Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Marketing A New Social Network Site

Posted by Anonymous on 5/15/2008 at 2:47 PM ET 250 Points
I know of approximately eleventy thousand places to find out how to use social networking for marketing. I'm having tons of trouble, though, in finding information to help me market a new social networking service.

We're launching a niche Web site for commercial real estate that will offer a lot of good, quality, localized information for anyone involved in our little corner of the world. A big part of this site will involve social networking (forming private groups, adding associates, etc.).

What I'm looking for is any information, how-tos, etc. in specifically launching/marketing social networks. I've launched other Web sites, etc., so I know how to do launches in general. I'm looking for "secrets," keys, etc., in specifically sending off a social networking site.

As you can imagine, when you enter into Google search strings involving social networking and marketing, you get a lot of the aforementioned "how to market yourself/your business with social networking," but not really anything how-to wise to actually launch a social network. Believe me, I've tried. That's why I'm here now.

And yes, I know "eleventy" isn't a real number. It feels like I've looked at that many sources in my quest for info, though.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

(By the way, the earliest I'll be able to view this again is tomorrow [Friday, 5-16] early afternoon, ET. So please don't take any silence on my part as not caring about the topic/thread. I only mention this because I hate it when that happens in a thread in which I post an answer.)
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Levon on 5/15/2008 at 3:37 PM Accepted
    Looks like it is going to be a promising site. I would suggest video viral marketing, press release distribution, PPC traffic and partnering up with sites that have JV potential. Reading your blog you have done some of this initially. Also once you launch try some banner exchange, get featured on someone's list (email marketing) and SEO through your blog entries which should all be geared towards Real Estate keywords search strings and tags.

    The company that I work for is launching a conferencing platform that might tie very well in with what you are offering. If you want to communicate more about potential JV partnerships - contact me through my profile.

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 5/15/2008 at 5:55 PM Accepted
    Here are some articles:
    https://www.entrepreneur.com/ask/answer1584.html
    https://www.digitalalchemy.tv/2006/10/is-social-networking-market-saturated...
    https://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/niche_networking.php
    https://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2008-05-11-social-netwo...
    https://www.allaboutmarketresearch.com/networks.htm
    https://www.masternewmedia.org/social_networking.htm

    But you need to start with a critical mass of fanatics to help the word-of-mouth, and invite their friends to join, etc. There might be additional reticence if your target market aren't currently using social networking sites, so you'll need to convince them that it's worth their time with some great testimonials, articles, and press releases in places they visit/read.
  • Posted by Harry Hallman on 5/16/2008 at 7:26 AM Accepted
    Bob, you asked:

    "I'm looking for "secrets," keys, etc., in specifically sending off a social networking site."

    There are no secret keys. Marketing a social network is hard work and not a lot different then marketing anything else.

    It appears to me that you have a very targeted group, a defined job title in a defined geographic location. I would concentrate on building a list of prospects and communicate the benefits of your site via email, snail mail, events, etc.

    You might visit www.marcomgeek.com where there are some white papers on the subject also I have a list of traffic drivers you can get at https://www.octanecorp.com/portals/5/whitepaper/TrafficDriversandOctaneServ...
  • Posted on 5/16/2008 at 8:49 AM Author
    I've never the ol' "Post a comment" thing yet, so I'm not positive of how it works. But here's the ol' college try:

    Thanks for the comments everyone. I'll be awarding points to the four I've gotten so far.

    From what I've seen here (and the few items I've picked up on the Web), there's no "secret sauce" that's unique to launching a targeted social network. I thought there might be, which is why I asked the question here.

    I'll keep this open awhile longer, just in case. But nonetheless, the people who have answered so far have provided me with valuable information that I will definitely use. I appreciate their time and efforts.
  • Posted on 5/16/2008 at 2:10 PM Author
    Closing - thanks to everyone.
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