by Michael Bridges

Created on: April 16, 2009   Last Updated: April 17, 2009

We all know that social networking sites are huge with sites like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter leading the pact. These sites have created brand new opportunities to reach people online and even market to them, if done the right way. One thing you can be sure of is that these sites help people to define their self-identities. So, marketing anything that helps to say who they are, what groups they belong to, and what values they have is a great way to build a contact list, and in some cases, even promote products that will appeal to their demographic.

Sites like Facebook and Myspace allow you to have a profile that you can personalize by using your real name, or in some cases a screen name. This puts attention on who you are and helps to boost your self-image. So if you are marketing a product people will feel more comfortable buying from someone they feel they know.

Another way that social networking sites help with marketing is with Groups. On sites like Facebook, you can set up a Facebook page for your businesses, services and products. People can then join these pages and become a group of fans that like the topic. Once this group of people is together you can get a group identity together by creating interesting names for the groups.

You can also have interactive activities and create items that show people as being a member of that group. This not only helps in promoting your group, but also your business. Members of your group can then identify themselves by saying they're a member of your group by using the items you provide like badges or buttons to identify themselves with pride. Even if the people in your group never go anywhere else to promote the group, the fact that they are a part of a group that you started gives you a captive audience and relaxes many of the restrictions that you have for marketing on a social networking site. You see even though you can't spam others on their profiles with your offers, in a group it may be more acceptable. Especially if it helps to facilitate group activities and uphold group standards.

Even if you are a non-profit organization, social networking can help generate contacts and promote some of your products as well. You can sell through the promotion of your social values. Lets say for instance you are a non-profit organization that believes in environmental issues. You can promote specific items in your product line-up by posting on a group wall that shows how that item helps to save the environment. People wouldn't join a social conscience group without having some of the same values, so this provides an excellent opportunity to trigger buying behavior.

So as you can see social networking sites are a great way of marketing a product, business or service and there are more and more of them popping up all the time giving you more opportunities to market your wares.

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