February 6, 2008
 

While this article is primarily for freelance designers, it is a good read for anyone that participates or is thinking of participating on social news and bookmarking websites.

 

I’ve been tinkering around with social news and bookmarking websites for about a year now, it seems in just the last couple of months I was able to “wrap my mind” around the way they work and have success at getting attention (and votes) for interesting items I posted. I am no expert but I have picked up a few things that can help you get noticed.

 

Social networks are a powerful medium, however if used improperly can become a public relations nightmare. This article isn’t about gaming social news and bookmark websites, it is about building visibility and credibility the right way. Before you read too far into this, let me tell you that the advice I give is not a guaranteed instant results type of thing it will take time and some work on your part.

 

If you are new to social news sites such as Digg.com and Mixx.com, do not jump in with both feet and begin posting content. Register and surf through the site. Vote on items, comment of items you find interesting, add friends as you find others that post interesting content. Interact with your newfound friends it will build trust. Be patient, it will pay off.

 

Many of the social websites discourage self-promotion and I would have to agree that blatant self-promotion is a turn off.  Posting thoughtful, interesting and helpful items are fine in my opinion. I myself have been guilty of selfish promotion and I received mixed results. I tend to post items that would be interesting to a wider group of readers versus “look at what I can do” types of submissions.

 

Press releases do not do well. If you are a freelance designer or are part of a design firm, do not even think about posting press releases on the social news sites. Believe me I have tried it and you will see little or no visitors to your website. In fact, on most social news sites where users can vote on posted items, press releases often buried (hidden from visitors). I found out several years ago that even publishing press releases on PR syndication services don’t do that much good either, but that’s another story for another time.

 

Don’t submit your own services or products, these types of submission will rarely ever get more than a couple of votes.  If you want to see examples of bad submissions all you have to do is go to Digg.com and look through upcoming stories, be sure to filter with the drop down selector by (Show Least Popular), and you will get a very good idea of what not to submit to a social news site. One way to spot generic, lame and useless submissions is to look at the URL that is posted with the submission; if it uses keywords in the domain name or URL like “ways-to-make-money-on-the-internet.ablogsite.com” or “keywordpaddedtext.website.com” or “alotofkeywordsintheURLlooksspammy.com”, you can bet that 99.8% of the time content is going to be generic, affiliate program based, useless or lame. These kinds of domain names make me very skeptical and I rarely vote on them as I am sure other social news members also avoid voting on these types of URL’s.

 

Don’t create generic how-to topics and submit them.  You know the kind of stuff I am talking about. