With most of these top 10 social media sites, content is categorized by subject or interest, which makes searching for particular content quite easy for the average user. This is important to know if you plan to use the popular social media sites to drive traffic from, as they hold the potential to reward you with targeted, high-quality leads if you market yourself in the right areas.
So without further ado, I give you my list of the Top 10 Social Media Sites!
#1 Facebook (Alexa page rank: 2)
Hands down, the largest social media site with over 350 million active users! The average Facebook user spends more than 55 minutes a day trawling this absolutely MASSIVE social network and there are more than one million developers and entrepreneurs from all over the world connected to them. If you haven't jumped onto the Facebook wagon, do it now. It is one of the most effective ways to drive targeted traffic to your website! It's no wonder this gets first place in my list of top 10 social media sites.
#2 YouTube (Alexa page rank: 4)
The most popular video networking site on the net. I'm sure that you have heard all about YouTube before, but just in case you weren't quite sure, this is THE BEST place to upload and share your video content, period. With over 70 million visitors to its pages per month and every category under the sun, you are bound to have limitless opportunities when it comes to driving traffic from your videos. So many people are somewhat shy when it comes to posting videos online, so get ahead of your competition by taking that to your advantage and putting one up yourself! Just make sure you put your link in the video or in the sidebar (under the More Info section) and voila! Free advertising which could potentially translate into lots of juicy new leads...
#3 Twitter (Alexa page rank: 14)
If you have not yet heard about the Twitter explosion across the internet, then you really must be living under a rock. This is another incredible social media site which brings together people sharing status updates, content, links... all in the form of short messages called 'tweets'. The range of people is so diverse, everyone from TV presenters to politicians to rockstars are a part of the Twitter community. Again, another great source for targeted leads.
#4 MySpace (Alexa page rank: 11)
Similar to Facebook, with over 270 million users. If you can market yourself on Facebook, you should be aiming to do the same on MySpace.
#5 Blogger (Alexa page rank: 7)
Blogger is designed for blogging, as the name aptly suggests, with over 20 million users on it per month. Blogging has quickly become a favourite for posting out dynamic content, and Blogger has become the standard platform for doing so. It is owned by Google, which means that content will quickly be indexed and viewable after updating. If you have a lot to say and want to be heard, set a blog up now. It's quick and easy and is another great way to generate valuable traffic.
We're halfway through the top 10 social media sites... I hope you're planning to go out and start marketing on some of the ones you've read so far!
#6 WordPress (Alexa page rank: 20)
WordPress is another free blogging platform that is a favorite amongst the online masses. It caters to the needs of the people, boasting state-of-the-art features which focus on aesthetics and usability. Content on the WordPress blog network is sourced from various locations across the web, including high ranking sites such as Google and Facebook. There are a staggering 190 million people using this network, so take advantage of it.
#7 DIGG (Alexa page rank: 105)
Digg works as an online social bookmarking site with over 28 million users. It allows people to share and promote content from practically ANYWHERE on the internet. Not to mention, Google loves the info here, meaning that if you have content posted here you can expect to rise in the search rankings - always a good thing!
#8 HubPages (Alexa page rank: 279)
HubPages works as an online publishing platform with an active community and easy-to-follow interface. By posting your different links on a hubpage, you can localize and divert a lot of traffic to your websites. HubPages works great in the sense where they actually want you to monetize your content, and help you along in doing so by providing great tips. If you're planning a social media strategy you would be doing yourself a great favour to include this in your campaign.
#9 Squidoo (Alexa page rank: 286)
Squidoo works similar to HubPages, where users create a 'lens': a webpage dedicated to a specific theme or topic. A lens can be composed of different modules - content such as videos, articles, links, text, graphics. Lenses can be reviewed by other users, and the more positive reviews you get, the higher your rank in the search engine goes. Make sure to update new squidoo lenses constantly to make sure Google doesn't think they have gone stale.
#10 LinkedIn (Alexa page rank: 42)
LinkedIn is a professional networking tool which allows people to make some invaluable business contacts. There are over 40 million users signed up in over 170 different industries. It is also a great resource to recommend job candidates, industry experts and business partners. As a registered user you can save a list of contact details of the different people you trust and do business with online.
So there you have it, a truly powerful list of the top 10 social media sites out there on the net today. If you plan to start a social media campaign online, make sure to join most (if not all) of these top 10 social media sites. Remember to constantly update your content, post consistently and create a criss-cross of referenced content by linking all of your posts/articles/lenses to each other, and most importantly, back to your main website. If you have more than one website, create multiple social media campaigns. This will create a 'web' of information which gets sprawled all over the internet - and Google loves it. By doing so you can expect to see your Google rankings soar, and the results roll in.