Let's face it, it's challenging to absorb the 'know how' and pros of social networking sites without feeling overwhelmed and getting everything in a systematic fashion. And yes, for a strategic social marketing plan of action, a 'social system' is essential for your sanity. Here are 10 pros of social networking sites with a few excellent resources attached: 1. Facebook The granddaddy of them all. According to Alexa rankings, Facebook is the 5th most popluar site in the world today. Facebook is the perfect place to develop relationships online and now boast with more than a 100 million users online. Unfortunately, to many marketers have adopted their tacky 'MySpace Mentality' in Facebook by pasting endless links on your profile wall. This is enough to make anyone cringe. Lots of potential for marketing, if you are prepared to build relationships first. Best Resource will be Mari Smith, relationship and buzz marketing specialist. You will find plenty of golden nuggets on her fan page which can be found by doing a search on Facebook. 2. Squidoo There's been plenty of debates whether Seth Godin's (the king of marketing in my honest opinion) collection of half a million pages still delivers quality traffic after a not so recent Google Slap. But, like Seth mentions, Google is famous for rewarding pages that are worth while, so if you Squidoo lens provides quality content, Squidoo has endless benefits for your web presence. Check out Rena Klingenberg's Squidoo Traffic Power lens for great tips and resources. 3. Hubpages Hubpages are relatively the same as Squidoo. Instead of a lens, you build a hub. Hubs with blatant affiliate promotions will not get approved. Only original, relevant content will cut it. You will find plenty of excellent 'how to' hubs on hubpages itself which will help you get started. 4. StumbleUpon This site absolutely rocks! Install the 'stumble' button on your Firefox browser to vote sites a thumbs up or down, or simply bookmark a favorite while doing research on the fly. 5. Mashable Mashable is the worlds largest blog to focus on all the web 2.0 and social networking news. Very popular amongst bloggers and social networking fanatics with an influential demographic which increases daily. 6. Digg Digg is a community-based social news site with a readership who is extremely tech savvy. You can submit your articles, blog posts, videos, pictures, etc and if the community 'diggs' it, you get, well, digged. If a link to your content gets submitted to Digg and gets voted for by the community, you can receive hundreds to even thousands of visitors in as little as minutes. Look out for Dean Hunt. Dean Hunt's content has been featured on the front page numerous times and provides a excellent free report on his blog called 'Confessions of the Buzz Content Hustlers'. 7. Technorati Simply said, the Google of Blogs. Technorati was founded to help bloggers collect and share information for online global conversation. Technorati currently states it is tracking over 112.8 million blogs. Once you have sufficient content, you need to claim your blog with Technorati. A good idea is to let your friends and others favorite your blog with Technorati. 8. MyBlogLog The key to global conversation throughout the blogosphere. MyBlogLog enables bloggers to talk amongst each other and learn about their readers by checking out their blogs and active communities. This generally made possible via a widget in the sidebar displaying your most recent visitors to your blog. MyBlogLog enhances your existing presence on the Web and connects it with communities of like-minded readers and bloggers, adding context to the conversations in which you take part. 9. Propeller Several years back when Netscape.com was acquired by AOL, Netscape wanted to follow in Digg's footsteps and added social news. So, Propeller was born. Propeller is a social news portal which, like Digg, is controlled by the popularity which is voted for by the community. Make sure your content is newsworthy and original when you submit to Propeller. 10. Mixx Direct competitor of Digg who is receiving a lot of attention from CNN, who now adds a 'mixx it' buttons with all their content. A fun group of diversified personalities consisting of a ex-banker, a blackjack dealer, an ice skater, a self-professed geek and a rabid cricket fan. Be sure to add Mixx for strategic social marketing. And of course... Twitter! The list cant be complete without adding Twitter to the portfolio. Twitter's microblogging 140 character conversations is taking over the web, literally. CoachDeb has created the ultimate guide to Twitter, so if you are still in the Dark about how Twitter works, download the TwitterHandBook. More information about strategic social marketing and pros of social networking sites are freely available.
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