Any smart marketer will tell you that you need to be where the people are. In today's hyper connected world, that's on social media. Social media has become a part of the daily lives of millions of people across the world. Sure, the first site that comes to mind when you think of social media is probably Facebook. Then, maybe Twitter. If you're in B2B, maybe LinkedIn crosses your mind and most recently, Google+ might be on your radar. These are definitely the big ones, but if you're going to incorporate social media into your online marketing strategy, it's important to realize that while these four sites are currently the most popular, there's really many more than that. Wikipedia has a list of over 200 well known social networking sites, and there are even more that aren't as well known.
Obviously, you should have a presence on Facebook and Twitter. That's a no brainer. If you cater to a B2B audience, LinkedIn is also important. Even if you don't cater to a B2B audience, it's still not a bad idea to set up a page. You never know what kind of potential business opportunities can come from the connections that you make. Business networking is important in any industry. Google+ doesn't yet allow business profile pages, but that will change soon. Even if you can't set up a business page now, it's a good idea to set up a personal page just to get comfortable with the medium so that when business pages are made available you will know what you are doing.
Once you've covered your bases with the "big guys", it's time to start doing some research. The big social media sites have millions of users, so you know that members of your target audience are using them. It isn't as obvious with some of the smaller sites.
The first place to look for additional social media sites is within your niche. Search for "your industry + social media" and "your industry + network". Even include your location in the search since some niche networking sites cater to a local audience. Search for competitors and prominent people that work for competitors to see if you can find any additional social pages for them. Finding a good, quality niche social networking site can sometimes be more beneficial than a Facebook page because there is less noise. People use Facebook for many reasons and sometimes it's hard to compete and get your message noticed. On a niche site, all of the members share a common interest and it's easier to find the information that you want.
In addition to finding niche social sites, see if your target audience is using other, less well known networking sites. Do they use social bookmarking sites? If so, it makes sense to share your content there too. In addition to getting noticed by your target audience it will also add one more link to your link portfolio improving your SEO efforts.
Nick Stamoulis is a Boston SEO consultant and owner of the company, Brick Marketing. For more information, please visit: http://www.brickmarketing.com/
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