Keeping into consideration the multiple benefits of having presence on different social media networks, every organization wishes to join the social media wave. But to intelligently utilize and come up with effective strategy, one must understand the basic essence of various social media platforms available on the web today.

Let us understand the different forms of social media networks, which will help us further explore the multiple opportunities lying in line with our core business objectives.

Web-based Social Media Marketing Platforms

These platforms bring together the like-minded people from different parts of the world having common interests. These leverage the collective power of people, who access the platforms for connecting and sharing useful information with each other. Different discussion forums and groups on these platforms can be grouped under this category.

Examples: Meetup.com, aNobii, Disaboom etc.

Content/Information-based Social Media Networks

Social media platforms contribute to 18% of total Information search market. These platforms are being used not only for making purchase decisions, but also for content discovery. They are being increasingly used as ‘core navigation and discovery tools’. These have eventually become key mediums for search on the Internet. There are scores of people seeking information and entertainment on different platforms  & getting connected with subject matter experts.

Examples: YouTube, SlideShare,  Flickr etc.

Personality-based Social Media Platforms       


With the arrival of these social media platforms in the communication picture, use of telephone as a medium has reduced considerably. We come know about the latest events in our friends’ lives through their status updates on these sites. This mode of communication is highly preferred since you come to know about the updates instantly. Questions like ‘Who’s getting engaged?’ ‘Who’s dating whom?’ ‘Who’s getting married & when?’ ‘Who got a new job?’ are answered in no time through messages, scraps etc. on these platforms, and the basic inquisitive human nature is satisfied thoroughly.

Examples: Orkut, MySpace, Facebook etc.

Reviews-based Social Media Networks

Testimonials & recommendations from acquaintances are gradually losing their shine. Reviews by third parties on neutral platforms are being preferred by individuals/businesses etc. Users wish to know what exactly is the response to your product in the market. After gaining adequate feedback & reviews from the customers who’ve had real time experiences with your business on these social media platforms, users are encouraged to make their purchase decision.

Examples: MouthShut.com, Yahoo! Answers, epinions.com etc.

Interactive Discussion Forums & Blogs

These venues have recently become the most popular portals to keep your users, friends, colleagues etc. updates about the latest subjects. The frequency of updates has increased remarkably. Any big or small event, make your acquaintances & customers know about the same through initiating discussions, participating in the same etc. Most of netizens try to stay tuned with latest blogs to update their knowledge on varied subjects.

Examples: Xanga, Open Diary, Vox etc.

With this information on varied forms of social media platforms in your kitty, you must now step forward to align your core business objectives with well-devised social media marketing strategy.

To help you put your marketing strategy into action, we at LimeDomains are all set to assist you with marketing applications such as Advanced Guestbook, Advanced Poll, Noah’s Classifieds etc.

Get started today!

What idea pops up in your mind when you hear about the launch of yet another social networking website? Certainly the following one….Oh no! Not anymore. Yet when your Inbox receives a message of getting registered on the same, you easily fall prey to click on the registration link received in the mail.

Generally speaking, these sites offer platforms to people like you & us for connecting with friends, building our social network & sharing photos, videos etc.

The biggest advantage of a social networking site is how you can build and use the network with friends, business associates and people with similar interests. Social networking sites are bringing people closer together and helping them to interact and share their thoughts within the group, no matter where in the world they are,” says N S Muthukumaran, director, online research, The Nielsen Company.

The social networking websites are faring exceedingly well on the Web, and have defined the way youth & adult across the globe communicates. Seeing a vast plethora of opportunities, almost every organization wishes to join the bandwagon of this networking wave & grab a pie.  We, at LimeDomains, have also created our groups on some prominent social networking platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter, where you can join us.

To validate the growing influence of these sites, let us give you some interesting statistics. According to a study conducted by Tyroo Media, social networking sites such as Orkut & Facebook account for more than 44% of the total Internet traffic in India. Also, more than 75% online marketers plan to increase their investments on social media campaigns in next 3 years.

An intriguing result has surfaced—these sites are being used for job hunting by job seekers. HR firm Manpower recently conducted a survey. The survey results reveal that 17% respondents use these sites for finding potential employers, 10% for networking & generating new business prospects & 17% for other work-related objectives.

Social networking websites contribute remarkably in the creation of markets, where social networks matter a lot by inducing ‘competitive altruism’. For instance, an IT worker based in Sydney, Australia can recommend the driver of his colleague to all his friends on Facebook. Hopefully, the word may spread and the driver may end up getting a job for himself.

Also, the varied applications on these sites such as Causes & groups such as Blood Donation Group on Facebook help in making your presence worth on the platform. These get featured on your profile home page, broadcast the action, create awareness in your network & contribute in charity work to an extent.

With this information handy, you might wish to create your own social networking website. We, at LimeDomains, are ready to help you out in creating a social networking website with applications such as Elgg and osDate.

Get started with taking advantage of Web 2.0 community building tools!

.

‘Join us on Twitter’, Join us on Facebook etc. –These are some of the commonly seen expressions and integral components of every organization’s marketing strategy. Almost every company is aware of the power of social media marketing but confused about the ways to leverage its power for building network & get maximized gains from the same.

Well, the answers to these concerns lie in clear understanding of the importance of social media networks, which paves way for social media marketing (SMM). As per ComScore reports, today 734.2 million or two-thirds of the world’s 1.1 billion Internet users, 15 & older visited at least one social networking site in May, 2009.

To gain success in SMM, you must be able to clearly define the primary objectives of your SMM campaign. Here is a list of some common goals, valid for most businesses. However, you need to decide what suits you the best as a short-term objective, to be achieved first. 

• Brand visibility & promotion
• Customer Relationship Management
• Community Involvement with your Product
• Lead & Sales generation
• Polls & Surveys
• Hiring

Now How to execute it?

• To best leverage the power of different Web-based SMM platforms, it’s vital for you to align your core business objectives with the appropriate SMM strategy. Your strategy must be a product of your business goals and target market. For instance, if your niche target audience comprises of professionals then it’s recommended that you concentrate largely on platforms such as LinkedIn, Ecademy, Xing etc.
• Choose the most appropriate goals listed above and then the right channels to use the power of social media networks. Once you’re done with that, you can now start thinking on the lines of leveraging the power of each selected channel.
• Spread the right message about your brand on different chosen platforms on a consistent basis.
• Clearly segregating the short & long-term SMM objectives as SMM offers both short as well as long-term returns.
• Concentrate on quality, not the quantity of implementation of your SMM campaign.

We, at LimeDomains, also understand the profound significance of social media marketing, and therefore have created our groups on some prominent social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter.

Join us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter!