a Digg or Share This button, blogging and incorporating third party community functionalities like Flickr photo slides and galleries or YouTube videos. Social media optimization is a form of search engine marketing (SEO.)
Social media optimization is in many ways connected as a technique to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogsphere and special blog search engines such as Technorati.
Rohit Bhargava was credited with inventing the term SMO. His original five rules for conducting Social Media Optimization have grown to 16 (as of today.) For reference, here is an aggregated list so far:
1. Increase your linkability
2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy
3. Reward inbound links
4. Help your content travel
5. Encourage the mashup
6. Be a User Resource, even if it doesn't help you
7. Reward helpful and valuable users
8. Participate
9. Know how to target your audience
10. Create content
11. Be real
12. Don't forget your roots, be humble
13. Don't be afraid to try new things, stay fresh
14. Develop a SMO strategy
15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely
16. Make SMO part of your process and best practices
Much of what is listed here is common sense, some say it just Web2.0 marketing. Whatever you may think it's definitely good advice no matter what. I'm just pleased we are taking the subject seriously now and promoting strategic content creation as an important aspect in the mix.
- 15 Social Media Facts That You Should Know
(1) Approx. 3 out 4 people in North America use the web
(2) Women are a growth area online.
(3) 44% of the Internet users are between the age of 35 and 54.
(4) Approx. 3 out of 4 people in North America use social networks.
(5) They spend an average of 6 hrs a month on these social networks and view more than 800 web pages.
(6) 51% of social network users are female - they also consume about 200 pages more than men and spend an extra 2 hours online.
(7) Canada is a Facebook nation, the USA is a MySpace nation.
(8) 65.7% of Canadians use Facebook each month spending an average of 350 minutes and consuming 725 pages of content.
(9) 35+ is the biggest age growth sector on Facebook.
(10) Online video and multimedia has grown over 300% in North America.
(11) The average length of a video online is 3.4 minutes
(12) 89% of all Internet users have watched a video in the past month.
(13) 57% of all videos are consumed on YouTube.
(14) Blogs reach more than 60% of all (online) people in North America. Blogging is growing at almost twice the rate of the Internet.
(15) Social networking and multimedia has a reach of more than 80% of the North American population.
Bottom line, if you are not engaged in social media conversations with your marketplace, then you face a very uncertain future. As I'm fond of saying "Be Found, Be Noticed or Be History!"
Social capital in online social networks
As part of my postgraduate research I did a lot of work on Social Network Theory and Social Capital -- two academic theories from the social sciences field. This was before the rise of online social networking sites. I recently revisited some of the work I did, and I became interested in mapping the concept of Social Capital to online social networks as they exist today. In order to to that, here is first a definition and explanation (pulled from my dissertation):
First, resources are embedded in social relations rather than in the individual. The properties of the network and an actor's position in that network are more important than the actor himself. Second, access and use of these resources are dependent on an actor being aware of their presence. If an actor is not aware of ties or relationships between him and other actors, he cannot use the resources available to him. Social capital then seems not to exist, and will only come into existence for that actor once he becomes aware of it. The ability to identify networks and key role-players in these networks will therefore make it possible to identify social capital where the relevant actors may be completely unaware of them. The goal of finding the key actors in a network can therefore be likened to gauging the social capital of a network and finding value in networks where it was not previously observed. From the definition it is inferred that social capital depends first on an actor's position in the network (are they in the right place to access the resources?), and second it depends on the nature of the resources in the network (are the resources worth accessing?).
It is very interesting to think about online social networking sites in this context. The social capital (the value of being in the network) depends not just on the individual people in that network, but very heavily on the way they are connected. Connecting to the "right" people end up defining you and building your social capital, because other people will "judge" the amount of capital you have based on your connections and your interactions with these connections. In this context it is essential to find those "key actors" in the network that are going to increase your social capital the most -- the popular guy, your VP at work, etc.
