Social Networking VS Social Bookmarking

Social Networking is the process of networking with people in online communities. In networking sites there are usually sub communities of people with common interests that you can join that will give you a more focused target audience. For example, if you are selling golf apparel you could join golfing subgroups to meet people you know will be interested in what you have to offer. When marketing on social networks though it’s important to be yourself, not you as a business owner, just plain you. If people connect with you and develop a relationship with you they will want to visit your site instead of feeling like they are being forced to.

Examples of social networking sites:

• Facebook
• Myspace
• Twitter
• Bebo
• Orkut

Social Bookmarking is the same as bookmarking a site on your browser except you bookmark it on social bookmarking sites so others can see. The idea is that you will be exposed to sites that have been bookmarked by people in your circle that you otherwise might not have seen. Unlike just surfing the web and having to separate the garbage from the worthwhile content, on bookmarking sites it’s all content that people have deemed worthy of adding. As you start to bookmark your favorite sites people with similar interests will join your network to follow what you’re posting. You can also engage your network in conversations the way you would on a social networking site via posting comments on the bookmarks.

While social bookmarking is yet another great way to grow your network of friends, the biggest advantage is that your bookmark can actually rank in search engines. So instead of your site taking up one position on the search engines it will take up two. One is your main site and the other the bookmark that points back to your main site.

Examples of social bookmarking sites:

• StumbleUpon
• Digg
• Del.icio.us
• Technorati
• Propeller

With both social networking and bookmarking you should use a universal username on all your accounts. Being that the basic principal of social media marketing is people getting to know you, your username should be easily identifiable as being you. It’s best to use your real name. If it’s not available then use a variation of it. (This is a great site to check username availability.)