The Next Big Thing in Social Media: The Top Five Candidates

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Guest post by Frank Eybsen, see bio at end of the article.

Social media and online marketing are constantly evolving with new products launched and innovative ideas announced daily. Pinpointing the next big thing certainly isn’t a science, but five new social media platforms have already got people buzzing online.

Hashable

Hashable helps users to keep track of their relationships using an app, via Twitter, or by logging on their account on Hashable.com. Hashable allows users to exchange contact information, to see who their friends are networking with, and to privately or publicly track phone calls, meetings, and events.

It’s akin to an address book that allows you to keep notes of when and how you met contacts and to see which of your contacts are also connected to each other. You can also tag each of your contacts – with such labels as #thanks and #just met – to make it easy to remember who is who.

Click here to see what the buzz is about and to judge for yourself.

Daily Booth

Let’s call it Twitter with photos, only instead of Tweets, users snap – directly from their computer or their cell phones – photos of themselves, which are posted automatically to their accounts. Originally marketed toward the teenage crowd, Daily Booth is starting to garner interest among small businesses and online marketers.

Entrepreneurs might want to snap photos of themselves, any employees they may have, their latest products, and even projects in progress. A construction firm, for example, may want to snap photos of the stages of their latest buildings to keep their clients up-to-date on what’s going on and perhaps even getting consumers excited about purchasing when building is complete.

Snap photos, start an account for free (no photo required), or check out Daily Booth and see what you think.

Quora

Launched in 2009, Quora has been called social media’s version of Yahoo Answers and is growing in popularity with entrepreneurs, journalists, and others who want to share their expertise while subtly marketing themselves.

Users have their own profile pages, which they can also link to Facebook, that includes all the questions they have answered. As with Twitter, Quora members can follow other members and vice-versa.

The key to success with Quora is to answer questions in which you have expertise and to illustrate your knowledge rather than outright promoting your business. It is important, of course, to mention your business name and experience in your profile. However, avoid self-promotion in your answers.

See if Quora is the next big thing with your business.

Qwiki

Qwiki provides an “information experience” for its users, making research an interactive experience.

Here’s how it works:  Users simply type in define: followed by the topic of their research, such as San Francisco, a restaurant review, or a businessperson’s biography, and Qwiki answers the query with a combination of photos, graphs, and videos that are narrated for viewers.

You can use Qwiki with both computers and smart phones, making it easy to access wherever you are. The company aims to one day allow all users to create their own Qwik page, which could prove to be an invaluable marketing tool.

See Qwiki in action.

 

Hearsay Social

Branding itself, “the first social media platform for businesses with many local branches or reps,” Hearsay Social allows businesses to effectively manage their social media campaigns, keep track of new posts, and analyze the results of their social media campaigns.

Users can download content and immediately send it to local branches or representatives for use, can make sure that the business brand is consistent across the branches, and can measure the social media campaign success.

Hearsay Social also ensures that all of your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media posts are in compliance with federal regulations, if applicable. For example, if your industry is governed by the Federal Trade Commission, Hearsay Social will ensure that your posts are all within laws and regulations which, it asserts, will protect your reputation and your business legally.

You can learn more about Hearsay Social here.

Frank Eybsen has been involved in online marketing for the last ten years and social media for the last three years.  His latest project has him working with HitPath.com on their affiliate marketing tracking software.  When he’s not on the Internet he enjoys beach volleyball and making music on his vintage synthesizers.
Creative Commons License photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³
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