Now, according to Adler and Kwon (2000), there are 3 benefits of social capital:
Social capital provides actors in the network with access to broader sources of information at lower costs. Social capital provides actors in the network with extended power and influence. Social capital facilitates solidarity between actors, as strong networks encourage compliance with rules and customs without the need for formal controls. Again, it's interesting to overlay these concepts on social networks online. Let's look at each in turn:
Access to broader sources of information at lower costs. "Lower costs" in this context would mean less effort -- you are able to get access to the information you want about your friends without having to reach out to them in a traditional sense with a phone call or hanging out. On Facebook, for example, the news comes to you through the "Mini-Feed" application. You know what the people in your network watch, eat, do, listen to, etc. And this social information is of course an extremely powerful marketing tool. Social networks enable this information to spread much more easily (i.e. at "lower cost"). Extended power and influence. People with higher social capital not only get the benefit of more (although not necessarily better) information, but they also stand the chance to become "opinion leaders" that a lot of people rely on. And this is not necessarily the person with the most connections (I will talk about this in an upcoming post where I will discuss Ronald Burt's theory of Structural Holes). This power and influence can really go a long way to build an online identity that becomes a sense of pride -- consider the lonelygirl15 phenomenon, or influential blogs like TMZ and The Drudge Report. Solidarity between actors (compliance with rules and customs without the need for formal controls). This is an interesting one to think about. Even though there is so much freedom to do and say what you want online, strong social networks seem to have their own rules in terms of what is allowable and what is not. I think here for example of the "Groups" feature in Facebook, where people who don't necessarily know each other connect over shared interests. "Misbehaving" on Facebook or MySpace, in whatever way that is defined for a particular network, will get you kicked out of the circle -- friends will drop you, groups will take you off their member lists, etc. This all serves to build the strength of the network and its members even more. "So what?", you ask? Well, I think that we don't pay enough attention to theory. I just read this paragraph from my dissertation again:
Theory and practice cannot be separated. Virtually every practical decision a person makes and every practical opinion a person holds has some theory behind it. Theory makes the facts of social life comprehensible and places seemingly meaningless events in a general framework that enables us to determine cause and effect, to explain, and to interpret. Even half a century ago Revzan (1951) commented that "analysis leading to theory should not merely condone practice, but should seek rather to improve and direct such practice." Much earlier, Einstein (1938) observed that "science is not just a collection of laws, a catalogue of unrelated facts. It is a creation of the human mind, with its freely invented ideas and concepts. Physical theories try to form a picture of reality and to establish a connection with the wide world of sense impressions. Thus the only justification for our mental structures is whether and in what way our theories form such a link."
The theories of social networking and social capital can enhance our understanding of what happens in online social networks, which can, in turn, become strong business ideas. Some questions these theories raise for me are, for example, How can we point out who the opinion leaders are in your online social network, something that is not always apparent? How can we use the rules and customs that online networks adhere to in creating a more meaningful experience for users?
I think there is a lot of value in looking beyond networks to the social capital that they produce. We need to understand how online social networks already manifest these concepts, and where there is still opportunities to use these theories to create better experiences for users.
Social networking - the truth about social networking for social entrepreneurs challenged
Conversation is natural, for some at least, and social networking should be just as natural but it seems as though we've lost the art of conversation somehow. True, there are those amongst us who prefer a quiet book, a walk alone in the park or a shack in the middle of a wood or high on a mountainside somewhere but most of us would like to think we knew how to network and how to be social wouldn't we?
I hope you will take something new and valuable from this and add it to your networking know-how to become the social networking superstar you always wanted to be and if centre stage isn't for you, then perhaps a supporting role with damn good backing vocals that people will remember for years to come is more your social networking story..
We define conversation as an informal talking together, and that is exactly what social networking is all about sharing our voices, visions and personalities across the social web. People enjoy sharing what they are doing, reading, watching and offering their opinions, finding out about what others are doing, thinking and feeling as one with a community of like-minded people, in the new way of communicating online.
But many times there is an underlying collective purpose to this sharing. It is a participatory effort. The social aspect reflects that people have something in common, and the networking brings those people and their ideas together. Social networking, because it is made up of two words, can have many meanings, and using this form of communication can only compliment the way you do business and how you build relationships.
Businesses all over the world can have their name spread in a positive or negative way through social networking, depending on how interested people are in the business, the topic and the product or service on offer but don't be fooled, this new media conversation is a powerful marketing toll if tuned and channelled correctly.
This type of networking builds social awareness and potentially, more visitors to a site or location. The social side of networking is an excellent way to stay connected in relationships and build new ones across the world.
