Social Networking

Online Social Networking is the going to go down in history as the most significant world wide cultural transformation of our time.

Mobile phones are a close second but the incredible proliferation of Myspace and Facebok has already transformed our social landscape here in the states forever. Just note Obama's landslide victory that had no small part to do with his popularity online.

This chart from Oxyweb illustrates the dominant social networks throughout the world pretty well.

Myspace or Facebook are the big 2 here in the states. Check the chart for the popular networks in your country.

We recommend Facebook and LinkedIn. If you're not already on there, sign up and create a Facebook Page (Pages are much better than groups for business) and a LinkedIn group, related to your business. Participate in the related groups and make friends while inviting them to join your group and visit your website.

Marketing your business to these networks requires a whole different approach than your typical advertising pathways.

You can pay to have your ad pushed around the network which is similar to traditional avenues however in most cases to really tap into the pulse of social networking you've got to be active in the community. The more valuable you are as a resource in discussion groups and helpful you are in general the better things are going to go for you.

The key principle to grasp in marketing on the social networks is the viral effect.

Viral marketing is defined as "any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence."

So those are main 2 concepts to remember:

-Be Helpful
-Use Viral Techniques like widgets and wikis

Also, make sure you're using business networks, especially LinkedIn if you're doing anything business related.