How do you know when you’ve outgrown your fan page? If you feel that your business is restricted in the quality of conversations that you have with your fans, consider using a community platform. You may be thinking – Facebook Fan Page. Don’t go there!

Niche social networks are on the rise, leading many business owners to consider whether a branded social network might be right for their businesses.

In t’olden days, brands used to promote phone numbers on their above-the-line marketing materials. This gradually gave way to a website URL and over the last couple of years it has become increasingly common for brands to promote a Facebook page or twitter URL on TV or print advertising. The idea of providing community hubs for consumers with a vested interest in your brand is a good one. With sites like Facebook and Twitter becoming almost ubiquitous it makes sense for companies to use these tools rather than reinventing the wheel and creating their own branded community environment. Fish where the fish are, right? So why would a business go to the bother of creating their own online social community?

The main argument for creating your own community is the increased control you will enjoy over the environment. Relying on third party tools that are constantly updating elements of their service can be a tricky business.

An internal social network is an exclusive website for you and your employees to share information and ideas with secure logins and restricted access. Internal social networks can be built with many features, depending on what’s best for your company and its needs. For example, some include: blogs, activity feeds, wikis, videos, profiles, etc.

If you don’t already have an internal social network, you’re probably wondering: Why do I need one? What are the benefits?

Here are some of the big ones:

The Nichetalk powered platform Plugin2 is shortlisted for a Nominet Internet Award 2011. The category is Nurturing powerful local partnerships. Plugin2 are up against the likes of: Neighbourhood watch, Northern Money SCIP,  Brighton & Hove Community Reporters, Talk about local Ventnor blog and Hyperlocal Community News

Unison engage Nichetalk to deliver membership community - launched 27 September 2011 – Unison Peterborough take a big step forward by launching their very own private social network to communicate with their membership Peterborough based Nichetalk Limited have developed a brand new and dynamic way for membership organizations to communicate with their members through the Nichetalk platform - a web based solution.

Two local entrepreneurs behind Peterborough’s ground-breaking social network, Plugin2Peterborough.co.uk, plan to roll-out their invention across the UK having secured the backing of two angel investors with the help of a free business support programme.