Social networking is the new way to inform and to be informed, and its influence is growing every minute like a modern day Bible.
Social media as a whole transcends age, race and religion in a way nothing has ever done before. Teenagers can have much more in common with twenty somethings, thirty somethings, middle agers and even old guys like me these days. They are all, for the most part, using the power of conversation through Web 2.0 sites and cell phones.
The simple truth is that people want to know what other people are doing, and people like to tell others about it. But social networking is not just about finding out that someone just took a shower or finished gardening the yard. It's about setting up a strategy to expand your reach in relationships, business and life in general.
The opportunity to set up social networking links abounds on the world wide web today and yet in many of today's social networking site URL's, there is no longer the "www" of the past, and therefore no websites, or not as we once knew them.
Getting set up on one or many of the networking sites requires you to input content, but becoming a member of a social network is easy and generally free.
Plugging in all your information like name, email and any info and choosing a password all form part of the process of registration and have to occur but most of the larger sites are now connected so it's fairly easy to transfer data from one site to another with a few clicks of the mouse.
After that, you just have to figure out how to navigate around the site itself in order to start to build your network of contacts and friends. Click on all the links, connect with a few friends, post a few messages, and you're on your way to being a social networking superstar.
Once you feel confident, choose more than one site, maybe in different social networking channels to be connected in several different ways and with different groups of people.
So how are people connected and what can it mean for business?
Here's an example of how social networking sites can work for business..
Joe may be looking for a new car, Sue is going to the beach and Dan is searching for a job. If they're all communicating on a common channel such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, there's a possibility that they can all help each other. Joe has a friend that needs an employee, Sue sells cars, and Dan needs a ride to the beach. Then, Bob comments on the cars Sue is selling, Mike mentions that he works with the company that Joe's friend works for, and so on. Sounds simple but it works.
The networking brings them all together with sites that meet each of their different needs. Now, it's not every day that social networking can make such breakthroughs, but the possibility to connect with others through social networking is very possible with consistent use and knowledge.
Your networking reads and posts can reveal all sorts of new data you might have never encountered before. As a business owner, you can listen in on what your customers are saying about you. As an individual, you can do the same. With both, through social networking you may defend yourself, thank someone for a comment, or remain silent but you are always informed provided you listen!
Some sites connect people from around the world in different ways through shared content such as articles or photos, for a viewer to peruse and comment on.
HubPages, Squidoo and LinkedIn are such sites that are easy to read through and superb communities, as well as potential sources of additional income.
Squidoo features a massive array of topics where people create "lenses," or individual pages of information on particular topics. It's a fun site to visit to get answers to almost any question, and provide a space to influence others through social networking stories, ideas and offerings of well researched content.
HubPages offers advice on many different topics and rates pages with reader input as "Hot," "Best," and "Latest," with photos and videos to round it out. LinkedIn is a more professional site, with a network that goes around the world and represents nearly 200 industries.
These sites can also be a forum for either positive or negative activity and input. A communicator may post on his HubPage that he loves a particular new milkshake at McDonald's, or that he despises it. Depending on the creativity of the post (a clever song, a YouTube event with sound effects, or outrageous writing, graphics and photos), it can be widely read all over the world, impacting millions of potential buyers on a social networking platform, or it can be a "dud" with only ten viewers. This social networking voting process can be valuable to a business, or a challenging encounter. The handling of the particular case is what matters, and there's plenty of advice out there on social networking sites on how to deal with it.
But staying on one "channel" when social marketing doesn't have to be your end all. You go to Facebook to post and read up on the social activities of all your networking friends. The question is, will you connect with more than one site? I'd say you will. You'll see a connection to a group of photos on Flickr, a photo social networking site, so you link to it. Or, a YouTube connection is sent to you by a buddy on Twitter and you pursue that. Many of the sites are interlinked and a part of the social networking strategy that good marketers have in place is to cross-reference targeted content across these different social networking sites.
It is all interrelated, this thing we call social networking business, and when you want to pursue it, you can go deep, spending hours reading and posting, or you can limit yourself to a set amount of timeeach day. Either way, learn how to tame it or it will drag you off into the jungle never to be seen again.
