50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on

WOW I agree about social networking being a great business building tool, but I think keeping track of profiles in 50 different spots would be unwieldy. Is there one that is good for keeping track of all of your accounts?

One more niche social media community:

www.upworld.com

UPworld provides a new and exciting way for design, construction, and real estate professionals to meet each other and make valuable business connections online! UPworld is the first website to connect architects, planners, contractors, fabricators, developers, investors, engineers, and suppliers all on a single platform.

UPworld's innovative platform connects professionals to one another for new business opportunities, deals, and projects. UPworld members create online profiles and portfolios to showcase their skills and expertise. They network with each other to establish valuable business connections and form project teams.

UPworld bridges across eight major industries: real estate, planning, finance, development, design, construction, fabrication, and products. Plenty of professional organizations exist that allow architects to network with other architects or developers to network with other developers. Only UPworld helps professionals make connections across industries - and in a global market.

Good post. It's useful to have all these resources in one place. One point. It's not that easy to create a business reference page in Wikipedia. Wikipedia's (overzealous to some) editors guard against any entry that seems PR oriented. So any business entries will need to be completely balanced -- include negative as well as positive -- to get past the editor gatekeepers.

Great list but I agree with Cody Gibbs to some extent. It does take time to manage the profiles, but if you set a schedule and stick to it, it is doable. I would say pick 4 to start - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and one niche group. Schedule 20-30 minutes in the morning, 20-30 minutes in the afternoon. This is free advertising - why wouldn't you make the time? After you get comfortable, you can either rule out the sites that aren't effective for you or move on to another site that may be more effective. And a site to try for managing your profiles is http://www.gizapage.com. Works pretty well.

Ma.gnolia no longer exists and apparently hasn't since early 2009. I never knew anyone who actually used this service and thought it was weird I kept seeing it show up in lists like this. Looks like everyone's still just cutting and pasting.

Yea this list is hardly a viable list. too many mistakes, closed sites, miscategorized sites. How does Careerbuilder qualify as a social networking site...answer it doesn't it's a job board plain and simple...
So maybe change the title of the article to 50 sites that might be still up and running that have something to do with either socisla networking, marketing, bookmarking or recruiting

what a great resource, thanks.
I will feature it on my blog as well: http://www.emarketingblog.co.za

We just launched a marketplace www.linqia.com matching commercial partners/ businesses to key decision makers at Social Networks. There's already 73 social networks reaching over 73 million people globally. Some of the sites you mentioned above have already registered.

YIKES! I was about to put this link on Twitter.. and realized you didn't add TWITTER to the list.. It's kind of THE social networking site of the year I'd think?

Too many.

I look near the top of your list and I see digg.com. Digg is not an advertising site, it is not a "where's the next up-and-comer" site, and it is not a "businesses that are awesome are found here".

Y'know what the typical digg.com user does? Look for cool shit. You cannot simply MAKE your business show up in a meaningful manner on digg. It happens, or it doesn't.

Your list is flawed for this lack of distinction. Apply liberally.

even if your business is not trying to actively maintain a presence here, you should be looking on these sites to see if there are already conversations happening about your brand - good to keep your eye out for that.

Use pixelpipe to set them up - its amazing -the future is pipes!

The System

To create a unique social media plan requires listening to keywords in various networks and sites. The results will dramatically vary for each company. Start with the conversationprism.com and then establish a conversation index http://is.gd/15K1b based on that analysis.

I would also suggest:
Vreebit.com
www.vreebit.com is a new website coming at the end of July - Vreebit is now accepting pre-signups. If you log on to the site now you can reserve your username and your free website.

Vreebit combines a lot of the features of Facebook, Yahoo Groups, LinkedIn, Google Docs - great for organizing, sharing, and advocating

I think 50 is a great range of options, but far too excessive for any business. Select 5-10 key sites to participate in, and leave it at that. You want to connect where there's the largest relevant audience and a benefit. Some of these sites would have no business benefit at all, not even to connect customers/business efficiently. No company should be spending time on 50 sites when they could be handling customer service in aciton.

Wow man, this list compilation made me fave this URL, thanks for sharing!

~Sergio

50? Really? There are indeed some great sites here but I totally disagree that every business needs to be on all or even many of them. If you're doing it by automation you're not really "on" them you're just putting a stake in the ground. The people who are vested in that particular network may resent that you don't spend enough time there.
I tell my clients to pick a few that they really resonate with and use them. Being present on a few networks has a lot more value than being shallow everywhere.

