To outsiders - and quite often, to insiders, as well - social media sites look like a mess. A whole lot's going on, and little of it appears to be of any value. So if you're interested in social media, but would prefer to follow in the footsteps of others rather than blaze your own trail, the results of a survey may be of some interest.
A Marketing Blagger poll named "Blogging," "LinkedIn," "Facebook," "Other," and "Delicious" as possible responses, and then set to work finding out what people use most in order to promote their businesses. Blogs came out the clear winner, with 67 percent of respondents giving them a shot.
Next came LinkedIn, with 55 percent of respondents siding with it. Business networking has become more important than ever, after all, since the recession has often made it necessary to establish new partnerships, seek out recommendations, or even barter for goods and services.
Facebook followed with 48 percent of the vote, and it offers some of the same person-to-person benefits. A possible bonus is that the social network allows folks to chat more and thereby become emotionally invested in things. Facebook's also much bigger than LinkedIn, so it can connect businesses with a larger audience.
Finally, the category of "Other" got selected by 39 percent of respondents, and Delicious was chosen by another 30 percent.
Companies without much experience with social media may feel safest approaching these results in a top-down fashion, and others can perhaps think about filling in any holes in their strategy.
NOTE: Some technical problems necessitated that this article be reposted. Our apologies for any lost comments.
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Comments
I agree...
As a web site owner of safety and security products, I couldn't agree more. I rely on blogs to help with marketing and SEO tips as well as leaving comments that will link to my site or product pages. After that I rely on social sites such as FaceBook. LinkedIn and others to connect with potential customers and other business owners. It's how we function in this electronic age. Thanks, Doug, for sharing your thoughts.
Best Biz In World
Blogs are one of the best ways to promote a business,however I have yet to find a way to connect more free links that would advertise and help those staring out for free.
Blog baby blog...
Blog marketing and link building works also in my Chicago limo rental company. Great article; however, more details would be also nice.
I agree that social media
I agree that social media can be an effective marketing tool if handled with care. If you know your company has the knowledge and resources to create an effective social media presence, you might want to try it out. For other companies, it may be worth your while to hire an outside consultant to handle the process for you.
Social media promotion
Social media promotion and SMO could generate great source of traffic but it has to be managed well and this process is very time consuming.
It Takes A Good Mixture
I find it takes a mix of things, which tend to all support each other. Blogging works well when you make sure you update your own blog daily (for example a Wordpress blog hosted on your own site).
But also don't forget the blogs hosted on the business social networking sites as well. Many of these have their own blog platforms and if the issue is contentious enough you will get many comments to your blog posts here and that will just cause the sheer amount of content to go through the roof. Remember search engines love content, and your blog posts on the social networking sites will be indexed by Google far quicker than your self-hosted blog will, and will also acheive a higher ranking because of the higher PR the social networking platforms will undoubtedly have.
So when you make posts you write for that community, but don't forget you're also writing for the broader community who will tend to see your content on Google rather than Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace, etc.
Try until you find the one that works!
It is definitely a mixed media. What works for one may not be for another. I tried several until I felt that I had no time for all of them. I settled for MyBlogLog, I get a good steady visitors daily. Although I haven't ruled out others totally.
Favorite Social media
I agree with this article. My favorite social media to use is a blog. We have been doing it for over 3 years. http://theterracottainn.blogspot.com
I list airfare sales, availability, what's happening in Palm Springs (where our resort is located), etc.
Social Media good... but still favour article marketing
Im just getting into social media and have quickly realised how powerful it can be and how fast it can help your SEO efforts. I still favour article marketing though as it has a 2 fold effect. You get traffic from people actually reading the article and you also get the power of the inbound link text to help you rank better in the SERPs.
Blogging gives me the most ROI -- and I love it!
Blogging has been the most successful for me for traffic and ROI. Secondarily I would have to say Twitter. Was Twitter one of the possible answers you could choose from? I cannot imagine anybody choosing FB above Twitter. FB annoys me. Perhaps I am not using it correctly. Anyway, blogs and Twitter rules. And I need to join Linked In. Believe it or not I like Blog Catalogue and Disqus. I guess each person muse decide for himself, as each person is different, and then even after deciding that particular person must continue to reevaluate himself throughout the years to see what works best for him at different t imes.
krissy knox
follow my on twitter: http://twitter.com/iamkrissy
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