1) Facebook – For most Marketing Professionals, Facebook Pages are the best place to start. Pages allow them to collect “fans” the way celebrities, sports teams, musicians and politicians do. More and more businesses are jumping into social media as the ROI of Inbound Marketing continues to show that online Social Network Sites are an effective and inexpensive way to reach potential buyers.
Facebook is a social networking website intended to connect friends, family, and business associates. You can also join Facebook groups to meet people like you, or browse the profiles to find new friends. Facebook users create a profile page that shows their friends and networks information about themselves. The choice to include a profile in a network means that everyone withing that network can view the profile. The profile typically includes the following: Information, Status, Friends, Friends in Other Networks, Photos, Notes, Groups, and The Wall. In this website, you will be able to post your pictures, discuss your interests and hobbies as well as do other great things.
Now, if you have an online business, you will see that Facebook can significantly help you promote your website and your business. Facebook marketing is now one of the hottest trends among online entrepreneurs today.
2) Twitter- Twitter is a free ‘micro-blogging’ service which allows users to exchange short updates (up to 140 characters long), termed ‘Tweets’ in a way similar to SMS. Unlike SMS, these updates are generally public (although private messages are possible). They are delivered via the internet to either the Twitter website or a separate client to a user’s PC or mobile device. Any Twitter user simply clicks a ‘follow’ button to receive another user’s public messages in their Twitter feed (becoming a ‘follower’). Please don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ceoworld
3) Myspace -MySpace has a high value because of it’s massive userbase, which in turn provides a potentially rich source of advertising income. Given the audience is a young demographic it’s a very lucrative market for advertisers. However if you are willing to dig a little deeper you can find some legitimate companies and organizations who are using MySpace.
One of the key factors you’ll need to accept if you are going to take advantage of marketing opportunities on MySpace is it’s a hangout for the hip and trendy set, and not neccisarily just teens. If you’re potential customer is more likely to drive a Toyota Scion instead of a Jaguar then you are in the right spot.
4) Linkedin- LinkedIn is a sales and marketing accelerator. You can get Thousands of visitors to your website or product page, you can get hundreds of leads, market to millions of people. LinkedIn is a contact network consisting of your direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second degree connections) and also the connections of second degree connections (termed third degree connections). First and foremost, get in the habit of connecting with all your business contacts. When you get a business card at an event, find the contact on LinkedIn and invite them to join your network.
Expand your network by browsing or searching for second or third degree connections you wish to meet. LinkedIn let’s you search by a variety of powerful terms. In addition to Name, search by Company, Title, Location, Industry and group affiliations. Then, use the Get Introduced feature to obtain an introduction through a mutual and trusted contact.
5) CEOWORLD Exchange-More and more professionals are using CEOWORLD Exchange nowadays, to connect with colleagues and business contacts. CEOWORLD Exchange is a professional niche social networking site. On CEOWORLD Exchange, you can connect with professional colleagues, meet new people, find recommended services and find new contacts in your current network. Currently, you can reach “more than 100,000” professionals on the service, including many of the Fortune 500 companies.
6) Meettheboss -MeettheBoss.com is the premier industry networking, communication, and content delivery site for senior management, across all vertical industries. While not solely a networking tool, MeettheBoss.com’s industry leading technology ensures that the communication taking place between members is far superior to that of any other existing ‘business networking’ site.
7) Ryze Networking -Ryze helps people make connections and grow their networks. You can network to grow your business, build your career and life, find a job and make sales. Or just keep in touch with friends.
8) Xing -XING is the leading European network for business contacts. Far more than a directory of business contacts, XING makes your professional network an active part of your life, enabling members to discover professional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique discovery capability and advanced contact management tools.
9) Ecademy -Ecademy connects business people all over the world. It is a self-development, business and branding tool, which enables business people to achieve immediate visibility. The relationships, advocates and knowledge subsequently shared through the network provides individuals with the credibility they need to grow their business.
Ecademy’s core intention is to help business people to be more successful and promotes the values of a business community who no longer wish to be broadcast to, but demand engagement and conversation.
10) Gather -Gather is a place where people come together around hot topics and the things they are passionate about. Members share their expertise, advice, and views on the news of the day and are paid for the popular content they contribute.
11) Plaxo -Plaxo helps millions around the world enrich their connections with the people they know and care about. The company operates the largest and fastest growing network of networked address books, hosting over 50 million accounts, and is bringing those address books to life with a next-generation social network, Pulse, which makes it easy to share content with fine-grained control. Plaxo is a unit of Comcast Interactive Media.
12) Biznik -Biznik is a social networking environment for entrepreneurs who are heads of companies without payrolls, in other words, small businesses where the owner and maybe one or two other people work. Biznik started out in Seattle and is, consequently, very big on the West coast. They’ve been covered by The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and others, and are fast earning a reputation as a great resource for business owners.
13) cmypitch -cmypitch.com is a social network for small business, connecting entrepreneurs with investors and service providers. The video-based website has five distinct business communities for anyone starting, running, growing or selling a business. With a directory of 70,000 service providers to small and growing businesses, as well as a dedicated “Entrepreneur TV” channel featuring exclusive interviews with hugely successful business leaders, cmypitch.com provides a platform to help entrepreneurs succeed.
14) E.Factor -”E.Factor” stands for “The Entrepreneur Factor” and represents a vibrant online community and virtual marketplace designed for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs love E.Factor.com because it’s a place where they can focus exclusively on making business connections, negotiating deals, exchanging information, and advertising their products and services. Comprised of businesspeople and investors across an array of industries around the globe, the E.Factor community is ideal for entrepreneurs looking to increase their brand exposure, establish a network of high quality contacts, and acquire the funding needed to take their enterprise to the next level.
15) Fast Pitch -Fast Pitch is a Global Network of Professionals connecting online with the primary goal to add value to their business and the community as a whole. Business networking and marketing is the life blood of local and global economies. By combining sophisticated and simple tools online with a social networking platform, professionals can receive real return on their investment.
16) PartnerUp – PartnerUp is a social networking community where you can connect to other small business owners like yourself and find solutions to your everyday problems. As an Aplus.net customer, you will receive an upgrade to a Premier membership with PartnerUp at no extra cost. Premier status allows you to connect with people outside of your network and provides extra exposure for your business with a free one-year listing in the PartnerUp Resource Directory. Connect on PartnerUp today to begin utilizing these free resources.
17) aSmallWorld -ASMALLWORLD is the world’s leading private online community that captures an existing international network of people who are connected by three degrees of separation. Members share similar backgrounds, interests and perspectives. ASMALLWORLD’s unique platform offers powerful tools and user generated content to help members manage their private, social and business lives.
You can find other important resources for Corporate Business Marketing Professionals here: A complete List of business Networking Websites for CEO’S and Entrepreneurs, Complete List of social networking websites and Tools for Running a Business Online