So many networks - so less time - I agree nobody can be on every social network and maintain a social presence but everyone should be where your ecosystem is.
Mick Say http://xeeme.com/MickSay shared his network relevance report in a blog post about Social Presence Management and Social Presence Analytics http://bit.ly/rP5NbK

Marita
http://xeeme.com/maritar

Sorry, but this is ridiculous. You're a business owner, do you read this list and decide to hire a small army to build a presence on all of these sites? Or, as a busy CEO or President would you take a week off your normal responsibilities to do this yourself? Obama's campaign was great, but let's be serious here. Is that a valuable waste of time or resources? Be strategic. Pick two of them and keep up. Oh and one of the two should be Twitter.

I agree to all of the above, but otherinbox is a must have to keep all those organized and from taking over your inbox. I am signed up for almost all of the above and they all stay in my oib.com where I they are organized by sender in their own mailbox and I can check them when I want to.

Great stuff - we love lists of top web 2.0 properties. they are the lifeblood for top SERPS - Discover http://www.the-system.org - how to feed your business with authority

I'm surprised friendfeed isn't here.

An aggregated feed of all a brand's social shenanigans I would have thought pretty useful/important.

Particularly if said brand embedded a widget of all its stuff on it's website.

Excellent information. I will pass this along to my students.

you left off a new site http://community.yourfindit.com where busiensses and individuals can create profiles using the most popular applications on the web including videos, blogs, jobs, pictures, classified listings, "right now," etc. check it out, its very beneficial

What a great list! Thanks for the great advice!

Check out www.KnowEm.com to be able to check your desired User Name at dozens of social sites just like these.

We use it all the time and it's a great reference to see where your brand stands in the social web world.

Well, I wouldn't call them all social sites, and I wouldn't say that the term 'needs' in the title is true, but it's a reasonable list if somewhat out of date.

The power of social media is evident here in all those touting sites that weren't on the list. I must wonder if they are users or employees/owners of the sites, but it is giving the exposure they seek.

TweetWagon.com definitely should be on a list of social advertising sites.

All are good sites but instead of trying to canvas each one, I think the best method is to find the ones that apply most to your business and concentrate on them.

Financial planners are also signing up at IFA Life
http://www.ifalife.com

Great list. Thanks alot.

Great list...Thanks for compiliing and defining!

Dustin

http://www.leaddawg.com

Nice list I know of one other freelance job site. www.freelancenation.com I meet Jay the owner at www.blogworldexpo.com 2007 the site is based on blind bidding so that the price of a quality job stays in tacked by only professionals.

Otherwise people would drop there prices to beat others on the jobs making it not worth it to them,this will cause a low quality job in the end.

An important Professional-Networking site is missing : http://www.viadeo.com
well implanted in such countries as France, Italia, Spain, Mexico and more.

great info

Fantastic list of resources.

If used consistently and appropriately, anyone should be able to increase their sites traffic and visibility.

Docmac
http://imdocmac.com/mydailypassion

You definity would want to cut this down to what works. When are you supposed to have time to work if you have deal maintaining info on all of these sites?

I have been on some of these sites for years and I have gotten nothing from them.

You also should consider Viadeo. Its a business social network, similar to Linkedin but leader in Europe and China with 8 million members.
Check it through my profile: http://www.viadeo.com/en/profile/julie.laurent

Good post however I am not sure that I would put jobs sites in the 'social sites' category particularly as many are simply online classifieds. Some of those you have listed have a more social aspect to them, whilst others are simply one dimensional job boards.

this article is very useful

This information was G R E A T!...Thank you from those of us who are still getting acclimated to all the techno that's out here...bless you!

A lot of comments seem to stem around not having enough time for a business owner to manage all this. A few points:

1. You definitely do not need to manage profiles at multiple job sites as part of your SEO or Inbound Marketing campaigns.
2. The list of tasks related to a successful Inbound Marketing campaign is larger than this list.

The time it takes is not full time, but it isn't a tiny investment either. It's right in that tough spot where it is too expensive to hire someone for this work, but too much time to pile on current staff.

To that end, our firm offers Managed Inbound Marketing Services, in which we manage all aspects of a small business's Inbound Marketing. Twitter Feed, LinkedIn Profiles and Groups, Blog Postings, Press Releases, Social Networks, Industry Forums, etc.

We charge a price that is based on the value they receive from the program, as opposed to charging relative to what it would cost to do in-house. The value is determined using metrics that are identified at the start of the project.

We think this will enable small, fast growing companies to benefit from social media, while focusing their energy on growing and running their business.

