Social Bookmarking Sites as promoting strategies

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Study Hall: Surf the Social Sites

Today you’ll take some time to get familiar with the kinds of sites you’ll come across on the Social Web.

Social Bookmarking Sites These are sites that allow users to give a virtual “thumbs up” to a web page, which in turn allows others to learn about it. Digg, Reddit, and del.icio.us are popular examples. As an online marketer, your goal on sites like these is to get votes for your content. Is your organization doing something fascinating enough, or does your website offer something so unique or so useful that a rising tide of voters will push your site to the top?

The best way to get a quick read on these sites is to look at the most popular entries and then compare it to the slush in the “just added” section. Every site has its own special audience (Digg, for example, is popular with gamers and techies), so observing the successes will give you an idea of what content will be well received. You can contrast that with the no-vote entries, like the business owner who posted a press release about his company’s great customer service. This should give you an idea of what kind of content is and isn’t rewarded.

Blogs Your blog mission is either to get mentioned or to join in the commenting in a way that showcases your smarts and usefulness to your target audience. Niche B2Bs, yes, there is a blog that is at least loosely related to your industry, and yes, your target audience frequents them. Type your top 10 keywords into blogsearch.google.com and see for yourself. B2Cs, even though your keywords are mentioned all over the blog search engines, that doesn’t mean that every blog audience has conversion value for you. Forums The goal for forums is to join in the conversation, become a trusted voice, and keep your organization in that favorable top-of-mind position with your target audience. Social Networking Sites Not a medium for the time-strapped, the goal for these sites is to make friends and communicate with them on a regular basis. Some examples of social networking sites are MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The marketing on these sites is mostly B2C (for example, you can be a MySpace friend with Rock Star Energy Drinks). These sites allow you to search profiles, which is handy for finding and communicating with members who have specific interests. They are excellent for plugging your videos or images or blogging about your activities. Not just for job-seekers or 14-year-olds with a band crush, these sites have plenty of potential for promoting events, causes, and all manner of expert consultants.

Interactive features on social sites tend to provide a head-spinning plethora of possibilities. For example, Digg combines bookmarking, video viewing, “making friends,” and commenting. You do not need to be on top of every latest tweak to these sites’ service offerings in order to make a difference in your organization. Just get in the habit of having a little study hall session prior to doing any actual interacting! That’s a good rule of thumb no matter what social media site you’re dealing with.

Create an SMO Feed Reader

Yesterday you found your target audience and maybe your competitors on the Social Web. (Oh, and did you also find your college sweetheart? ’Cause we’re pretty sure you looked!) Today you’re going to create a feed reader so that you have updates from these sites in one convenient place.

A feed reader is a tool that receives updates about your favorite sites, and displays the newest content from these sites in a single page. Some feed readers actually download content so you can read it when you’re not online, others require a web connection to view. One of the easiest feed readers around is iGoogle. Easy to customize and simple to navigate, it’s a newbie’s dream come true.

Other feed readers you might like include MyYahoo!, Sage (a browser add-on), Bloglines, and Rojo. These are all designed for use by normal folk, with easy-to-implement setups. Setting up a feed reader in a readily accessible spot (like your Google or Yahoo! home page) will help you stay current with your soon-to-be favorite blogs and social sites. Being greeted every day by your LinkedIn profile or the latest blog postings by your top competitor will go a long way toward keeping you engaged in the Social Web.