The Top 22 Social Media Sites for Business

If you’re serious about growing your small business website, it’s important that you have a social media presence. Since it’s no longer an option to ignore social media, it’s important you jump in and create as many reputable profiles as possible. This can also help with your local citations. Just what are the best social networks for business? I will get to that in a second.

Before we get started with creating profiles, there are a few things that you’re going to want to keep in mind.

Is Your Branded Username Available?

For starters, you’re going to want to make sure that your username is available on the top social media websites. Since it’s a good idea to keep the same username on every outlet, you’re going to want to use a username checker like KnowEm.com. Here, you will be able to input your username, and it will check the most popular social networks, letting you know if it’s available or not. It’s important to find a name that is available on all outlets.

After you’ve verified that you have a good number of sites open, you can use an affordable registration and profile-building service like Social Foundations to help you claim everything up.

Get the Graphics Ready

Since every social media outlet is going to ask for a picture, it’s important that you create varying sizes ahead of time so that you can upload them when you create a profile. Creating a profile picture is a great way to establish your brand and let your profile stick out above the generic profiles with nothing on it. To find out what sizes you’re going to need, refer to this HubSpot.com infographic.

Once you have those two steps out of the way, you’re now on your way to creating profiles on the top social networks. To help you along the way, here are some of the top social networking sites for business that you will more than likely want to have a profile on.

1. ApSense.com

ApSense is a social networking platform for businesses that allows owners to build relationships with other professionals.

2. Biznik.com

Biznik is a local entrepreneurial community that allows businesses to create profiles, events, groups, and post articles for the professional world to see.

3. Bizwiki.com

Bizwiki.com aims to help businesses create their own profile. Over time, any user is able to edit and add details to a listing.

4. Company.com

Company.com is a place where businesses can connect, share and do business with other like-minded business owners.

5. Facebook.com

Known as the largest social media network, Facebook is a fantastic platform to connect with your customers and keep them in the loop.

6. Foursquare

This location-based social network allows people to show others exactly where they are. Businesses are able to create an online presence that allows them to promote their physical location.

7. Google+

This Google-driven social media platform allows you to post status updates, stay in touch with your circle of friends, and stream content from your website.

8. Instagram

Like Pinterest, Instagram allows your business to share pictures with the world.

9. LinkedIn.com

Noted as the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn enables your business to make professional connections with other people. Just like the Facebook world, you can keep your network up to date.

10. Meetup.com

Meetup helps groups of people who share similar interests compile face-to-face or online meetings.

11. MySpace.com

MySpace, similar to Facebook, is a place where people can connect, discover and share new content.

12. Pinterest.com

Unlike most social media networks, Pinterest allows users to pin and collect pictures. This is a great way to let your pictures tell a story about your brand.

13. Quora

Similar to Yahoo! Answers, Quora is a professional question and answers website that allows your business to write and share answers to questions other professionals ask.

14. Ryze.com

Noted as the original social network for businesses, Ryze lets businesses create a free networking-oriented homepage. Businesses are also able to make connections, and deals and get practical business advice.

15. SunZu

With more than 600,000 business profiles, SunZu lets businesses create events, a blog, and the opportunity to join groups to brainstorm ideas.

16. Spoke.com

Spoke helps your business improve sales productivity by harnessing the power of the business relationships that you can create on their website.

17. Squidoo.com

This popular community-based website platform allows users and businesses to create pages on any subject that may interest them.

18. Tumblr.com

This small business blogging platform will let your business share content, “like” other Tumblr bloggers, and give you the opportunity to share other blog posts that your business enjoys.

19. Twitter.com

Noted as one of the most popular social media networks, businesses are able to communicate with no more than 140 characters.

20. Upspring.com

This free social media platform helps businesses grow their audience by connecting with their targeted audience.

21. YouTube.com

Bring your business to life with any sort of video that can inform, educate and entertain your audience.

22. Yelp.com

Known as one of the largest business review websites, your company is able to create a profile and let customers talk about their experience.

Finally

As you can see, there are a lot of social media profiles you can create on the web, but really, you just want to focus on the best social media sites for businesses if you’re looking to promote a company. Since it can take hours, if not days, to create these profiles, you may want to hire an outside firm to do the dirty work for you. The Social Foundations service by Marketer’s Center can set up accounts on all these websites and more. We’ll save you hours of your time. With a small investment, you will be able to focus on more important things like building relationships and developing compelling content. Social networking for professionals can be as complicated as you want it to be, but try not to sink in too much of your own time into it.