Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 17 years 3 months 10 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
When it comes to social media marketing, the very term itself is almost an oxymoron. If you think about the process only as “marketing”, you’re likely going to fail, because you are trying to exploit the very concept that these networks were founded on.
These web 2.0 networks don’t exist so that you can sell your product or service. These networks exist so that users with a passion for similar subjects can get together and share information, discuss opinions, and sometimes make recommendations ABOUT the products and services of others.
Submit Content (Not just your own)
Shameless self-promotion will backfire, and people will call you out in their comments, if the website itself doesn’t just ban you.
The best way to avoid appearing self-promotional is to primarily submit the content of others. As you come across things on the Internet that you like, take a minute to submit those to your favorite networks.
You can add something to Stumble Upon or practically any site in 30 to 90 seconds, so get used to doing it. If you expect others to submit stuff of yours, then you have to submit content that others have written. That’s how it works.
In the same way there are people leaving comment spam on your blog, many of these websites have people trying to “game the system” by creating user accounts and submitting article after article they’ve written of pure crap, without ever participating in the community.
Social Networking Rings
There are actually “social network rings” that are (sometimes huge) groups of people that all vote on and submit each others’ stuff, attempting to become popular.
Members of these rings are quickly identified and rooted out of the communities, because of the unnatural relationships between users that are easily spotted by moderators and communities, and the technology for finding these relationships will continue to improve.
In many cases, heavy participation in these rings can even lead to having all of your content removed, and the banning of your account, disabling your ability to submit anything at all – (or so I hear 😉
Social Network Marketing
Now don’t get me wrong, you can “market” successfully in these communities, and having friends and associates with accounts can help, but you have to do it honestly and legitimately by becoming an active member of each community you want to be involved with. Doing things right can best be described as “participatory marketing”.
You have to spend some time in each network and determine if it’s an appropriate place for you to even submit any of your content.
For example, some sites are more news oriented while others are lighter fare, and many are in between, with a eclectic mix of content that may or may not suit what you’ve got to share.
Read a few of the articles that have made it to the “most popular” sections, and to the front pages of these sites so you can determine what these people really like. This gives you a feel for the demographic of the audience.While you are reading / skimming / glancing at those articles, DO take a minute to vote for some of things you like, and it don’t be afraid to vote things “down” which that you disagree with or don’t like.
Also at the same time, DO leave some comments on articles that interest you or those that move you to disagree (controversy is even better!).
Try to leave something with some insight, something clever, something funny, something sarcastic, or anything that actually adds to the discussion in the article. In other words, be honest and add to the discussion with comments of value. Don’t just say, “me too!”.
Show that you value your own reputation. Don’t submit cat news to a dog group just because you’re too lazy to pay attention to what’s going on. In the best case scenario you’ll damage your credibility as a worthwhile contributor, and in the worst case, you’ll lose your account altogether, and the conversation about you will continue after you’re gone. Either way, you lose.
These networks are growing by leaps and bounds, and even the smallest network can drive some quality traffic to your site. They are all filled with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of new users every month users and may well be worth your participation.
Get out there and explore and participate in some of these sites, find a couple that you like and stick with them, support them, and become a part of their community in the same way you attend your local chamber of commerce or networking group meetings.
Get involved in these communities BEFORE you start trying to exploit them, and you’ll gain credibility, you’ll be contributing something positive, and you’ll have a better time while you’re at it.
