We noticed a trend in businesses using certain social media platforms more than the others. So we have come up with the following list of top six services that we think are being extensively used by different business organizations worldwide.

• Twitter: The social networking and microblogging service which has been ranked as one of the 10-most-visited websites around the world is used by numerous businesses. Most commercial houses find Twitter an easy and effective way to interact with existing customers, update them about new products and services, and find new customers.
• Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking service is loved by almost all big, medium, and small businesses around the world. Facebook is bustling with over 600 million users and gives business owners an effective way to connect with their clients.

• WordPress: This blog platform is a favorite of managers, entrepreneurs, and in fact anyone who blogs. Achieving social media success is almost impossible without blogging, and WordPress makes blogging much easier for online marketers. Reports say that as of February 2011, version 3.0 had been downloaded over 32.5 million times.

• LinkedIn: If you are looking for a social networking platform designed exclusively for professionals, LinkedIn is where your search stops. Ss of March 2011, LinkedIn claimed to have about 100 million registered users.

• Skype: A software application which gives you an easy and cost-effective option of making voice calls over the Internet. All calls to Skype users are free irrespective of their geographic locations, and users can also enjoy additional features such as instant messaging, video conferencing, and data transferring.

• YouTube: The video-sharing website has always been an integral part of any social media marketing campaign. Whether you are launching a new product or want to update your existing customers about promotional offers, do it in style by posting a video in YouTube.

Stay tuned, we’ll be back with more information on social media!

The social media landscape is changing and changing pretty fast. When Facebook reached the 500-million mark, it became THE topic of discussion among netizens. But, it’s passe because Facebook presently boasts of over 600 million users.

If you had been a social media user for at least a year, you must have come across some amazing facts and stats, some mind-blowing figures showcasing the power of social media. Today, we would be giving out 6 fresh-from-the-oven social media stats, which will convince you that this medium is big and will become BIGGER!

• 1 out of 8 married couples in the US found their soul mates through social media. Trust us, this number will multiply in the coming few years.
• If Mr. Zuckerberg’s Facebook was a country, it would have been the world’s 4^th largest nation.
• While TV and Internet took about 12 and 4 years respectively to reach 50 million users, Facebook reached 200 million users in just 12 months.
• An estimated $716 million were spent on social media marketing activities on a global scale in 2010.
• Twitter, one of the most powerful social networking platforms, has search engines which receive an average of 600 million tweets each day. While 25 billion tweets were sent in 2010, social media gurus believe that the number could double or even treble by the end of this year.
• Every 60 seconds, about 35-40 hours of new video is being uploaded on YouTube somewhere across the world.

Recent market surveys have revealed, about 75% of global netizens use social media. From big and powerful business organizations and corporate establishments, to students, their parents, and grandparents… everyone enjoys being on the social web.

So, if you are not on social media – it’s high time you get involved. Here are the three simplest and most basic activities that can ease you into this fantastic world of social media

Create a Facebook page

Facebook is a hugely popular social networking site with over 600 million users worldwide. Each day thousands are creating new Facebook accounts to stay in touch with friends, family, and even for business activities. If you are looking to harness the power of social media, being on Facebook is VERY important. Through Facebook, you can interact with potential customers about your products, services, so forth. And, also communicate with your existing loyalists, ensuring they are satisfied with your services and products. We believe there’s a direct relation between the number of fans on your Facebook page and the growth of your revenues. It’s simple – the more fans you have, the more your business grows.

Start a blog

Blogging is indispensable if you are aiming to achieve social media success. Blogs are an easy and effective way to communicate with your audience and explain your business priorities. Your blog posts may include specific industry insights, analysis on recent news updates, some interviews with clients, partners, employees, and some funny anecdotes.

Use YouTube for posting your videos

Pictures are a great way to express an idea… but videos are definitely more effective. Whether you are launching a new product in the market or want to communicate with your customers regarding an offer, post a video in YouTube. Your YouTube channel should also include a company overview and demonstrations of your most popular products.

Keep coming back to us for more updates on social media!

Originally, Twitter was used exclusively by technophiles…The non-techies took some time to warm up to the service. However, today the picture is very different. People from almost every profession and background is familiar with the microblogging service, and its share of hardcore users numbers in the millions…as of June 2010, 65 million tweets were being posted each day on an average.

As Twitter grows popular, people are coming up with fun and innovative ways of using the platform that go beyond the typical tweeting and retweeting their daily details. Here’s how you too can use Twitter in ways it was perhaps never meant to be used -

• Get the news: When you want to stay up-to-date with the latest going-ons around the world, Twitter is where you need to be. Whether it’s the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis in Japan or the people’s revolution in Libya…you get news at real time, sometimes faster than any mainstream news service can bring you.

• Find a job: We all know how helpful the Internet is for job-seekers. But, Twitter is something that makes job searching even easier for you. With services like TweetMyJobs, Tweetjobs or twitjobsearch, you get real time updates of job listings relevant to your field of expertise.

• Take notes: If you are looking for a tool to help you jot down ideas as soon as they come to you or maintain your to-do list, but aren’t using dedicated notetaking or archiving services like Evernote…Twitter can be almost as good. Just make sure your tweets are protected, so no one sees anything without your permission.

Stay tuned. We will be back with more tidbits on social media!