I read an article on this only a few weeks ago. Web 2.0 and marketing.
Basically, the message I got from it was: (correct me if I am wrong troops
)
Social Networking is basically just that. A group of people coming together, becoming friends.
It is no different to moving to a new town, joining eg Tennis Club etc. You will mix, listen, contribute conversation, work out who you like, admire, don't like etc. You will pick up mannerisms, tones of voice, who talks sense and who doesn't, who scoffs, who you have things in common with, and so on. In real life, you have friends who are very close to you, others that you say hello to and others you don't want to mix with or speak to. It is no different with these sites.
I feel this realisation has to come about to understand these sites to have them work for you.
Where the traffic comes from, is only from those who have read your comments/conversations, who feel that you are mature and know what you are talking about, and they will eventually ask you 'what do you do?'. That is the front door now slightly ajar.
From memory, the recommended way to respond to this question is answer in one sentence, to not go overboard and give a 10 min account of your business. If you get a reply like 'wow, I was thinking of doing that' you can say 'you are welcome to look at what I am doing if you want the link'. If you get a change of subject instead, do not bring any info about your business back into the conversation. If they don't want the link, or ignore what you have said, they are not really interested in getting involved - at that moment. If they are, they will come back to you at some time in the future. Same applies on a game site or wherever there is public chat.
I believe the information in that article to be true. I can take my own behaviour on the sites as an example. I receive a request from you to be a friend. Thats cool. Fine by me. You are around my age, have similar interests etc. So I accept you.
I don't hear from you for a month. Suddenly you send me a message asking me to go here and join this. What do I immediately do? I hit delete. To me, you are not looking for friends - you are building a list. I go to sites like this for time-out.
Can you see what I am saying, am I making sense and interpreting properly what web 2.0 stuff is about? If you need traffic from the word go, try Social Bookmarking sites - a different species of fish. There you write a short blurb on each of your businesses with a link to the main page. They are all there on the one page in one long list.
My apologies for such a long post. One of my negative attributes is that I sometimes have probs explaining what I mean and I tend to go on - but I hope this has helped.
Cheers