The beauty of social networking is that you can get as close to people or stay as far away as you want or need to so don't hit the panivc button if the threat of social networking activity is looming and you're simply not the social type. You can be an observer only, scrolling through masses of text on various Web 2.0 sites, or commenting and participating as a social person who likes networking with those from around the world.
There are similarities in social marketing media and traditional media such as radio, television and print. Both are evolving in technique and delivery. Both have various channels with which to communicate. The notable difference between social networking media and traditional media is that with social networking, the audience plays a much bigger part in what is portrayed. There is still the factor of "truth," as a reporter may show a particular slant that is not completely true in traditional media, and a post on a social networking site may not be completely true either. It can be an outright lie, in fact. But the difference is, with social media, this will quickly be exposed by the people who use the site, as the social networking reader may make his own opinions and then comment and input on the topic him or herself and others in their network will follow.
There is not necessarily an "overlord," a "commander-in-chief" or a designated leader in social marketing, which is a positive and interesting way to look at it. You'd like to participate, go ahead. State your case. Social marketing is most effectively used with participation and influence and not through controls (although some sites are designated as "family friendly" and lewd and rude content are discouraged).
Make your comments and voice your compliments or concerns in a way that is natural and honest and people will start to trust you and value your input. Social networking is there for the creator and for the commentator. If and when you are passionate about a topic, create your own hub, blog or video. In addition to the social networking sites mentioned here, there are many others, on a wide variety of topics.
What is the goal? You might ask. Social marketing is not about the content itself sometimes, but a way to get connected and to observe the results of the conversations themselves. These various social networking strategies and activities are weaved together to use as business tools and entertainment. It allows people involved in Web 2.0 networking the capacity to become not only content readers, but also, if they wish, content creators and publishers.
Social networking 101 - Web 2.0 and social networks
The first, what we need here, focus is that social networking is not something new, nor it is defined the recent Web 2.0 craze in any way.
In fact, the whole concept of what Web 2.0 really means is so distorted that many marketers and Web designers now nothing use products and services which have aimed to do what Web 2.0 really means.
To show that this Wikipedia further goes on to say; "Although the term suggests that it refers to a new version of the World Wide Web, not on an update technical specifications but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the Web." "Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry, caused by the transition to the Internet as a platform and an attempt, which are the rules for success in this new platform."
Summary of the last two statements from Wikipedia, you'll notice that social networking social networks and platforms are not nothing new. What new is and what means feed - in on the Web 2.0 craze, which has made many of these social networks recently that is so popular easy to use platform, which allows the user access to a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) graphical user interface to log, and report their favorite social networking sites.
Here again, the concept is not new. Social networks have since the early days of the Internet with bulletin boards, that later to the early days of now blogging and forums we call lead. She could book at that time, now your message to viewers as well as you can. The difference compared to social-networking today when using new WYSIWYG platform is that you can now easily add your own images, animations, videos, audios, squeeze pages (create for lead generation, to an e-Mail list), and surveys. Depending on the social networks that you join that stuttering are the possibilities compared to the "old way" of social networking online.
To show that this social networking and social networks are not by any means new I've done a little research, how far back to reveal that many of these websites go.
MySpace - Feb registered 22 1996
Friendster - 22 March 2002 registered
FaceBook - 29 March 1997 registered
MyYearBook - November 01 2000 registered
Hi5 - 27 June 1996 registered
Tagged - registered 10 July 1998
Fubar - Oct. 24 1997 registered
Under this same concept in the Web 2.0 era the social-networking site have created a variety of video oriented social networks, but this is nothing new.
YouTube - 15 February 2005 registered
Badoo – 26 May 2003 registered
Bebo - 15 July 2003 registered
How can you use the video say YouTube was not the first social networking niche to start. While I have only two listed YouTube in my list were several other social networks that came together before they did. The one thing that has the creator of YouTube was better than all the others that came before them, actually TAKE be ACTION and using the social network experience, all the others trying to claim of experts.
I am sure that what they did to explore their niche, where they learned the same things I did was probably. The most social-networking site, trying their own ground to create social networks were not only their own sites for 1 or 2 years register. In fact, many of them are registered at least until 2010. Some of them are registered even further and have their own servers, only their social networking websites, to give different social networks, developed a better quality of service.
