There has been a lot of talk lately about the importance of social networking sites as a tool for Internet Marketing. As far as social networking sites go, MySpace, with 70 million visitors, has become the digital equivalent of hanging out at the mall for today’s teens, who load the site with photos, news about music groups and detailed profiles of their likes and dislikes. Other social networking sites include Facebook, geared to college students, LinkedIn, aimed at professionals, and Xanga, a blog-based community site. In all, an estimated 300 sites, including smaller ones such as StudyBreakers for high schoolers and Photobucket, a site for posting images, make up the social network universe.

For the moment, MySpace and Facebook are hot. However, trying to create an effective online social networking marketing campaign can be tricky, as the trendy site of the month may not be the place to be next month. With so many social networking sites, getting your advertising in front of your target demographic is the real challenge. Moreover, once you establish which social networking site to Advertise on and which group of people you want your ad in front of the sites effectives may have wavered. Long-term success of these social networking sites will depend on their ability to retain the interest of their members. There is a fad or a fashion component to all these online social networks. Some will come and go. The classic example is Friendster, which burst onto the Internet in 2003 and soon had 20 million visitors. Late last year, it slipped below a million after MySpace and other online social networking sites with better music and video capability lured Friendster users away. Social networking sites are powerful, but mercurial, particularly since most are aimed at teenagers and young adults.

This is where Digital Age Marketing Group comes in, our team of Internet Marketing consultants constantly monitors advertising trends and the popularity of these social networking sites will quickly identify your target demographic and develop a complete Internet Marketing campaign with Advertising on social networking sites being a small part of a much boarder Marketing Plan.

For example the next target of online social networking sites are cell phones. With the growing popularity of the Iphone and the Google G1 many of these social networking sites are planning to extend their reach beyond the computer screen to cell phones. Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless are starting a service that will allow users to post messages on Facebook’s home pages or search for other users’ phone numbers and email addresses from a cell phone. MySpace has a pact with Helio, a wireless joint venture between SK Telecom and Earthlink that will allow users to send photos and update their blogs or profiles by cell phone.

We hope that this page has been well informative as to our expertise on social networking sites and our ability to stay well versed and on the cutting edge of the dynamic internet marketing industry. For more information about how to incorporate social networking sites into your overall internet marketing plan, please contact us at the number above.