“I’m easily Overwhelmed.”
- William Goldman’s The Princess Bride
Choices, choices, choices.
The above picture (although a bit of an exaggeration) is meant to illustrate the vastness of Social Media as we know it to today. All of the above names show either some relation to or a direct correlation with Social Media. It is the great Social Media Aggregate. There’s a lot to do and be done on Social Media. There’s much to be done, much to learn, much to learn from and much to be revolutionized. But Social Media has expanded so quickly since the term was coined that the ratio of websites that are considered a form of “Social Media” to the number of users has sky-rocketed.
You and Your friends
The most popular Social Media Websites were (and are) the ones that focused on your “residual self image” or more acurately: how you presented yourself to the digital world. With the initial rabidness of teenagers on Myspace, with demands for “unique” profiles and theme songs on profile pages. And then the slow but steady rise of “The Facebook” and what is now the worlds most popular Social Media site, Facebook. These sites garner the vast majority of attention and users of Social Media. They’re the big-dogs, the big-leaguers and they offer invaluable resources that cannot be overlooked.
The Minor Leagues
I probably shouldn’t refer to any of these sites as minor, because that’s certainly the last thing they are. These sites are stellar, beautiful examples of niche communities that will garner huge attention and powerful following if done right. But also, it’s important to remember that a Niche, is a niche. You might have a genius visual marketing campaign, but chances are, the people at flickr (the leading site for photographers to share their work) won’t be worrying and/or interested in your advertising, they’ll just want to see your work.
Then there’s Linkedin. A stellar site for anyone who deals with B2B systems, services and marketing. LinkedIn has helped some industry peons find success and climb corporate ladders faster than they could have ever hoped to without it. Once again, this a niche market. LinkedIn does not represent the vast public like facebook does, but it does represent people who will probably share the same goals, needs and interests as you do. Do not overlook this site.
YouTube. Youtube has been around a lot longer than the rest of these sites, and there is a surprising level of hierarchy/long-time users who’s voices carry more weight than one might think. Youtube is less of a Niche market, but you still are forced to have one medium of communication, in this case: video. Now, by no means is that a bad thing, it just means you need to know what you’re doing. Your talents and abilities are bound to find appreciation from someone, but what level of work are you willing to put into your Youtube content? How much do you need to put in for the cost/benefit to actually reap the proper rewards?
I’ll take a limb out and talk about another site: Reddit. Hopefully you’ve heard of reddit, but this little website has become the most successful ”forum” on the web in the past few years and with its unique format its considered a form of Social Media. Hundreds of thousands of users submit links and then all users “upvote” links based on level of interest, hilarity or “Awesomeness”. The best thing about Reddit is its clever use of “SubReddits”, meaning that within the vast whole of Reddit are a series of smaller Reddits that deal with specific subjects like: Askreddit, Blog, Buildapc, Oratory, Phxmeetup etc. Then, the most popular links from each subsection tend to be “upvoted” on to the main page. Reddit boasts one of the most tight knit communities I have ever seen on the internet, the users there is the most friendly and supportive bunch I have ever seen on the internet. But…
Is this a great place to market yourself?
That’s an extremely difficult question to answer. With such a tight knit community, people will be quick to shoot down anyone who just shows up and start “selling something”. So do you infiltrate the website, steal the users hearts with your charm and ingenuity and then slowly and meticulously advertise them to death? I make it sound a little more evil than it actually is, but it’s a question to be asked regardless. Where does the Marketing end, and the Social begin?
On and On…
I could continue to list hundreds of Social Media sites, but I’d literally be here until the end of time. Just remember, not everywhere is a place that can or “needs to be” marketed on. Sometimes Social Media, is just, Social.
-Jason Akali
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