Facebook and MySpace are well known social media sties, but there are many more. SEOmoz provides you with a list - you’ll notice that these sites are all very different, and some may interest you more than others.

Many businesses are wary of these sites; they look on them as time wasters, but can you market successfully using these sites?

» A Successful Facebook Marketing Campaign - Social Media Optimization offers an interesting study: “To help create acceptance of its brand on Facebook, Target kept its online sales pitch low key. The ad campaign included the sponsored page and banner ads placed elsewhere on Facebook and everything linked to Target’s Facebook page, not its e-commerce site. Discounts and promotions were also kept off the sponsored page. ‘We learned that in this social environment we had to talk to people first, before trying to sell anything,’ Taylor says.”

Go to where your audience is

When you’re considering using these sites for marketing purposes, ask yourself where your audience is. You’re not looking for traffic, after all - you’re looking for targeted traffic; people who are interested in your message.

With the Web becoming ever larger, it’s hard to reach your audience without spending huge sums on advertising.

The Social Media sites offer one benefit: they’re free. All you’ll spend when you investigate them is time, and depending on the industry you’re in, it may be time well spent.

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