1. Demographics

You want to make sure that the people you’re meeting in this network are actually going to be interested in what you’re selling.   No matter how highly a site is ranked, if it is inhabited entirely of kids from 14-18 and you’re selling life insurance; you are not going to get a good response.  Determining who uses the site, and what percentage of the users fall within your target demographic is a great way to isolate the best sites for you to spend time on.

2. Flexible Search

If you’re working on a popular social network, you may have millions of potential contacts.  It would be pointless to try to include them all as your contacts.  You want to be able to locate people within a certain age group, in a specific location, or with special interests that pertain to your company.  The better the search function, the better you’ll be able to use the network.  You need to be able to do advanced searches using multiple criteria to really zero in on your ideal contacts before you spend any time adding them to your profile.

3. Video Capability

The single most important development in Web 2.0 in the last year is the use of video.  This doesn’t require sophisticated production or high end equipment.  In fact, the amateur quality of these videos seems to add to their appeal.  Regardless, you need to be able to utilize this important marketing tool on any site you choose for your networking.

4. Mobile Capability

Another important development is the use of mobile or handheld devices for web use.  More and more people are surfing the web from their Blackberry, iPhone, or cell.  However, not all websites are set up to be accessible by these mobile devices.  You must be sure that any site you’re using translates to this important platform.

5. Bulk Messaging

While I am opposed to using bulk messages to your whole network, there are times when you need to get some information out to everyone you know…fast!  Bulk messaging allows you to send a single message to everyone in your personal contacts, which means you can be the first to break industry news and share other important information quickly and efficiently.

6. Customizable

It’s true that a lot of people go way overboard with these customizable templates.  Some sites are full of all kinds of crazy graphics which make them look more like the inside of a junior high school locker than an adult social network.  Nevertheless, you do want to make sure your profile is sufficiently customizable because you need to be able to stand out in the crowd.  Some sites will even let you use your company logo and other easily identifiable graphics.  Several of the sites allow you to name your own URL which you can use in conjunction with your regular company website.

These are very basic requirements, and many sites fulfill most, if not all of them.  So in the end, it really boils down to user preference. What do you think? What are some of your criteria?

Part I: The Best of the Best

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that social networking (otherwise known as Web 2.0) has revolutionized the way every industry thinks about their marketing and advertising.  People who are buying are buying online—and from companies they have formed a connection with through their social networks. Thousands of networking sites have cropped up hoping to be the next MySpace or Facebook, luring people by the millions to build profiles and create virtual communities that are ripe for savvy marketers to infiltrate.

One of the most interesting things about these different communities is how each of them has its own unique environment that is almost tangible.  In the same way that real life locations have their own ambiance, so do these cyber hangouts.  Spending a few minutes on these sites, you’ll see huge differences in demographics, communication styles, professionalism, and usability.  The key then, is not simply putting in time building a network, but building a network on a site that is going to be most receptive to your marketing style and/or product.

In this four-part series, I’ll discuss some of the ways to identify the best social networks, and give you the readers the opportunity to vote on the overall BEST social networking sites from your perspective.  I’ve entitled it “Going for the Gold:  The Best of Social Marketing Online.”  Inspired by the Olympics, where only the best compete and the best of the best gets the gold, we will bestow our own “Gold Medal” on the overall best social networking site.  Naturally, since there are so many excellent sites out there to choose from, we’ll have a “Silver” and “Bronze” category, too.   Join me tomorrow for Part II:  “Choose Wisely.”

Stephanie Leavitt is the Social Networking Strategist at Carnival Cruise Lines in Miami, Florida (www.carnival.com). Her background includes experience in youth marketing, public relations and social media.

How did you get started? It goes back to an internship with Gollin Harris, which was about seven years ago. That internship was for anti-tobacco work around youth activism. The project focused on viral and online social marketing efforts, but was before social networking as a media trend came about.

? Did you see social networking on the horizon? Yes, as I went to my next internship at Fleishman Hillard in NY the department focused on youth marketing. At that time we were going and finding online communities and posting on message boards for fans of certain bands playing for such events as Vans Warped Tour. Our client was Cingular who was focusing on the youth market. I started to see a growth in the number of people who were on message boards. Although most were considered "youth", the age span of the participants ranged from children to grandparents. This was also around the time that blogs first emerged.

What happened next in your evolution around social networks? I then had my senior class in college, Florida International University, got involved in the IAA’s InterAd student competition contest with our client being Yahoo! who wanted to focus on the youth consumer. We did a lot of research; spoke with a lot of teenagers and found they really wanted a lot of free stuff. Yahoo wanted more users for a variety of their products so we put together an integrated campaign to encourage users to involve their friends in actually using more Yahoo services. Our team ended up winning first place in the U.S. and Canada and second place in the global contest. We didn’t realize it then, but the underlying theme of our campaign was social networking.

So what happened next? I graduated and got a job in public relations and marketing, but the more and more experience I got the more I noticed the big change to online media. People started believing in it more—especially the youth (many of whom were transitioning into the entry level workforce). They see this form of marketing as more authentic than traditional advertising and marketing.

I was, however, continuing to do traditional pr and so I decided to blog on my own. I launched my own blog on Generation Y’s influence on marketing and pr and I also joined the Public Relations Society of America where I served as the vice chair for the New Professionals Group. There I spearheaded the launch of the new pros blog. I continued to see the decline of traditional media and decided that I would look for a job in social media, which was the on the rise.

When did you end up at Carnival? It was June of 2007 that I was hired by Carnival. At that time they had a social media site that had launched in 2006, www.carnivalconnections.com, which focuses on building community for those interested in cruises. Carnival also had a few other social media projects in development, including a popular travel blog.

What is special about the site? For a corporate website we are pretty open. People are free to say what they want so there are negative as well as positive comments. This is rare as many organizations are hesitant to have these types of comments on their sites.

We have a very popular blog written by our senior cruise director, John Heald, (www.johnhealdsblog.com) that launched in March 2007 and has resulted in a "Bloggers Cruise." Over 800 attended that cruise. Another example is Carnival Connections. There was a group of users who gave themselves the name "Coconut Monkey Head Group" based on a popular cruise drink they had when sailing. These people met on the site (have never met face-to-face) and are now planning to take a group cruise together. These are just two examples of social media helping grow bottom line sales.

What are you passionate about in the future in business and then in your personal life? In business, it would be creating authentic two-way communication with our guests. In my personal life it would be travel and spending time with my family, friends and my dog, Cocoa, a mini-dachshund.

Bonus Question: How do you like using LinkedIn? I like it and am not as involved as I would like to be, but I plan to use the question and answer tools more in the future.