What is Social Marketing? -(Social Bookmarking)

Many people ask, "What is Social Marketing and how can I use it for my business/website? Social Marketing or Bookmarking has been around for some time in various versions with such sites as Digg, Delicious or Technorati to name a few of the bookmarking sites and of recent Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter which are more of Social Marketing sites. Each type has a different function or purpose.

Bookmarking sites like Digg or Delicious are ways to "bookmark" sites of interest for other members. This is done by joining the Bookmarking site and marking your favorites. Other members see your favorites and view them. They are very popular and how much information travels so quickly around the Internet.

Then there are Social Sites such as MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter. Each of them operates a little differently. MySpace was a huge success and then came Facebook which has made MySpace pale in comparison. In fact FaceBook is the most popular social utility on the Internet today. MySpace, although losing some ground is number two and Twitter is number 3. The FaceBook Wall below is a typical account:

Each of these sites operates a little differently so they do not necessarily lend themselves to business promotion equally. I think Twitter is the perfect promotional site, and I will explain this later.

What is a Social Utility?

A Social Utility site is one in which you have a space or page on the site that is exclusively yours. Your friends can send you messages and you can reply to them. With FaceBook you have a "Wall" that people can post public messages that anyone you have accepted can read also. It’s here that you can post messages to your friends or colleagues that they will receive a note that you have been invited to see. You can also send private messages to specific individuals that don’t appear on the "wall."

Twitter

Twitter operates a little differently and I think lends itself to business or promotion a lot better than Facebook or MySpace. With Twitter you are limited to 140 characters per "Tweet." That’s how you communicate. You can send as many tweets as you wish and they will also appear on other Twitter sites of people who have chosen to "Follow" you. This is called "micro blogging" a method of sending messages to your friends in 140 characters or less.

Why does Twitter make more sense as a business promotional tool? There is no limit as to how many followers you can have on Twitter. You may have seen some news on the "Twitter race" between Ashton Kutcher and Ted Turner as to who could get to 1,000,000 followers first. Think about it, each time you tweet something all of your followers get your tweet. So if you are introducing a new product or promoting your site you send out a Tweet to all of your followers and within seconds they have your message and can click on the url to see it immediately. You can follow us at http://twitter.com/HBRHomeBusiness we have over 9,500 followers to our page below and we have done it in just two months.

Of course there are some tricks in getting the most out of your Twitter account, such as finding followers who are specifically interested in your type of information or products. You can get a very good sense of how to do this at Twittasaurus.com which sells a guide to creating a profitable Twitter account.

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