Why are they do this, you can provide? Since the advertising revenue for them alone brought so high is that they can away from him not. With millions and millions people world far on their Web sites 24 hours a day, they make similar money hand over fist, that the search engines were long before they came together.
This brings us to another point, let us take a look at the "big three"; Google, Yahoo and MSN, which focus on the social-networking sites, which came after them. Social networks since they occurred long before the search engines first decided to establish their "groups", but the people from the message boards and bring have in the mainstream here millions of visitors per day were literally was a no brainer. The transition was easy to predict, but this is due again, what I have said all the time. Social networking, social networks and what we now know as Web 2.0 are nothing new.
Social networking a fad! Would it survive?
Social networks, online communities, Web 2.0, 3.0, social applications, walls, Web applications, online games, video sharing portals, rich media, digital lifestyles, et CETRA have a common string that calls them sums of money, if slightly plucked. Call it the power relating to stand or freedom personal expression and better management but this is said, the expression, or more precisely the essence of their origin and ultimately, that is, strongly keeps what she growls and goes.
Despite the many utilities, networking spaces and social platforms invasion some on the Web, thought leaders see Social Networking as a fading phenomenon and to predict, it is not for ever. It has reached its tipping point and history which would time it eventually die out. And may be a new and even greater Web phenomenon arise and would take over.
Commented, if this could be done is not relevant at all, if we according to the definition of the product lifecycle and related theories of management gurus. The relevant question is not more it would or wouldn't it? Could rather be how quickly it happen and if it ever social networking completely or only branch as a spin-off or parallel would replace utility web? For answers to such search issues could help a quick and random research on some social networking sites.
Provides a more accurate look at sites, which recently established come you a few pointers on what could be years in the next 4-5 the fate on social networking?
Wine.com: as the name implies, this site is dedicated to lovers of wine. The site requires no sommelier his wine will join community. And you have a variety of activities to choose from, what you want to do here. Add Member 'reviews wines', answer questions on wine (from other community members), write and parts of a blog entry, posts in forums, questions are, do you need a review or a such proposals when making a purchase. Members can also create and organize their wine lists and publish and share with others in their wine lists. In addition, use their shopping cart orders can be placed online, and users are free to share their experiences with related images or videos from the last wine tour. It sounds interesting to you? Well, it does in any case for me, because I love tasting wines from different vineyards.
City Centre community: Now, what do you have to say this? This electronic retail giant has his own reasons for crashes in community-building. You see it of course a great way to connect with their buyers and consumers and search for real-time feedback. The forums are very active and their customer service staff not leave room for a Bacon, timely answers with very low turnaround times. Furthermore, such as regular community features videos, tags and photo-galleries-jazz the community interface, while felicitating direct communication with consumers.
Sonico: Spanish is a language social networking website, which the Portuguese version, recently another social network, which has nothing remarkable 8 million users registered and over a period of only 7 months. Have something to say? There is only the usual message boards, user profiles and school and networks based in the workplace. It is however interesting to note how they have the merged different online portfolios in a central online social networking site.
Virb: Or an other social network that targets the people who have interest groups in art, music, fashion and like. Beautifully designed, well integrated iTunes and a bit of everything, they say, 'Good do look good'. Is not it catchy?
FatDoor: FatDoor there is also so you know your neighbors on a very local level. It displays information about a Microsoft Virtual Earth map, which can switch between 2D and 3D views. Another cool idea, is not like most missed!
If still answer this question on food & future of social networks does not take a look at other ideas such as Enemybook and Snubster. They offer a new perspective to social networking, speaking "anti-social elements", such as hatred, betrayal, enemies, and much more. It needs to be no question on the concept of social networks and their future. What could vary and overtime may develop their approach to the social body or their variance in personal lifestyle rooms. Or even, micro, niche is gaining popularity in contrast to the macro networks and distributed global networks of today. Would it cause that dilute segregation, better organization and effective management of personal expressions or otherwise bare backbones simply aggregate social connections? The questions should no longer be limited to longevity. The social networks would have to look for differentiation with innovative ideas, that dependence, with a special focus on the possibilities of page and page could communicate an added value and boost.
"And with the intensification of competition on the market, the survival of the strongest would apply, as it always does".
