In recent years, social networking sites have grown in popularity. These are websites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Yuwie, Tagged, Friendster, Flickr, and many more. These are places in which individuals gather together and meet, talk, share pictures, videos, and embark in various other activities. What is amazing about these websites is the fact that they have millions upon millions of users from around the world visiting them every single day. That is why businesses turn to these sites to market their services. However, there are precautions that must be taken since many of these sites have taken measures against individuals using certain tactics to market their services.
In this article, you will find tips that you can use when using social networking sites to build your business.
Those tips are:
- Read the terms and conditions
When joining a social networking site, read the terms and conditions to see what type of advertising restrictions they have. If you violate those terms, then your account may be deleted or worse. Sometimes it pays to avoid heavy marketing on some of the larger sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The smaller sites such as Yuwie tend to be more lenient toward advertising. Some even encourage it. - Aim for smaller social networking sites
Marketing your business on the big social networking sites can be quite tempting because there are so many people on them. Thinking of that type of exposure can seduce common sense and land you in some trouble. As stated in the first tip, it is good to avoid any heavy marketing on the larger sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Sometimes you have to avoid it all together since sites like MySpace have a function where those you are marketing to can mark your messages as SPAM. There have even been instances in which lawsuits have been brought against those sending out what is considered SPAM. Even if your intentions are pure, it is good to resist the temptation. - Use social networking blogs
Many of the social network sites have a blog function. Some of them such as Livejournal and Blogger are centered around blogs, but offer social networking options for users. You can use the blogs to talk about your service to those who visit it. You can also use your other social networking accounts to market your blog by providing a link to it somewhere on the page. Even talking about your business in your MySpace blog is not a bad thing. That is one way you can get away with marketing on the large social networking sites. - Market to other businesses
You would be surprised how many businesses have created social networking sites. Market yourself to those businesses, especially if you have services they can use. Then again, they are increasing your exposure by adding you to their friends list. If you can, reach an agreement with that business for the week to list you as a top friend and you will do the same for them. That way, you can help each other out. - Utilize all of the site’s functions
Social networking sites provide a number of different functions to their users. As stated before, blogging is one of those functions. Other functions include networking, groups, classifieds, and forums.
You can use the networking function to connect with individuals who have an interest in your services. Be sure to hook up to these available networks. You can also join groups of people with the same interests and create groups of your own. When you create a group, you can invite individuals to join. They then have the option to accept or decline your invitation. They also have the option to search for a group such as yours. This is a great way to market to individuals who have a genuine interest in what you do. You can also use the classified ads to post ads about your business. The only tricky one is the forums. You don’t want to SPAM people’s posts with information regarding your business. You want to look for posts that are relevant to your business or business in general. There may be even more features for you to use to your advantage, so be sure to explore every aspect of the site so that you can form a plan.
Despite the amount of marketing that occurs on social networking sites, these online meeting places are still largely untapped. You can develop your own strategy based on what portals the site gives you to market your business. You can also create one profile page or you can create multiple profile pages to highlight each and every one of your services. If that sounds good to you, simply Google a list of the networking sites on the web and get started in utilizing the social networking site to build your business.