Marketing Through Social Networking Sites

Social Networking sites have been showing up over the past few years and marketers have noticed and are taking advantage of this opportunity. Today, almost half (45 percent) of web users are active on social networking sites according to the Nielsen/Net Ratings. Almost 54 million people are on MySpace alone.

Top Social Networking Sites with Alexa Ranking

MySpace.com 6
Blogger.com 15
Facebook.com 34
Xanga.com 58
Livejournal.com 69
Wordpress.com 116
Typepad.com 134
Vox.com 1,450

Nikos Drakos, a research director at Gartner, believes leveraging social networks to connect with customers is not only appropriate but also critical for companies to consider. In fact he says, "When I and others say "understand social networks,' it doesn't necessarily mean, 'go talk to MySpace.'" Leveraging social networks depends on what the goal is. Viral marketing and brand promotion, for example may be done through established sites.

Here is a list of companies currently leveraging the power of social networking sites.

Burger King
Gatorade
Jack in the Box
The Learning Channel
Toyota

Source: Customer Relationship Management