Smita S. is a Web 2.0 enthusiast and a social networking fan, with obvious presence on social networking sites such as Infodoro.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Orkut, MySpace, Friendster, Hi5 and more. If you think social networks are cool and a place to be great, check out 'Infodoro' and enjoy the excitement around its active forums flood with the last and diverse topics, topics, cool pictures, a mixture of video sharing sites, and a great touch free and social Web applications, with which you manage time, as being transactions and even personal thoughts and expressions, more efficient.
Social networking revenue generator
Some interesting research
Markets at a look
Is the market for the Internet and social networking communities on estimated over $ 1500M this year.
Social network/community development and improvement of individually until 2006 amounted to USD 700 M and it is estimated that by the year 2010 USD touch 4000M.
Growth path
Social networking sites grow 47% year on year by an audience of 46.8 million to 68.8 million in April 2006.
Social networking sites are the reality of the Internet; the content is relatively inexpensive to produce for publishers.
She will be more rooted in mainstream Web sites, such as reality TV shows. MySpace.com, the top social-networking site of all with regard to the number of registered users, saw a staggering 367% increase. The chart rises or jump with many more social networking players in; the Web scene seems exactly the right thing for social networking.
The social networking sites that are experiencing strong growth developed a unique online presence, user-generated content is updated. This promotes ongoing consumer interest and visitor loyalty. The market share of Internet visits in the top 20 social network connection Web site grew by 11.5 per cent from January to February 2007, to account for 6.5 percent of all Internet visits in February 2007.
Mobile social networking-the next target
Social networking is mobile and is ready for spectacular growth over the next five years, be mobile social communities members in groups, more than in size from 50 million to 174 million by 2011, tripling will attract.
MySpace and Facebook are hot for the time being. News Corp. paid $580 million for MySpace last year as part of $ a 1.3 billion Internet acquisition spree. Facebook received only an additional $25 million venture capital.
Both companies are planning their reach beyond the computer screen to mobile phones.
Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless have launched a service which allows users to send messages on Facebook home pages or search telephone numbers and e-Mail addresses from one phone to other users.
MySpace has a pact with Helio, a wireless joint venture of SK Telecom and EarthLink, the users to send photos and update their blogs, and profiles by cell phone.
Advertising
Social networks are an integral part of the cultural fabric of the Internet and their fast-growing and demographically attractive audience has attracted the attention of advertisers.
According to the latest forecasts an estimated $280 m be pony marketer-to advertise in the United States.
By the year 2010, the online advertising spend to $1.8 billion will grow.
Marketers estimates that the social networking ad spend the United States 260 million rise in 2007 (up from 95 million in 2006), and is expected by 2010 $ 665 million reach.
Advantages
Advertising in social networks marketers learn important methods to the newly empowered to reach consumers.
Social networks have on an unpredictable influence
all advertising, both online and offline.
If companies can go to develop marketing efforts fully to embrace the deeper the "One-to one-to many nature of social networks, advertising revenue will rise." This type of advertising is spill-over effect into other channels. The underlying concept will influence how advertising in all media, provided by not only online.
Social networking revenue generator
Advertisers joy advertisers can target both local and international market in one place.
Social networks always a good environment, sell products a brand, especially if marketers cultivate and receive their loyalty sales users and Gospel manifesting want to do. That happens evangelism in a community.
Recruiters are heaven - now a day top MNCs from professional social-networking sites like LinkedIn for rent. You can also check the social index and compatibility of the candidate along with the background check, that helps, they save too much money.
To win the cost of new customers, nothing is convenient because users join voluntarily and give their own content through their profiles.
Interactive function of the social networking website keeps coming back visitor rate highly will help sites for storage.
The cost of running the sites Web server is relatively low. When a classical advertising or subscription revenue model is used, the low-cost could highly profitable social network sites.
The above information-our philosophy stress that social networking is a domain for businesses to stay and grow at a high pace.
Social networking users are the future for collecting donations online
First and foremost, the success of a social network is due to the amount of functionality that it provides to its users. From the dawn of the social network age, people have had simple desires and demands. Because of this fact, up until now, the success of a social network is dependent upon how many demands that it meets for its users, as well as the quality of the manner in which they meet these demands. Users want to meet new and interesting people, as well as keep in touch with friends and family. However, they don't want to have to travel, or spend a lot of time and money through the process of doing so. Social networking sites allow users to trade messages and comments with people near and far, as well as to share pictures, videos, music, and to express their thoughts and emotions through the content and design of their profiles.
