Social marketing is not a new trend, but one that continues to amaze us as more new social networking type of sites pop up.  In 2008 alone there were over 10,000+ new social networking sites created.  That’s good news and also bad news.  The good news, if you’re  in a niched market, there is a good chance there is a social networking site dedicated to that topic.  The bad news, you need to find out which of these sites are going to give you the biggest bang for your marketing buck. 

 Alexa.com is a great tool to use to gauge how powerful a web site might be.  By looking at the top 1000 web sites in the world, you will notice that many of the top 20 sites in the world are social networking sites.  Is this a trend you should be using heavily?  Of course!

According to alexa.com, the top 3 social networking sites are as follows:

·         Myspace

·         Facebook

·         LinkedIn

These are the three key social networking web sites you need to be leveraging in your marketing efforts.  Think that myspace and facebook are just for kids?  WRONG!  The fastest growing demographic across these sites is executives above the age of 35!

 Get some accounts setup and start driving some quality traffic before your competitors do!

Key Resources:

·         Myspace.com

·         Facebook.com

·         LinkedIn.com

The number one web site in google is a Squidoo “lens.”  This page is beating out almost 3 Million other web sites, ahead of ebags.com and luggageonline to name a few.  The best part- this Squidoo page has only been established for about a year!

Now, try  tell me that web 2.0 web sites are not changing the way we marketing online..

Just some food for thought for you

Anytime Seth Godin launches anything we jump on it, and get our clients involved at the ground level.  Squidoo  is simply changing the way people talk about their businesses, hobbies and passions. 

In under 10 minutes you can create a Squidoo Lens,  and we guarantee you it will be  some of the best time you spend! 

Social Marketing  is a trend you simply cannot ignore. 

Check out a few Squidoo Len’s we have created for some ideas:

• http://www.squidoo.com/rushford-lake-new-york
• http://www.squidoo.com/matthew-ferry
• http://www.squidoo.com/college-guide
• http://www.squidoo.com/colorado-loans

Everyone and their third cousins has a definition on what Web 2.0 means or at least what they think it means.

At Taz Solutions we like to keep things simple, so when we use the term “Web 2.0″  we simply mean “an ever changing internet landscape.”  When the internet started out we refer to it as Web 1.0 things like: personal web sites, limited collaboration, Britannaca Online,  content management companies and the like.  Web 2.0 is quite different, it’s the age of Wikipedia, mass online collaboration, blogs,  flickr, youtube.com, social tagging, facebook, myspace and so on with stop in sight. 

As times moves on we’re only going to get more and more advanced and sharing and publishing information will continue to get easier.

What does this mean for YOU?

If your business is not using these Web 2.0 methods to collaborate, drive traffic, and publish information you are going to be left on the waste side in the coming years.  Your competitors are already using these new marketing/data sharing methods. Your goal is to stay ahead of the curve and follow the latest trends so you can wave while passing them by!

The biggest Web 2.0 trend is the social marketing aspect.  Consumers are looking to Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Scribed, Flickr, Bebo, Spoke and so on for information and products.

Remember the old phrase “People by from people they know and trust.”  When a client finds you on a social network site they already know some information about you and have made a connection with you.  Essentially these people are pre-sold on what you have to offer!

Get up to speed on social marketing and all the other Web 2.0 aspects you should be using ASAP.  We guarantee you this is not a fad nor a trend you should ignore.

We are pro’s at Social Marketing feel free to call us or email us for some free advice: Social Marketing Guru’s .

Think about your business – how can you leverage what you are currently doing? Maybe you have content just sitting there ready to be put into a book. Maybe you speak at conferences once a week and have all the recordings on DVD’s.

Oprah is accomplishing two things by putting her show on YouTube.

1. She is leveraging her current content
2. She is gaining more exposure – for FREE

If you are in the vast majority of business owners you have never used myspace to market your business; we’re here to tell you that you should!  In fact, many of our clients are making consistent sales that have resulted from people viewing them on myspace.

The key to marketing with myspace is to forget about selling – GIVE VALUE FIRST.  If your myspace account is jammed packed with useful links and articles you will naturally attract attention. 

Start a myspace account today, and keep coming back to our blog for more tips!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend