How To Attract Members to Your Social Networking Sites

You've just joined the recent social networking craze and have signed up for an account. You've created your own profile. So what next? You've added all your friends and family to your list. But of course you want more. You want to be popular. It's kind of addicting but that's what's happening right now that makes this craze be blown out of proportion. Especially in teenagers. To them, one of the important aspects of joining a social network is to build a huge network of friends and acquaintances. Ultimately, it's a competition as friends try to add as many as they can, for popularity. So this article is all about attracting members to your social network list.

One of the best ways to attract members for your online community is through the quality of your content. If you have high quality, unique, relevant and up-to-date content then you are far more likely to attract members. The same goes for blogs - if you are writing quality articles, you will naturally attract visitors. You can convert these visitors into regular readers and members by encouraging them to use the commenting system.

The one problem with social networks is that in comparison, they are far more closed. Most content is generated through profile pages and the internal messaging system, so how do you attract members?

Express yourself in your profile.

There are lost of social networks that look alike. They use the same scripts that almost all other sites are using, and almost the same default design for their member's profiles. If you want your social profile to succeed in attracting members, it needs to look different and be unique from all the thousands of other profiles out there.

Your profile needs to immediately convey what it is all about. Visitors to your profile will form an impression, be it negative or positive, in the first few seconds that the see your page. You need to express yourself clearly in those first few seconds so as to hook their interest about you. Use images, symbols, and catchy and relevant words to ensure that your visitor will know exactly what your page is all about.

Give out as much information as you are willing to give, if possible.

If you aren't shy at all in giving out information about yourself to others, do this to help in attracting new friends and acquaintances. However, it is not really wise to publish a huge amount of personal information so be picky in choosing which ones to hand out. Several social networking sites have an option where you can restrict viewing of your profile to members of your network only. This can be worked out to your advantage if you are hesitant about displaying your personal information online. Just place enough information that will surely catch their attention and arouse their curiosity. This will then lead to them to send you requests to add them to your network.

Spice up your profile!

No one wants to look at a boring profile. Add music, pictures, and even videos or widgets to spice it up. Believe me, there are circumstances where a user will add you up just because they have seen your cool profile. A really spiced up profile will get you on top of everyone's list. Some social networks even display profiles of those users having some of the best, designed pages on their popularity pages.

Leverage and promote.

As with all social networks, you will need to promote your social network if you want to attract members. If you have other websites, leverage their traffic and promote the community on them. If you already have a website on the same subject as your social network, consider incorporating the social network right into that website. Exchange links with relevant websites, consider paid advertising (if you're really serious about this stuff), include your website in the signature of your emails and any forums that you are a member of.

Members are the best referral tool you will ever have. A recommendation from a friend is far more effective than any form of paid advertising you can do. Ensure your social network offers the facility for members to recommend profiles or the actual site itself to friends by email. You may be surprised at just how many new members your existing network can bring you.