What is Social Networking?

It used to be that the only reliable way to find information online was to use a search engine. That is changing as social networking sites grow in popularity.

However, with Web 2.0 (interactive, dynamic websites that promote or operate as social networks), people can now easily find information and websites that other people recommend.

Websites like Del.icio.us, Digg, and Furl allow users to share their personal favorites (bookmarks) with others. Users tag each bookmarked website with the keywords they feel are most applicable.

Now, instead of using a search engine to find information, people can search tags that will display all websites bookmarked with that specific tag. These amount to a personal referral or vote for the site and the subject being searched.

But the most popular social network is MySpace or possibly FaceBook. Though the social network giants enjoy over 20 million unique visitors every month, few businesses or website owners have thought to penetrate this incredible resource.

Two powerful new social networking sites have emerged that are revolutionizing audio and video: YouTube and BlogTalkRadio. These social network sites allow citizen filmmakers and broadcasters to share their visions with the world and spread the word about what matters to them.

Few businesses see the value here yet, but think about it, future Speilberg's, Bloomberg's, and Oprah's - all potential broadcasters of your marketing message, now that's social networking.

How Will a Social Networking Service Help My Site Traffic Grow?

Two out of three people online in June 2006 visited a social networking site. 1 out of every 20 website visits is to a social networking website. Experts say that social media website traffic is beginning to grow larger than the major search engines Yahoo! and Google.

So if your company is not present on any of the major social networks, you're missing out on the easiest, fastest way to access 67% of internet users.

 
How Do I Get Involved in a Social Network?

Working with social network sites is similar to working with the media. Give them a good enough story, secret, tip, or resource that they can sink their teeth into and you’ll have an army of talkers spreading the word about you and your business.

This translates into clicks on your site, which convert into sales on an average of 667% better than cold leads (search engine results). So even if you reach less people through social networking, you can expect much better results.

You can also hire a social networking service.

Target a social network through different methods:

Article or Blog Promotion

Writing good quality articles will keep your customers attention, you can do this with blogs or you can submit articles to different websites that will publish them for you. A lot of people do not want to write articles. We will do this for you if you would like us to.

For instance, if you sell pet beds, gifts, and items, we will develop a series of blog posts or articles that discuss a controversial or “hot off the press” topic that pet lovers will find very valuable, at least very interesting.

We will then promote it to various social bookmarking and blogging networks, as well as popular bloggers – who will then circulate the story and generate traffic back to your website.

Social Network Promotion

Particularly effective for clients who target teens, young adults, musicians, or other highly active social groups, we implement social promotion campaigns on networks like MySpace, FaceBook, Catch27, and Craigslist to spread the word about your business. Even if your business does not target the “MySpace crowd,” we will work on a creative campaign to get the net buzzing.

How Does Social Networking Work With SEO?

As more and more internet users begin to use tags to find information (a tag is a keyword that a human listed with a website, vs. a keyword that a search engine uses to find a website), Search Engine Marketing professionals should not ignore the value and power of social networking.

However, we view the partnership between social networks and search engines as an excellent and balanced marriage. Sure, social networking gets you in front of people who no longer use search engines in lieu of finding their information through referrals or bookmarks/tags.

But the added, and perhaps more exciting bonus, is that while you grow in popularity with social networks like Digg and MySpace, your search rankings will continue to increase as a result!

Your popularity signals Google that you are an authority in your market according to your human audience. The Search Engines are trying to bring the best sites back to the person that searches a keyword, so this makes complete sense.

Social Network Service

Social networking is not hard but does take time, we know as a business owner your time is limited so we offer a social network service for you! To find out more about our Social networking service, request a free consultation.

The jury is still out as to whether social networking or search engine marketing is the most important, but it is very clear that a growing social network on the internet will only become larger and more powerful.

 Download Our Fact Sheet: Social Networking

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