This post was guest blogged by Kathy Kane, Market Insights
It’s no wonder all types of businesses are jumping on the bandwagon, with the increased popularity of social networking sites. While targeting your niche you can find many ways to get exposure on these sites. This can be as inexpensive as creating a free profile or going as far finding paid advertisements in cleaver locations on the site.
Finding the Right Network for Your Business
Make sure you have a goal of what you would like to accomplish with your profile before creating it.
WHAT-
Social networking sites are great tools for “word-of-mouth” marketing and “grass-roots” campaigns. This is a great option when trying to get a group of distinct people to talk about your site. The main investment needed here, is time.
WHO-
The key is finding the people that would be interested in your product or service. Visualize online networks the same way you would in regards to sports & clubs in high school. You won’t find many ballet fans on the football team. However if you venture into the theatre and arts club or the dance team, you might have a little more luck.
WHERE-
Do a little research. By searching for lists of such sites on popular search engines, you will see the list is fairly extensive. Many sites have distinct communities, examples include: indie music on myspace, classmates on facebook, car enthusiasts on cardomain, tv fans on television without pity, mothers on mombloggers, etc.
Making Friends
You set your goal, you found your community, and you made your profile… Now what?
Start “Friending.” Do searches for people with common interests, in the same region, or personal friends. Nobody will know you have a profile until you let them know. If there is nothing there, your profile can look pretty plain and boring. Something to keep in mind is that you must put time into your profile.
Keep updating your profile. Set specific times out of the week to make this happen. People will not come back to your profile to read the same “About Me” information over and over again. This can be 10 minutes a day, 1 hour a week, or every few days. Get out there and mingle, popularity does not come over night.
Kathy Kane is the owner of Market Insights LLC, an action oriented marketing consulting firm with many years experience in the areas of sales, marketing & management. She graduated with a degree in Hospitality Services and Marketing from Central Michigan University, managed several hotels in the Detroit area and founded Market Insights in 1995.
Tim Somers
Bizarre Promotions, Inc.
Over 750,000 Promo Items To Help Your Business Grow!
Excellent BLOG. Very applicable, as my company is moving into the world of online advertising and marketing. Thanks for the advice
Hi Carole,
Thank you for the kind words, glad to know that the info is helpful.
Tim