Social Networks are everywhere these days - you can't fail to have heard of MySpace, YouTube or Facebook - they're three of the biggest sites on the 'Net right now. With Blogs, they are redefining the way ordinary people are using the Internet - and business has caught on to this. It's rare to go a day now without reading how any sensible Internet Marketer is making the most of Social Networking to promote their products or services.
What is a Social Network?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, idea, financial exchange, friends, kinship, dislike, conflict, trade, web links, sexual relations, disease transmission (epidemiology), or airline routes.Social network analysis views social relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors. There can be many kinds of ties between the nodes. Research in a number of academic fields has shown that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals. In its simplest form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant ties between the nodes being studied. The network can also be used to determine the social capital of individual actors. These concepts are often displayed in a social network diagram, where nodes are the points and ties are the lines. Is that clear enough? I see eyes crossing everywhere at this point in time, so I'll clarify - basically a social network is a way of illustrating the relationships between individuals - who knows who, what links they have, and so on. e.g. On the Social Networking sites I frequent, I am in social networks with all my friends, people in my region, people who subscribe to the same groups as me, and people who share my interests.
Social Network Services
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - A social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software. Most social network services are primarily web based and provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups, and so on. The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace, Bebo and Facebook being the mostly widely used in 2007.
Why are Social Networking Sites important to Online Businesses?
Why this is important to online marketers is because they are a great way of finding people who are looking for what you are offering - say you were marketing a football newsletter, you could quickly find people interested in football via the Social Networking sites and communicate with them. By keeping your page up to date, contributing to forums and blogs, and messaging your new friends you can start to build up a relationship with other members, thus increasing the reach of your promotional messages. If you can become seen as an expert in your field on a Social Networking Site, you will soon find potential customers come to you rather than you having to find them.
One thing you need to avoid on Social Networking Sites is blatant advertising, or use of mass friend-adders or mass messaging - you'll soon find yourself deleted - as I discovered after adding some 700 people to my profile in a week, and sending them a copy/paste message. Many offer paid methods of contacting specific parts of their member base, but don't like you doing it yourself for free! So learn from my mistake and do what I do now, use them to send targeted messages to specific individuals, and when you need to communicate with large numbers at once, do it via the forums as you're intended to!
There are now many different types of Social Networking sites - the general, like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, and the more targeted - you can find a list of business-focused social networks here So go out and join at least 3 - and start to find people who are interested in the same things as you, and the things that you are offering. Make friends, find allies, reach out to a whole new segment of your market. Social Networking Sites are an important tool to have in your arsenal today. Use them wisely.
Rob Bell is a successful Chartered Marketer with 15 years experience creating and developing varied markets, primarily Technology. He first started using the Internet as a Business & Marketing student in 1991, and considers himself a bit of a computer addict. He runs several websites including StartUpOnline, and devotes his work to those and his SU Business. He loves music and reading in his spare time.
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