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Marketers should target niche social networks

April 29, 2008 | Internet Marketing

Brands looking for social-media exposure should look past the major players like MySpace and Facebook and consider the thousands of niche social networks, which can offer "unique campaign opportunities," according to this article.

Marketers who think bigger is better may want to reconsider, at least when it comes to social media. Ad spending on those sites is predicted to top $1.6 billion this year, according to eMarketer. However, much of it will be plunked into smaller, emerging social networks.

While My Space and Facebook get all the attention, social media focused on topics as remote as knitting or bird watching can be a strong branding target these days, said Anthony Acquisti, strategy supervisor with emerging media at OMD, New York. His running tally of emerging social networks, now up-wards of 7,000, is evidence of an explosive market.

These more focused audiences should be popular with brands because “relevance,” he said, “trumps size.”

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