The essential – must have accounts of social media marketing.

.  Each has a different method and function, but they all have one common goal – to connect individuals together by need, interest and demographics. Although you do not need to be listed in or have access to everyone of them, some of them are considered essential to every good on line presence and marketing strategy.

The online world exists of many neighborhoods and groups of people and businesses just like yours. People naturally radiate to particular websites and online places because of what they are interested in.  As an example; musicians typically hang out in places like Myspace and on line jam sessions, while readers typically hang out in various blogging communities. If you are not a reader or a musician, chances are neither of these online platforms will interest you.  These social media places exist and thrive because of the users who are interested in those particular topics.

There are hundreds of  social media platforms and you may even find the occasional reader and musician hanging out in some of these.  While you do not need to join and be part of every social media platform, there are some that are considered to be an absolute must.

To even be considered an integral part of the online social media platforms you must have:

• One Youtube channel
• One LinkedIn account – professionals or business
• One Twitter account
• One Facebook page -personal
• One Facebook  fan page – business
• One one line blog – blogger or otherwise.
• One RSS feed -bookmark- bussines
• One Flickr or other photograph account.

Businesses are notably different from personal accounts.  As a business, you will want to be in all of these. Your social media managers should be creating accounts in all of these places for you, if they are not, you may want to reconsider who you have  employed as your social media manager.  Our best advice is to get involved in as many social media accounts as you possibly can. In doing so, you will reach potential clients across the globe.

It is true, you may not be able to post a status message in each account ever day or have the time or staff to maintain three hundred accounts, but you can do it, in a simpler fashion.  You can put one status message per week, just to say, “hi” and RSS feed your blog directly into the account. In the end, you would still get a benefit from that account and have a great social media presence on the net.  Perhaps if this is out of the question,you could choose some of the accounts that you think are more specific to your industry.  You will not get the maximum effect, but you will still be reaching more clients than the ones on the five or six networks listed above.

The truth is, many social media managers have no idea what they are doing, they do not know these accounts exist, or are simply to lazy to add this portion into their social media strategy. The reason is simple, it takes time to create these accounts, it is extremely tedious and it is most often outsourced for that very reason.  I say, these social media managers are not doing the best for their clients, as they possibly can.

If a professional chooses to neglect the fact that, there exists three hundred social media accounts with an opportunity to promote a clients brand and they refuse to use them, what else are they neglecting when it comes to their clients best interest?  This very fact concerns me.  They simply do not know enough about the industry to be considered experts.  Sadly the need for social media managers is so high most companies will hire anyone who even knows what these accounts are.  It does not however mean they are social media managers to any stretch of the imagination.

Most managers simply neglect to focus on or even mention these other accounts to clients because they feel they are irrelevant.  I personally receive over 50 Friendfeed invites every week, this is not irrelevant to me, not to mention; the url back link from some of these platforms are higher than many other websites.

The benefits of adding an account to any or all of the above mentioned social media platforms would be two fold.  First and foremost, each social media account allows a number of back links to your website for branding and SEO purposes and secondly, there are people who hang out in those social media places who you may not otherwise reach in the more popular places.

You would be extending your reach to other potential clients.  For example; if you are a record store, your target clients are more than likely going to be the people who hang out in MySpace, therefore, you would want to get a social media account in MySpace along with the  ones listed above.

Here is a list of some of the lesser known, but still important social media platforms.  Do yourself a huge favor, get an account in some  of these lesser know accounts and you just may open yourself up to a whole new online social world you never knew existed.

Businesses know the fact – get on the right social media track, hire a professional like Think Social and stop risking your future with un-knowledgeable social media manager who are steering you in the wrong direction.

It maybe beneficial to note some of these social media platforms because you never know when you need to find a new place to hang out for awhile.

Until then, Think social wishes to remind you that you can find us hanging out in YouTube,  Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo and Hubpages.  Those are our favorite places, what are yours?

.netShoutout	TaazaShare	Embarkons	TwitThis	Mylinkvault
100zakladok	TagMarks.de	euCliquei	Typepad	InvestorLinks
2 Tag	Tagvn	Evernote	Upnews.it	iOrbix
2linkme	Tagza	extraplay	Urlaubswerk	iSociety
7Live7.com	Tarpipe	EzySpot	Viadeo	iWiW
A1 Webmarks	TellMyPolitician	Fabulously40	Virb	Jamespot
A97abi	The Web Blend	Osmosus	VisitezMonSite	Jappy Ticker
Add.io	Thinkfinity	Fark	VKontakte	JoliPrint
Adfty	ThisNext	Farkinda	vKruguDruzei	Jumptags
Adifni	Throwpile	Fashiolista	VOX Social	Kaboodle
Aero	Tip’d	Fashion BURNER	VybraliSME	Kaevur
All My Faves	TopSiteler	FAVable	Vyoom	Kaixin Repaste
Amazon	Transferr	Faves	Webnews	Kipup
Amen Me!	Translate	favlog	Whois Lookup	KiRTSY
AOL Mail	Identi.ca	Favoriten	Windy Citizen	Kledy
Armenix	Ping.fm	Favorites	WireFan	Kommenting
Arto	Orkut	Favoritus	WordPress	La tafanera
Aviary Capture	PDF Online	Flaker	Worio	Laaikit
Baang	Camyoo	Floss.pro	Wykop	Ladenzeile
Baidu	CardThis	Folkd	Xanga	Librerio
Bebo	Care2	FollowTags	XING	Lifestream
Bentio	Chiq	forceindya	Y! Bookmarks	Link Ninja
BiggerPockets	Cirip	Formspring	Y! Mail	Link-a-Gogo
Bit.ly	CiteULike	FreeDictionary	Yammer	PimpThisBlog
BizSugar	ClassicalPlace	Fresqui	Yardbarker	Links Gutter
Bleetbox	Clickazoo	FriendFeed	Yemle	LinkShares
Blinklist	Cndig	Friendster	Yigg	Linkuj.cz
Blip	Colivia.de	funP	Yoolink	Livefavoris
Blogger	Communicate	fwisp	Yorumcuyum	LiveJournal
Bloggy	Connotea	Gabbr	Youblr	LockerBlogger
Blogmarks	cOOtopia	Gacetilla	Youbookmarks	Logger24
Blogtrottr	COSMiQ	Gamekicker	YouMob	Lynki
Blurpalicious	Curate.us	GiveALink	Yuuby	Mail.ru
Boardlite	Delicious	GlobalGrind	Zakladok.net	Markme
Bobrdobr	DesignBump	Gmail	Zanatic	Mashbord
BonzoBox	Designmoo	Good Noows	ZicZac	Mawindo
BookmarkingNet	DigaCultura	Google	ZingMe	Meccho
Bookmarky.cz	Digg	Google Buzz	Tumblr	meinVZ
Bookmerken	Diggita	Google Reader	Tusul	Mekusharim
Bordom	Diglog	Gravee	Tvinx	Memonic
Box.net	Digo	GreaterDebater	TweetMeme	Memori.ru

It maybe beneficial to note some of these social media platforms because you never know when you need to find a new place to hang out for awhile.

Until then, Think social wishes to remind you that you can find us hanging out in YouTube,  Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo and Hubpages.  Those are our favorite places, what are yours?