Conclusion

According to all the data gathered in my previous posts, Hi5 is definitely one of the leading social networking channels in the world. Although it has a very strong competition, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Hi5 continues to grow and expand, while using his presence on the competitors sites to promote its brand.

The most recent proof of expansion is the fact that starting with February 15, 2012, Hi5.com will connect with the popular site Tagged.com to offer its users a new look, more advanced features, and improved security of users’ private information.

The new Hi5 will be supported in a variety of languages, such as: English, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Mexico), French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brasil), Portuguese (Portugal), Dutch, Russian, Romanian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Basa Jawa, Bahasa Melayu, Bengali, Marathi(Indian), Hindi(Indian), Punjabi(Indian), Thai, Turkish, and Hungarian.

For more information visit: Hi5+Tagged

Source: http://about.tagged.com/hi5/

The hub and spokes model

By using a “hub and spoke model”, businesses and public relations professionals are using blogs,  social networking websites, industry publications, TV ads and many other communication channels as “spokes” to drive people to their “hub.” Hi5.com can be considered a centralized “hub” because it attracts users from popular social channels like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, where it has an active presence. Nevertheless, Hi5 uses websites such as Hi5love.com, forums or fan pages such as Hi5.com.au to drive people to the site.

Source: http://www.toprankblog.com/2011/03/social-media-seo-search-congress-barcelona/

Hi5.com’s position in Gartner’s Hype Cycle

Analyst firm Gartner has released its 2010 Hype Cycle Report, to be used as a tool for identifying when technologies reach certain peaks or stages. According to Gartner’s map, social media channels like Hi5.com are on their way to entering stage four of the Hype Cycle, called the “Slope of Enlightenment”. Social channel Hi5.com is currently located at the lowest point of the “Through of Disillusionment”, falling in the categories of Consumer-Generated Media and Public Virtual Worlds.

Source: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/gartner_hype_cycle_2010_cloud_computing_at_the_pea.php

Keywords and Competitors search

Using a variety of useful tools for researching top organic competitors in major search engines such as Google or Bing/Yahoo as well as top keywords for hi5.com, I was able to gather traffic value data related to my channel of interest.

From a simple search on SEMrush.com, I was able to see the trend of the most used keywords related to hi5.com on Google.com. The search displayed the top 5 keywords, with the organic keyword “hi” generating a total of 4,370,000,000 results, followed by “hi 5″ generating a total of 1,260,000,000 results. The actual site name “www.hi5.com” is on the third position with a total of 803,000,000 search engine results. The site had a total of 17,757 organic keywords in the US on Google.com, followed by 10,632 in Spain on Google.es.

SEMrush.com also displays information about competitors’ standing in organic search, with a total of 53,505 competitors in organic search.

I did a second search on Ispionage.com, which resulted in similar findings, but with more in depth illustrations.

According to Ispionage.com, the monthly SEO traffic value of Hi5.com is $19,985, and it is based on the estimated traffic value of organic keywords in Google, Bing and Yahoo combined.

The first graphs shown below illustrates the trend of the number of first page keywords for hi5.com and it displays a downward slope. The most recent number of first page keywords, reported in January at 131 has actually decreased over the course of the year from the 359 value recorded in January of last year. The other graph contains information about the top 10 organic competitors, with Facebook.com and Twitter.com representing the top two.

Source:

SEMrush.com

Ispionage.com

Hi5 Presence on other social channels

Hi5 maintains an active online presence on the most popular  social networking channels used in today’s digital world. The company is present on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkeIn and identifies itself as a “leading social entertainment destination site that provides millions of users worldwide with engaging content designed to ignite social play.” (Twitter); and “one of the leading social networks in the world – ranked as a top 10 website globally and the #1 or #2 most-trafficked site in nearly a dozen countries, including many in Latin America, Europe and Asia.” (LinkedIn).

Hi5 has 275 tweets posted to date, and is followed by 2432 users on Twitter.  On Facebook, it has 17,758 likes and 391 people talking about it. The company has 55 employees connected through LinkedIn and 473 followers.

Sources:

https://twitter.com/#!/hi5

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hi5/107542859274800

http://www.linkedin.com/company/hi5

Using Hi5 for Business

Most business owners today have already set up their online presence on popular social networking sites, where they can create connections with existing and potential customers with the goal of increasing brand awareness and customer satisfaction.

A social media channel is the revolutionary marketing tool that can help a business and a brand grow and reach a large pool of customers.

Although there are countless options to choose from, it is very important to build an online presence on a channel that is familiar and convenient to your target demographic. 68% of Hi5’s traffic represents the 18-34 age bracket. Therefore, if your target market is represented by people in that age group, than Hi5 may be a good place to start your online presence on.

Signing up on Hi5.com is free, as well as hassle free, since you do not have to scroll past ads and promotional offers to get to the signup link. After signing on, businesses have to option to purchase advertising space on the hi5 channel to emphasize their advertising and promotion efforts.

Therefore, Hi5 should not be considered just a place for meeting people. It is popular social networking site that offers advanced solutions to businesses, from promoting their brands to building trusting relationships with their target market.

Most small businesses decide to advertise on Hi5.com because it’s virtually free and very easy. One way they do this is by creating a profile where they can share pictures/company information and state their objective directly on their profile page. (E.g.: What is Fred doing now? Looking for new consulting clients.) In this case, the marketing mix is integrated in only one place, the company’s Hi5 profile. Another way to advertise your brand on Hi5 is by creating a group. Any member of Hi5.com can join the group  and advertise within the forum at the group. Some may reference their personal websites for more information about the products advertised; thus, integrating their marketing mix with other online resources. Therefore, Hi5.com is a great way to promote your product/small business.

 

Source:

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-use-hi5-for-business/

http://hi5.com/friend/p118832200–Fred_Plimley–html

http://hi5.com/friend/group/11296–Internet%2BMarketing%252FOnline%2BBusi–front-html

http://hi5.com/friend/group/21312–Small%2BBusiness%2BMarketing–front-html

 

Traffic and demographics statistics

Using quantcast.com, I was able to gather traffic and demographics statistical data about hi5.com during the last recent months, between August 19, 2011 and February 19, 2012.

The data shows a significant decline in the number of people, visits and page views, particularly during the month of October, 2011. The number of people accessing the site as well as the number of total visits to the site have both decreased by 12% during October 2011. Meanwhile, the number of page views has only declined 8 percentage points.

Another steep decline was experienced during the month of December 2011. Although the number of people visiting the site decreased by 10%, less than what was experienced during October of the same year, the number of total visits and page views has declined by 13% and 14%, respectively.

However, during the last two months, the traffic on hi5.com has become more steady. During the month of January, 2012. the number of people visiting the site has only decreased by 1%, while total visits decreased by 5% and total page views went down by only 4%. In conclusion, the new year appears to be favorable for hi5.com, and if this trend continues, the social networking site should start experiencing higher rates of traffic from users located all over the world.

Source: http://www.quantcast.com/hi5.com

Welcome to my blog!

Here you will find interesting information about hi5.com, a social channel that started in 2003, and became one of the largest social networks in the world, with an average of 50 million unique viewers per month.

The social networking site is widely used internationally, because of its availability in more than 50 languages.

Besides from helping users stay in touch with friends, meet new people, post comments and share photos, hi5.com offers its users a variety of interactive games. Due to this fact, the site appeals heavily to the younger population, ages 18-34, that represent 68% of its user demographics.

Source: http://dataopedia.com/hi5-com