7 Social Networking Websites Your Business Should Be
Involved In
Author: Omaro Ailoch

Social networking for businesses offers a couple of major
advantages. Not only does it help you build a list of contacts
and leads directly through the site, but it can also help to
build your search engine link profile, ultimately giving you
greater search engine results and an increased level of search
engine traffic. Because social networking is one of the biggest
phenomenon to hit the Internet there are many sites that you can
use to promote your business and becoming an active and useful
member of these communities will help to increase exposure for
your website and business.

1 - LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social networking site geared solely towards
professionals and businesses. It is also structured in such a
way that when you add a new member to your list of connections,
it also adds their connections to your list, and the connection
of their connections. This three tier structure can help you
build a mammoth list of new contacts to greatly improve your
exposure.

2 - Facebook

While Facebook is not geared solely towards professionals and
businesses, the audience it attracts is a more mature one with a
heavy slant towards business relationships. Some of the unique
features and opportunities, including the Facebook marketplace
and Facebook applications, also make it a powerful addition to a
social media optimization campaign.

3 - MySpace

MySpace was one of the first social media websites that was
tapped into by the business community. Unfortunately, it is also
largely frequented by unethical advertisers meaning that you
have to be extremely cautious to offer genuinely valuable
content otherwise users will ignore your messages and your
efforts. The MySpace Groups are, however, a genuinely useful
pool of information and contacts.

4 - Reddit

Reddit is a social bookmarking website. Members can add
stories, news pieces, and articles that are then read by other
users and bookmarked if they are good. The more pieces you
submit and the more bookmarks you receive the greater your
exposure and the better you will fare with your social media
optimization and your search engine rankings.

5 - Squidoo

Squidoo is similar to Reddit in that it is a social bookmarking
site. There is also a section that enables registered users to
answer niggling questions posed by other users, further
promoting your profile as being an expert in a particular field.
Set up a profile page that answers users questions that they are
likely to have (in your field of choice) and then set about
answering questions and joining conversations that are relevant
to your business.

6 - Newsvine

Newsvine is a social media website that lets businesses
register and then post to the general community. Employees of
your business (or you) can post regular pieces and insights into
your business further promoting what you do and how you help
clients and customers. Newsvine isn't as popular as other social
media websites but it does have a strong following that is
growing.

7 - YouTube

It would be remiss to ignore YouTube in any article pertaining
to social networking and social media. Virtually any business
that wants to be successful in social media optimization, or in
viral marketing, has created a video and posted it to the
YouTube community. Videos can be instructional, informational,
educational, humorous, or commercially based. If they're good
then they will go viral to some extent and you can count on some
good traffic for your efforts.

Why Social Networking Online Promotes Businesses

The key to social networking is activity. You need to be
regularly active and that activity needs to provide benefit to
other members of the community. By doing this you can
effectively promote any website or any business and generate
more traffic to a website and improve conversion levels, income,
and profit.


About The Author: Omaro Ailoch is a senior software engineer,
an internet marketing expert, an entrepreneur and the founder of
OC IT Services http://www.ocitservices.com