Top Social Networking Sites, And How To Use Them To Build Your Business.

There’s no doubt about it, social networking and marketing is on the rise. It enables business owners to communicate on a more personalized level with their prospects and customers, it enables business owners to speak to a new audience, and it provides a forum for networking. It’s an all around great tool.

Because it is so popular social networking sites are becoming a dime a dozen. Like Starbucks, they’re on every virtual corner. So how do you know which social networking sites are good and which ones will benefit your business?

For clarification we’re using the definition ‘Social Networking Sites’ as it is defined by TechWeb.
“A Web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together.” Generally most social networking sites provide members with the ability to create a profile.

Here are the most popular social networking sites:

MySpace. MySpace.com has 65,000,000 monthly visitors as of March 2008.

Facebook. Facebook not only has 28,000,000 monthly visitors, it has grown 77% from last year.

LinkedIn. LinkedIn.com is certainly smaller than MySpace and Facebook with only 3,800,000 monthly visits however visitors are a more segmented market of professionals and LinkedIn has grown 729% from last year.

Speaking of phenomenal growth. Fubar.com has grown 3272217% from last year. No, that isn’t a typo! However, unless you’re marketing to the bar going crowd or singles, Fubar may not be the right social marketing site for most.

Yuku, Twitter, and ning.com have also grown more than 1000% in the past year. All three of these sites give users the ability to create their own social networks and communities. Customization and sharing are part of the appeal.

For internet marketers Warrior Forum is a great resource and of course the forum here at InternetBasedMoms.com has been the starting point for numerous partnerships and profits.

To find the right social mediums to market your business, consider where your audience hangs out. If you’re marketing to stay at home moms then search for social networking sites that are targeted specifically for them. If your business is in the nutrition and fitness industry, seek out social networking sites targeted specifically for those individuals. Here are a few points to consider when evaluating networking sites.

Size isn’t as important as you might think. While size does matter, it may be easier to stand out in a crowd of thousands rather than a crowd of millions. It may also be able to form more lasting connections with people and to get more involved in the online community.

Look for a likeminded community. As we stated earlier, there are tons of social networking sites out there. It is important to affiliate yourself with communities that represent your business image and mission.

Start small. It’s easy to overextend yourself both in the real world and virtually. Becoming a member of 27 social networking sites will probably result in 25 of them being neglected. In order to generate results, it is important to become part of the community and that means dedicating time each week to posting and communicating with other members. Rather than flitting around the internet giving each site little or no attention, find a few you can really devote your time and attention to and stick with them. If, in the future, you feel you have time to add another site to your social networking mix then go for it.

Social networking can be a tremendous asset to your business. It can generate partnerships, ideas, and profits. Take the time to find the right site for you and your business – it’s worth it.