With new social networks and social media services popping up all the time, it's easy for us marketers to feel daunted. With each network often coining its own social media lingo, learning the ins and outs of new platforms can seem almost as difficult as learning a foreign language.
That said, successful inbound marketers will stay on top of these new platforms, making an attempt to understand their business potential and how they can be used in their own marketing campaigns. For those of us a bit overwhelmed by the various social networks available today, a new infographic created by Mashable helps to compare the various offerings and dynamics of these different platforms.
Marketing Takeaway:
With new trends, services, and platforms emerging regularly, inbound marketers must be nimble enough to evaluate and embrace new tools to stay ahead of competitors. Stay on top of these new developments by reading marketing blogs and news sites so you're ahead of the curve.
When new tools break onto the scene, try them out for yourself, and keep an eye out for their marketing potential as it applies to your business. Not all social networks are for everyone, but only you can tell if one is applicable to your business, industry, and your target audience.
What do you think of Mashable's new infographic? Does it help you differentiate between the features of these popular social networks and clarify how your particular business can take advantage of them?
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
James Cobalt 5:08 PM on August 10, 2011
I have to agree with the commenters on Mashable- the orange and pink are really, really close to each other; they're difficult to discern and to remember which means yes and no. Maybe HubSpot could create a better one...
Nathan Yap 5:21 PM on August 10, 2011
Twitter is listed as you cannot control who sees your updates, but you can private your account and block people. It also says there's no groups, but it does allow you to create lists...
Ross Hall 5:25 PM on August 10, 2011
Good first draft, but should have been checked before it was published. There are some errors in here.
Ryan Boyles 5:44 PM on August 10, 2011
There are several errors with Tumblr. It's a challenge b/c tumblr is unique in several ways. Tumblr offers group sub accounts. Tumblr accounts including group blogs can be private. Tumblr has filtered lists based on tags in the dashboard (analogous to newsfeed). Tumblr has Reblogging which is unique to the platform and serves as a threaded comment chat feature in practice. It would also be good to include mobile, SMS and email interactions here.
MariaJ 6:02 PM on August 10, 2011
I agree with all of these comments: the colors are too similar, it doesn't effectively show how the sites "measure up", and is really a generalization of the 5 sites. It would be more effective to show user numbers over a period of months, user numbers on daily basis, what users are doing most on each site, anything to educate a newbie how people are using the sites.
Bruce 9:41 PM on August 10, 2011
1. Errors
2. Really BAD color scheme.
Joseph 1:12 AM on August 11, 2011
Hi Pamela,
All the way it is a good article.
But this color scheme confused me it seems like both are same, try some different color scheme.
Best of Luck.
Thanks
Danusia 4:31 AM on August 11, 2011
This is the first time I have not liked an infographic shared here on HubSpot.
I had to check several times which colour meant yes/no. Presumably they chose these two colours because of the dark blue background? Mashable should know better.
Its a shame because despite the colour issue it is actually quite interesting as a basic comparison (other comments above re flaws aside).
Ron Arden 7:37 AM on August 11, 2011
Unfortunately this graphic does little to differentiate between the services. My quick glance would tell me that all of them are basically the same. There are a few obvious differences, like messaging and video, but the rest is too similar. I think a better graphic would show who uses them and why.
I do agree that many of these services are beginning to blur, but developing why one would use them is a better use of blog space.
SouthsideAdguy 10:55 AM on August 11, 2011
EXCELLENT info and concept of presentation.
Try using the universal colors for Yes (green) and No (red) would make this easier to follow.
IMHO
Ean Bowman 11:49 AM on August 11, 2011
You included gTalk in this infographic as a feature of G+, but neglected to mention Google Calendar which basically covers making events.
You put a private calendar event in your calendar, add your contacts' gMail addresses.
Just thought if you were going to connect one unrelated product you might as well mention another. :)
hugh williams 6:23 PM on August 11, 2011
google social media side will grow very fast as most people uses google or has a gmail account and i see the +1 link all over the place
Sam 10:47 PM on August 11, 2011
Nice infographic, the colours not as helpful as could be.
Curious to know why on events Twitter is given a no? Like to know the data or why this is???
At many events I have seen the most activity on twitter.
Twitter amplification or viral effect is much more dynamic due to being open sourced.
Be really helpful.
Gregory C. 5:24 PM on August 13, 2011
I'm not sure I would include Tumblr as a social network, I still currently view it as a blogging platform, at least when compared to the others in this infographic.
PG.cheng 7:47 AM on August 14, 2011
ad
Don Metznik 11:20 AM on August 20, 2011
Great concept. Poor execution. Will Hubspot vet the infographic and publish one of its own?
London Pest Control 9:45 AM on September 06, 2011
I thought Tumblr was more for blogging? How important is the Google plus button going to be towards site rankings in the future?