Brad Windecker
www.orchestrateam.com

Number one, Thanks to the writer for posting this article. Number two, I want to thank some of the people who left comments about other sites that could be useful. And number 3, to those who are concerned about the time it takes or would take to manage these, I will leave you with this.
You should set up all your files that you will want on all of these sites that pertain to you. Then go to each site and systematically download your work, whether it be Blog articles, photos, videos, comments, etc.. This will be the part that takes the longest. After that, you can visit each site once a week to add anything new in your portfolio.
It's sort of like building a house, Downloading all your stuff at first is like building the foundation and structure of the house. The weekly updates are just things you put into the house when you move in i.e.: a couch, a TV, a picture etc...
It seems daunting but if you use your time correctly with tags and such, you will find that you will come up on all the search engines up near the top without buying into ad words or such.
Good Luck

nice list, but as one comments before puts it, just add viadeo, and you'll have all the major ones.

thanks,
http://www.them.pro

We don't advise that businesses be in all these networks and social sites. It is better to know your demographic and go where your potential and current clients hang out. For example, if someone has a local landscaping company why would they need to be on Digg or Reddit when their demographic isn't there. Better to be connected locally through Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Yelp - maybe even one Green social group and maybe YouTube videos - that's it. If a business is not selling to the world, then why use bandwidth for people who will never be your customers - or even spend time on social sites where there will be no ROI?
Just my thoughts.
Heather Montgomery
CEO
Forward Motion Studios

I think you are doing a great job with the design and content in this site,I am so interested on what I read and I am curious to find out more about 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence On

I'm not sure why people are locked into Myspace, Facebook and Twitter these days when there are so many more targeted social networks based on your chosen profession. IMHO you will meet more of the RIGHT people by using these Social Networks.

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As others have mentioned, it's nice to have a near comprehensive (and growing) list - thank you. But, I -always- identify first, what the client's goals & purpose are (reputation, sales, credibility, etc.), then identify which of these sites/tools fall where on relationship-building, intent, etc., scale and overlay this to form a strategy. That way you can be much more focused on delivering the appropriate content, within context, and managing resources.

www.IdeaPioneerMedia.com

Ning is not free anymore. Still low cost...

thanks for giving an important information and the sites were really useful... thanks a lot..

As a social media company, Blu Chip Marketing LOVES this list! We are going to repost this list and give it to our clients as a directory! Thank you!

Really useful link, is great to see some of the niche ones given some airtime, as this could be where businesses best server there time, as they can align with their target needs / audience http://www.kbnetworked.com is a great place for businesses to learn from each other, using social media for business innovation rather than purely a connection or sales place like so many

Its good information.
I agree with writer, Twitter name is not included in list. Twitter is very complicated to handle with lots of do's and dont's its waste of time to get on Twitter. Suggestion for twitter ' Keep it Simple Silly"

Great list! An online presence is so very important, both for businesses and individuals.

Really useful link, is great to see some of the nice ones given some airtime.An online presence is so very important, both for businesses and individuals. http://www.coolflex.co.uk

Very useful post. Bookmarked for future reference. Thanks.
www.gmrtranscription.com

Thanks for the great effort of making a long list of social sites that we can take advantage of.
Marketing Plan

Another social networking site for B2B companies is http://www.MyTradeZone.com

It's free for any business to sign up and create their company profile on MyTradeZone, list their products/services, post their updates, and follow other companies on the B2B marketplace and directory.

I need a SEO Service to My Website Who Give The best SEO Service?

nice post thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Article - I signed up for reddit thank you - I never knew about that one.

Nice article. I agree with the last poster that you probably should really choose the sites that are most meaningful to your business marketing plan and go for it, but being on all 50 probably shouldn't be the goal.

With that said, I'd love to add another one in the mix. We just launched ReferralSmart.com (http://www.referralsmart.com. It's a site that focused on helping small businesses build personal business referral networks and pass qualified referrals to the members of those groups. The results are groups that are highly focused on helping each other grow by referral. The site not only handles the networking connections, passing of referrals and tracking of their success... it also provides rewards to members for passing referrals and helping grow another memeber's businesses.
-Steven Boorstein, CEO - ReferralSmart.com (a division of NomadRx L.L.C)

I have found a monitoring website (www.corporationmap.com) that allows to know and compare the activity of your stakeholders (competitors, customers, suppliers, partners ..) in the social media environment.

To use it you only need to register using the temporal code "corporationmap", and start working. I think that is a great idea.

Thanks for this networking sites really its very informative sites.

Great article! informative and useful. Thanks for sharing!

A good resource. Thanks for posting and I hope you update it at some point.
I'd also recommend www.storeboard.com.

www.barcode.com

This is a great list, and I'd agree with some of the comments. Select a few of these and really stick to it. Build up an audience base. Twitter is great, because it's easy to use and easier to keep up with. Make sure you research and use hashtags! If businesses are looking to promote online, another site they might use is eventsnearhere.com. You can post free event ads there, and each ad gets a QR code that you could print out on flyers etc.

