Just as yesterday I spent considerable time talking about why you need to be using social networking for your business, today I want to give you a list of social networks that are essential to your business. Not every social network will be good for everyone, but out of the list below you should be on the majority of these sites in order to successfully build your business. Also remember that this list of social networks does not take into consideration any legal regulations for financial and legal professionals.
Legal reasons aside you should be on virtually all of these sites.
Facebook- 500 million people in one spot. Enough said!
Twitter- This is one of the best traffic drivers to my website, since I started blogging. When I was figuring out SEO, Twitter made up roughly 30-40% of my traffic. Today it still makes up between Twitter and Twitterfeed 10-15%. Additionally, it is a great place to start building your relationships.
LinkedIn- The premier business social networking site where people go to connect with other business professionals on a wide range of business topics.
Myspace- On the other spectrum of social networking you have Myspace. This site is devoted nowadays to mostly entertainment industry insiders and their fans. Not to knock a site that has 160 million followers, but they are of limited use to the majority of business professionals. If you are an artist this is a good site to join.
Youtube- For the people, such as myself who want to see what something is about, instead of just hearing it this is the place to go as you can watch video from sunrise to sunset and still not even view a tiny fraction of their massive video library.
Flickr- This is a continuation of my explanation for Youtube, but this is a great site for those who enjoy the visual, which according to my reading of Howard Gardner’s Mutliple Intelligences is a large percentage of the human population.
Foursquare- This location based social network is one of the fastest growing sites on the web today.
Social Networking On Your Terms- Self-promotion. Definitely! Great site- heck yeah! This social network that I created helps you understand the ins and outs of social networking and also connect with great business professionals.
Niche Networks
Etsy- For the hands-on arts and crafts crowd this site is the bomb!
Active Rain-Social networks for real estate professionals
MLM Social- The social network for network marketers. This site is growing and do not be surprised if you hear about them more soon!
The list of social networks included above should be a great starting point for you to begin your social networking experience. I am sure there are some that others feel are important to include here, so feel free to let us know what sites you believe should be included in the list of social networks listed above.
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Hiya,
I feel tired reading the list of things I must be on, or that my clients must be on. 😉 Seriously, don’t you think it’s wise to pick three or four and focus on them? I mean, how many companies don’t even update their own websites on a regular basis, say nothing about keeping their social networks buzzing? I am working the social network with the tools Twitter, blogging and Facebook. To use them well, it’s taking me about one hour, minimum, per day. What about you? How much time do you put into social networking? Which tools are the best to focus on? 🙂 ~ Katrina
Katrina,
It is great if you have a few social networks that work great for you. I put out the list, because for some companies they need a broader approach. I agree with you that you need to determine the best site to focus on. The challenge is that for a lot of great businesses out there today they need to have at least a presence on a few different social networks. In your post you talk about having a great idea! A great idea, unless it is confined to a specific niche (new method of listing property-Active Rain) then you will want to connect with a number of people from different networks.
For most people, an hour is a long time to be on social networking every day. I show a lot of my clients how to effectively use social networking in 15-20 minutes every day. My usage varies. There are days when I am on for the 15-20 minutes bare minimum, because I have some meetings with clients and then there are days when I need to drum up business and spend 2-3 hours just working social networking for myself on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and WordPress. I will be on these four sites at least everyday along with using Youtube, MLMSocial, Social Networking On Your Terms, and other sites at least once every few days.
At the same time, this is my profession and I am on social networking sites throughout the day helping my clients and answering questions. For me, going on these sites is not work. That is why I offer my services to others. I want to help people build their business online. Does that help answer your questions?
Andy
Andy,
Nice list, you should add more to the niche section though as building good online connections often involves connecting with people with the same interests. For instance, if you are into recipes and cooking you would join BeTheCook.com and build your network there, etc.
Just a thought.
Carl