However, user needs and demands have evolved and developed over the years. As competition has grown within the social network industry, users have begun to expect the latest and greatest features and functionality within their social network. Many social network users have invested a great deal of time each and every week with communicating with their friends, and have become accustomed to spending several hours online each and every day. That, combined with the fact that social networks introduced advertising within their sites, has allowed users to now become accustomed to the fact that they can accomplish even more through their favorite social network in regards to being a consumer. Now, they can find amazing products and services through their social network, which allows them to purchase a product or service without leaving their home, or their social network for that fact! Instead of having to leave their social network to surf and shop for products, now then can find some truly amazing deals within their social network.
Users are participating in purchasing products and services found within social network sites so much, that a tremendous amount of earnings have been realized within some of the most successful social networks on the internet. In a report submitted by eMarketer back in 2007, MySpace, still the most popular social network by far, was estimated to generate $525 million in U.S. advertising revenue. Facebook, a fast growing competitor of MySpace earned around $125 million, and both were projected to have significant advertising revenue growth over the coming years. Combined, MySpace and Facebook are projected to account for 75% of social network advertising spending in 2008. Advertising revenue generated within social networks is an obvious trend which indicates that more and more social network users are looking for products and services while they are utilizing their social networks.
Along with advertising revenue being generated for the social networks, a new opportunity presents itself for the charity community. Business owners and internet marketers, who wish to assist charities by donating a portion of proceeds to charity from their earned advertising revenue, will allow charities to also benefit from their new found successes. More and more internet marketers and businesses are beginning to realize that they have the greatest ability to assist charities through this means, either on their own or through the efforts of the marketing and business opportunity representatives within the charity community. Thus, the number of charity aware advertisers within social networks are growing each and every day. At the beginning of 2007, within Facebook, the social network which put applications or widgets on the "social networking map", had charity awareness applications numbering in the tens. Now, in 2008, you can find hundreds of applications within Facebook which either raise charity awareness, allow users to donate directly to charity, or utilize online advertising for money-saving products which donate a portion of proceeds to charity.
Without the final ingredient for this success formula, charities would not be able to benefit from this ground breaking opportunity. The final ingredient is social network user awareness. By educating the social network user community that there are advertising opportunities which benefit charities, either direct advertising or through applications and widgets, they will then have the opportunity to make a conscious decision to choose these opportunities over others. Retail sales figures over the last ten years have shown a significant trend based upon product affiliations to charities. Customers will purchase a quality product which benefits a charity through the sale, over another quality product, or even the same product, with no charity affiliation. Through this same model, we can assume that customers will be more likely to do business through e-commerce sites which provide a quality product or service online, saving the customer a trip to the store, but which also provides a portion of their proceeds to charity.
It is truly essential that the social network community become aware of these opportunities, so that they can seek them out. If a Facebook or MySpace users want to purchase a product online, then it would require that they look for advertising for that product within their network. Then, it is also imperative that they choose advertised items which also donate a portion of their proceeds to charity. Advertisers which can offer this charity affiliation, plus a discount that the consumer cannot find anywhere else, will give users a double benefit from the e-commerce transaction, and will truly find success. Even though a great deal of burden raising user awareness belongs to internet marketers, some of this user awareness burden lies on the charities themselves. Charities need to make the online community aware of these social network opportunities by marketing them on their own websites. This will ensure maximum exposure towards these social network charity donation opportunities, as well as the amount of success that the charity community will find with these endeavors.
In the end, charity awareness will determine how much success that the charity community will find through social network advertising. By raising the charity awareness of the advertising community, there will be a result of more advertisers looking to help charities through their own successes. By raising the charity awareness of the social network user community, more users will seek out e-commerce opportunities within their network that will benefit charities at the same time. Plus, by charities raising their own awareness of advertisers and social networking applications which are currently donating proceeds to the charity community, they will be able to assist them with marketing of their products and services, thus raising the user community's awareness of their availability. If this charity awareness synergy is realized, it becomes quite apparent that the social network communities have the greatest potential to raise an immeasurable amount of charitable donations through social network e-commerce and advertising revenue.