Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. LinkedIn. These are popular social networking sites with which most people are probably familiar… and perhaps even use. But what about: Ning. Yelp. FourCorners. Plaxo. Digg. Orkut. Path. Talkbiznow. PartnerUp. HubPages. Tumblr. There has been a proliferation of social networking and sharing sites in the past five years. With the unexpected success of some sites, many more are emerging. This onslaught has caused many business people to ask themselves “On which sites do I need to be?” Some wonder “Do I have to join them all?” If you’ve pondered these same questions, stay tuned as we delve into the data to find the answers.

Just the idea of having to keep up with multiple social networking sites may be exhausting, especially for those who just jumped on the social networking bandwagon. No doubt, the world of social networking is evolving at lightning speed. Those busy with the day-to-day realities of running a business during the worst economy in many decades may feel that they simply can’t keep up with which sites are hot and which are not. In particular, people in the world of real estate and finance – two of the hardest hit sectors by the last recession – may think they just don’t have the ‘time to kill’ playing on social network sites. If that’s you, think again. 

The fact is that social networking has quickly become a pivotal part of sales and marketing efforts across all industries. Every marketing plan should include strategies for social networking. The good news, though, is that there is no need to be on every social networking site. If resources are limited – and let’s face it, they always are – cherry pick the sites in which to expend time and resources. A quick look at the numbers shows that not all social networking sites are equal. Here are some recent stats (although these numbers vary quite a bit depending on the source).

Clearly, Facebook is to social networking what Google is to search engines…. the 800 pound gorilla. Yet, despite the numbers, many business people still see Facebook as strictly a personal networking site. For the naysayers, here are some interesting statistics about Facebook as of December, 2010.

1.  Facebook has over 155 million unique visitors in the U.S. (about half the total U.S. population). That is an increase of 38% since Dec., 2009.
2. Facebook accounted for 10% of all U.S. internet page views in 2010.
3. Facebook users spent 49.4 billion minutes on Facebook in 2010; a 79% growth over the previous year.
4. Facebook’s total page views in 2010 was 76.8 billion, up 71% from a year earlier.

Perhaps the most interesting statistic is this: Hitwise’s data showed that Facebook was the most visited website in the US in 2010, beating out Google and others. That fact, coupled with Facebook’s recent deal with Bing to incorporate their “Like It” feature into Bing’s search algorithms, means that Facebook is not just another pretty face in the social networking world. What started out as a website for college friends to socialize has spread worldwide and is now being used for everything from political activism to brand building. Businesses that ignore FB in their marketing do so at their own peril. 

As one might imagine, the traction of certain social networking sites over others varies from industry to industry. So how do businesses know on which sites they should be present – or active – and which sites can be ignored? Some research helps to narrow the focus. Hubspot released an “Online Marketing Opportunity Report” last summer, breaking down the popularity of key social networks, blogs and search engines by industry. The report was designed to help businesses pinpoint where they should market online. Hubspot used a proprietary algorithm to analyze 33 keywords that describe some common industries. The industries examined were: Advertising, Agriculture, Airline, Banking, Biotechnology, Cell Phone, Construction, Consulting, Education, Fashion, Government, Healthcare, Hotel, Insurance, Lawyer, Manufacturing, Marketing, Mining, Movie, Music, Non Profit, Oil, Pharmaceutical, Publishing, Real Estate, Restaurant, Software, Spa, Sports, Tourism, Transportation, Travel and Video Games. 

While the list of industries was not exhaustive, it did hit many of the major ones. For the sake of brevity and focus here, we’ll only look results reported for the real estate, banking, lawyer, and construction industries. Their study specifically looked only at online activity on Twitter, Linked In, Facebook and U-Tube. Here are the results.

Clearly, Linked In and Twitter are the social networking sites of choice for people in real estate and related industries. Companies should take heed. Those not already using Linked In and Twitter should make that a top priority. However, given that Hubspot’s report’s was generated in August, 2010 and that traffic to Facebook increased by 38% in the U.S. from December 2009 to December 2010, the popularity of Facebook in that report may not reflect its current traction.  

One thing is certain. With so many social networking sites vying for internet users’ time and attention, savvy business people are wise not to put all their social networking eggs in one basket. While no one needs to be on every social networking site, it is a good idea to be active on several select sites. For businesses in the world of real estate, construction, and finance, the preferred sites to consider are Linked In, Facebook, Twitter and U Tube.

Catch you there!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“People wanna go online and check out their friends, so why not build a website that offers that. I’m talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online.” Mark Zuckerberg

© 2011 – 2012, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.