Find your niche online and participate in the community

Earlier this year, a friend of mine who happens to be a very savvy Internet marketer launched GumdropLane.com, an online children's clothing boutique. We met over breakfast one day to brainstorm publicity ideas. I shared with her what I knew about the mommy blogging movement, which wasn't much considering I'm not a parent. Later that day, I did a little more searching. Within a few minutes using Google and Technorati, I found hundreds of mommy (and daddy) blogs and several parenting online social networks for her to consider in her public relations efforts. She has put the list to good use. By simply participating in the online communities, she's getting a feel for what's out there and learning about her target market's wants, needs and concerns.

There's no shortage of niche social networking sites. They are popping up all over the place. For example, I (or rather, my dogs) recently created profiles on Dogster. Admittedly, we haven't had time to post many pictures or make many friends on Dogster just yet. Not a dog person? No worries, there's Catster or Fuzzster too.

I'm not much of a cook, but I have been using AllRecipes quite a lot lately to find and save recipes online. I choose the recipes I want to try based on user ratings, photos and comments. At my house, we've been eating a lot better lately because of it. Got a sweet tooth? Try BakeSpace.

If you can't get enough professional networking from LinkedIn, just about every profession now has its own niche online social network. There's MyRagan for communications professionals.

The list goes on and on. Niche social networking offers places for enthusiasts of all kinds (and their pets) to meet online. These online social networks offer up a way to participate with specialized groups of stakeholders online. Remember, bigger is not always better when it comes to online social networks.