Thanks for sharing valuable information about master

I think business websites can create more chances to show myself and my own business, Facebook is the best place to show my own life because many of my friends have sign in on Facebook and we communicate and exchange our ideas on FB.

Great list!!!

How to proceed, if we would like to have our business community integrated? It´s the leading global business network and portal for the consumer goods, retailing and related services industries.

Thanks for your assistance!

Best regards,

Andreas von der Heydt
http://www.consumergoodsclub.com

Bookmarked!. Will use this as my guide. Thanks for putting them together. :)

Menchie
http://www.googlemarketingguru.com

this is really a mind blowing site list... great work..

thanks for sharing as well thanks who post in there comments...

Nice list - a few issues in the post but I appreciate the general direction and the information. At the very least it's a great way to get people conversing and adding their own suggestions.

As a small business owner still trying to navigate the ever widening sea of social media marketing I understand how easy one can get overwhelmed. I've got enough work just trying to keep the lights on... much less adding a list of 50+ sites that I need to be actively watching or commenting on.

The best advice I have to give comes from mom, "take small bites and chew your food." Choose one or two to start with and expand as you get more comfortable.

One suggestion I may make is, it’s nice to have the same username across as many of these social media sites as possible. It makes it easier for followers to locate you elsewhere. I find sites like www.knowem.com or www.namechk.com are good tools for this.

Thanks again for the post

Social media is an excellent tool to marketing strategy and isn’t just an option anymore, it’s a necessity for most businesses. A must-have tool for you to include as you work hard to let people know your business exists online.

Grace Jameson
http://www.timedoctor.com/biz3.0/9-of-the-best-free-resources-for-entrepreneurs

Whatever you do, define your target audience and then go where they are likely to be. Yes, you can test the effectiveness of your efforts on different sites, but at least this gives you a sense of direction as to where to focus.

Very good and informative. Thanks for the good work.

Eijaz.
http://ksa-indians.blogspot.com

I discorer recently a business site for consumer goods.. I think that look promising..Check it out and tell me your opinion..

http://www.consumergoodsclub.com/

I'm missing SocialGO on this list. I'm a user of SocialGO and very content about it. Easy set up, drag and drop and very affordable. Yes I think SocialGO should be on that list

This Article is Wonderful...
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good article.. thanks for posting

http://www.nichesuite.com/

I've been watching the growth of online professional networks for about a decade now. I would say that these split into two main types - relationship based and connection based. Tools like Plaxo are for ease of connection only. Linkedin is probably the best of the relationship based tools. Perhaps the worst of all the relationship based tools is Ecademy which is mainly comprised of slightly weird people offering strange life enhancing nonsense. The site has something of a history of treating its customers with contempt and has made some collaborations with rather shady organisations over the years. Not recommended for serious business people.
Buy Google Plus Ones

I also recommend a new Social commerce network called www.Williing.com

Williing is aimed to improve the social shopping experience of online shoppers.
You may be wondering, "what can I do in @williing?" here is the answer:
1.- Find shoppers like you and stay connected
2.- Share experiences about products you are looking for
3.- Search the product you want, buy it with other shoppers and save!
4.- Get & give feedback
5.- Inspire others to live this amazing experience with you! :)

The post is really nice but they is also a private invite only social network in Uganda called Noble Pearls.Com where almost all the wealthy persons and influential are so they is need for business to have presence.
http://noblepearls.com/

I am impressed by the 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on which helped me much on building projects that why i am very thankful

Online Computer Store

Hey how about www.discountbox.in It is a platform around offers. It is a service which helps shoppers find discounts, offers and sale around them. It helps businesses to promote themselves.

most worthy article .. thanks for posting. The categorization is excellent. Google+ is recent addition. Providing the best platform for people to share.

http://www.nichesuite.com/

Thanks for sharing this list of networking sites.Please keep me updated about the same always.
Thanks again,
http://www.softtech-engr.com/construction-enterprises-opticon

Very nice list here!

Great article. i get alot of traffic from digg, squidoo and hubpages.
www.supplementsreviewsonline.com

Great article and excellent resource. I would love to see any sites/applications to help manage presence on these sites.

Sorry, but this is ridiculous. You're a business owner, do you read this list and decide to hire a small army to build a presence on all of these sites? Or, as a busy CEO or President would you take a week off your normal responsibilities to do this yourself? Obama's campaign was great, but let's be serious here. Is that a valuable waste of time or resources? Be strategic. Pick two of them and keep up. Oh and one of the two should be Twitter.