31 October 2008 4 Comments

I’ve been told recently that there are in the area of around 3,000 social networking websites on the internet now. Probably by next week there will be countless more. That’s a crazy number. It’s a little overwhelming and can scare someone away from engaging in social media and might even discourage those who already are.

Are you suppose to join every one? Do you have to set up a new profile in over 3,000 websites? When can you ever find the time to keep up each network?

The good news is that a lot of those 3,000 are focused niche networking sites. For example, if you’re not into real estate you probably wouldn’t want to join a real estate agent networking website. By focusing on your niche you can really narrow the scope of the social networks you might be interested in.

However, that could still be quite a large number. Should you join each one in your niche? You could possibly be looking at hundreds of websites where you feel obligated to set up an account and post regularly to. Way too much. You’d never have the time to keep up with each one. And you’d definitely never have a life. I’m sure your family would love you.

Ten Social Media Sites Everyone Should Be Actively Engaged In

So what do you do? You start out small and work your way up.

Social media can be extremely broad in scope and it can be very focused. You can join websites that cater to everything under the sun, and/or you could join networks that only deal with very focused niches. Either way you’re plugged in. But, for maximum effectiveness I would have to go with a little bit of both. But, where do you start? What networks should you be a part of?

Here’s ten that I think are essential no matter what your niche is.

1. Facebook. Probably the most important of all of the social networking websites. At least in my humble opinion. There is just too much you can do here to establish your identity, brand, and expertise.

2. Twitter. Without a doubt, Twitter has revolutionized the way that social networking is done. It’s quick, clean, and immediate. In fact, the power of Twitter is so powerful that some have been wanting to ban the use of it. In a networking sense, Twitter is only surpassed by Facebook in effectiveness.

3. LinkedIn. The last of what I call the ‘Big Three’, LinkedIn is a great way to connect with people in the same niche as well as find others who do work you might need.

4. FriendFeed. I really like what is going on over at the social media aggregator Friendfeed. It’s a great concept that enables you to keep track of what’s going on at a bunch of other networks without actually visiting them. I follow people who have their Twitter updates, Plurk updates, blog posts, things they’ve shared on Google, Tumblr, YouTube and other social feeds and I don’t have to visit them. It’s all in once place. It’s also integrated into Facebook which keeps your Facebook friends tapped into what you’re doing.

5. YouTube. Not your typical social media website, but a very powerful one. I haven’t really dabbled into video yet (although there really isn’t any excuse anymore with the cost of cameras like the Flip Video Mino Series Camcorder) I still believe that YouTube is integral to social media marketing. The videos at YouTube help you enter into conversations with the people who make them. When you subscribe to someone’s video, friend them on Facebook or Twitter, then you have something you praise them for or use as a means of an introduction.

6. StumbleUpon. This social bookmarking site is a great way to get to know people who are interested in the same things that you are. It’s also a great way to get people to see your website and even “stumble” your pages. If you’re not spending at least an hour a week working with StumbleUpon you’re missing out on a lot of traffic and social networking.

7. Google Reader. At first glance you would not think that Google Reader is much of a social networking site. However, you can share items from your reader with friends and they, in turn, can share items with you. This is powerful in the fact that you are now able to get more information without actually subscribing to more feeds.

8. SocialMedian. Another website that is a little like StumbleUpon as far as bookmarking goes. Instead of stumbling a site, you “clip” articles that you like so that your followers will see them and be able to clip them also or just read them.

9. Digg. The last couple of social media sites have been those where you share information in the form of sharing, stumbling or clipping. Digg is not that much different, but is still essential. Digg users are fanatic about digging websites and if you digg for them, they will digg for you. A front page listing on Digg can mean thousands of hits to your website.

10. MyBlogLog. Let’s face it. Everyone is blogging. Social media actually got started because of blogging. If you really want to be technical about things, blogging is actually social media networking. You leave comments, you visit other sites, you interlink to other blogs… it’s all a big community. MyBlogLog helps you to be in contact with other bloggers, join their communities, be seen by others, get more traffic. It operates on the same basis as any other site. You find people you want to follow, they follow you back, see your updates, and visit your blog. MyBlogLog is a great way to market your blog and find new ones to follow.

That’s Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

I only listed ten sites that I feel are essential to getting a start in social media marketing. These will help you get your feet wet, try it out, and learn a few things. But, there is so much more out there. I never mentioned Plurk, Disqus, Brightkite, Bloghology, Rejaw, or even MySpace.

You can take a look at those as well, but if you are new to social media, stick to these ten.

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