subject: Top Social Media Marketing Tools for 2011 [print this page] Top Social Media Marketing Tools for 2011
No one knows what the future of social media marketing will be, but we can look at the statistics and make a pretty good hypothesis. Furthermore, with so many social media sites on the internet, how do we know which sites provide the best marketing opportunities? Let's delve into the numbers
According to Alexa, a free traffic metrics, search analytics, and demographics information site, the Top 10 websites on the internet include four popular social media sites businesses can use to advertise their goods and services: Facebook, YouTube, Blogger and Twitter. Alexa gets their data from millions of internet surfers who have installed their free Alexa Toolbar.
Another good indicator of website popularity is Google PageRank (GPR). GPR is a system that grades websites based on the number of quality links pointing to those sites. The grades are based on a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being adequate and 10 being excellent.
Facebook is ranked #2 by Alexa overall, and #2 in U.S. traffic. In terms of sharing thoughts, videos, pictures and more, Facebook is the king of social media. This is why it has become such a widely used social media marketing tool. The potential exposure a business can get by properly using Facebook is tremendous. The Google PageRank for Facebook is 10. There are no signs that any social media site will dethrone Facebook any time soon for marketing potential.
YouTube has a GPR of nine and an Alexa Rank of #3. YouTube is a good outlet for viral video marketing. In terms of traffic from the United States, YouTube is listed as fourth. If you're looking to spread your video content to as large an audience as possible you need to utilize YouTube now, in 2011, and beyond.
Next in line according to the Alexa Rankings is Blogger. Blogs are a popular social media tool that allow businesses to keep customers and potential customers informed with a running log of news, specials, etc. Alexa ranks Blogger #8, and shows a U.S. traffic rank of seven. GPR gives Blogger and grade of 8 bases on quality inbound links. The other popular blogging site is WordPress. Wordpress is ranked 20th in U.S. traffic and 19th in Alexa Ranking.
Twitter is the fourth social media site that shows up in the Alexa Top 10. Twitter allows businesses to share information with the world in short statements of 140 characters or less. Posting information via Twitter is referred to as Tweeting. In reality, Twitter is a mini-blog. But regardless of how you classify Twitter, the numbers don't lie. Twitter gets nines across the board for GRP, Alexa Traffic and Rank. The U.S. public loves Twitter, and businesses need to go where the people go.
My hypothesis concludes that Facebook, YouTube, Blogger and Twitter will remain the Top 4 social media marketing sites in 2011. I know that's not going out on much of a limb. As a result, these should be the major focus for businesses big and small. Using a sports analogy, would you rather have an advertisement on the jumbo screen at arena that holds 1,000 people or at one that holds 100,000 people. Businesses need to follow the people.
Don't forget about other online marketing opportunities such as MySpace (Alexa #35),ArticleBase (Alexa #349), and Digg (Alexa #122). And just for comparison sake, my social media marketing site OBrienmade.com is Alexa #7,720,507. I'm looking at the bright side there's nowhere to go but up.
