Do you know the difference between Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gather, and Myspace? Social media is the hot new thing; it is web 2.0. This means it can be overlooked as a fad that won’t really make a difference, or it can be over-hyped. It may be unclear how this platform can help your marketing and what strategy is the best to adopt. With the following breakdown of the most commonly used sites, we hope to clear up a few issues.
Facebook: Originally a college social site, it’s open now to the public. Facebook’s design encourages increased networking, constantly suggesting further possible people and groups with whom to connect. Options are available in the setup to create fan connections as well as friend connections. Likely an effect of its original manifestation, Facebook has a more severe aesthetic, lacking the bright colors and originality of Myspace page designs (There are options for color and “tattoos” for home pages, but these are not network wide.) Quizzes and games abound here. Created by third parties, many applications are designed as marketing opportunities. Personal referrals are still the best advertising and Facebook has a built in referral method showing friends what companies and people their friends are connected to. Facebook is one of the most widely used and respected social networks. A page here is fundamental to a successful social network campaign.
Myspace: Suffering from an association with internet predators, many college bound or parentally restricted teens were directed away from Myspace. However, its bright aesthetic allowing for strong independence in page design and its easy and active music play options have kept it popular in some circles, especially with youth oriented bands and their fans. Not to be confused with internet radio sites such as Pandora, Myspace is still an ideal spot for band promotion. Fans and potential fans can sample music offerings, research upcoming shows, and connect with other fans. Myspace doesn’t actively press networking. It requires more direct work to build a network here.
LinkedIn: Is marketed towards job hunters and business people. An excellent interface for business connections and resume sharing, it isn’t designed for stronger and broader ranging social connections. There are discussion groups available and strong connectivity possibilities within professional spheres, school or organizational. Inversely from the potential of more lightly social connection sites, LinkedIn might be best taken advantage of by use of targeted and personal connections rather than an all-inclusive fan building strategy. Joining and actively commenting in group conversations is one of the best ways to take advantage of LinkedIn.
Twitter: has a lot of buzz going around about it, and it can be a highly effective tool for marketing, but it does have deficiencies. It is a short line communication, updating connections with a brief updates, rather like what a Facebook update may seem like. The difference is in how these updates are used, and the frequency of postings. Marketing gurus have taken advantage of viral aspects of Twitter by posting coupons tied to a mention of the product or company (Consider if real value is not offered in these coupons, or if a company is not prepared to meet the generated demand, this strategy could devastatingly backfire). Twitter is work intensive requiring regular updates in order for a company to stay on the register. Those updates need to feel personal, be entertaining, and still hold to their marketing purpose. Updates containing links to other content are also a good use of space, but remember the Tweet then must hold all the interest of a headline, drawing its audience into the material. If your company is capable of generating a continuous flow of engaging short updates and links, then it may be convenient, otherwise another social media may be a better option.
Digg: This site is an aggregate for blogs and other media content. In this venue, participants can submit particularly interesting content and have it voted on for entertainment value. Votes are accomplished by the functions Digg or Bury (this option of disliking a viewed site is a nice counter to the mathematical programs that equate popularity only with number of visits.) Achieving notable success here is a popularity contest with participants swimming upstream until they reach a certain level of success at which point popularity is easy to acquire for new submissions.
Technorati: More often referred to in marketing blogs with greater respect, Technorati is designed along similar principals as Digg. Popular submissions rise to the surface for greater visibility thereby further increasing their popularity. There is no obvious voting system on the Technorati site, but it has a more professional newspaper style design well organized for surfing. With both Technorati and Digg the social marketing strategy would necessarily focus on the commentary- interaction with other similar postings and actively engaging in conversation with the readers.
Gather: This site advertises itself as the adult option for social networking. It lacks the games and quizzes that abound on both Myspace and Facebook, and has no real options for personalizing your homepage with Myspace style decorations, however in keeping with it’s adult persona, it is an excellent spot for following and connecting with blogs and interest focused conversations. It may be an ideal place to host conversations regarding market specific topics, keeping in touch with customer concerns and proving your company to be up to date in the conversation.
Giza Page: offers an aggregation of each individual or company’s online identity. It is not uncommon to have multiple accounts on several of these social networks. Giza Page provides an application for managing all the accounts from one network.
“Advertising always works when you have the right message sent to the right audience with the right media,” says John Crowley, President of Biznetix. “It’s all about the right time and place.” How people are looking for the services your company offers is one of the most important questions for a marketing strategist to ask. Included in the answer is almost always--they ask their friends. This means social media is not a platform that should be overlooked. Biznetix is available to assist with your social media strategy questions. Watch for future articles on getting the most from your social media campaign.
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