Several readers have asked about social networking. What is it? How does it work? How can I use it for marketing?
Here we offer several resources that will introduce some of the social networking tools and begin to touch on how to use them, starting with some definitions.
Social Media - For purposes of discussion we will think of social media as Internet sites. These sites facilitate information sharing through various types of interactions. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are examples of very popular social media sites.
Social Networking - Social networking is interaction made possible by social media sites.
Social Media Marketing - I like the way SearchEngineLand describes it as the "process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites."
For an entertaining, rather ingenious explanation of Social Media in Plain English, watch this video about Scoopville.
In future postings we'll take a look at strategies for using LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook for social networking and social media marketing.
In the meantime, if you're wondering whether all of this social media stuff deserves so much attention, watch Social Media Revolution 2, dated May 5, 2010. This four and a half minute video provides statistics that are hard to ignore. For instance, Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year. Take a look, and let me know if you think social media is a fad.
