Social Media: Social Networks 101

MoreVisibility - September 4, 2007

Social Media has taken off over the past year and a half. MySpace, FaceBook, Wikipedia, YouTube, Second Life, Digg, Flickr, TripAdvisor etc. just to name a few, all bring users together to share media, insight, opinions and perspectives. Each network shares text, images, video, and audio. As social networks continue to evolve, niche groups like High School sports, Mothers and Doctors are now participating in vertical networks.

Since most of my experience is in paid search and contextual advertising, Social Media is still a fairly new thing to me. As I continue to learn about the basics of this new media; I am sure many of you are in the same boat as I am. So here’s a little background on Social Networks. Basically, it’s a website which brings users together to share anything those users have in common. As per my examples above; high school athletes can demonstrate their skills on Takkle.com, doctors can share diagnosis and cases on Sermo.com, and mothers can share their experiences on Maya’sMom.com.

Social media started with blogs and forums, but now has evolved. Social networking, popularized by teens sharing information with their friends on Web sites such as Facebook Inc., is now blooming in the business world, thanks to new social networks that enable professionals and executives in industries such as advertising and finance to rub virtual elbows with colleagues. Now, online services are trying to promote a more personal type of business networking. Unlike relatively simple message boards that are open to all, these new sites — including Sermo.com for doctors have features such as profile pages showing professional credentials.

In short, Social Networks may be cutting edge ways to reach the demographic you are trying to reach. For example, one of my paid search clients publishes medical books. Their demographic is the medical field; doctors, nurses, medical students, etc. The social network Sermo.com would be a good place for my client to reach their demographic. As the search engine marketing world continues to grow and evolve, I believe that social networks can be another way for you to reach your target audience.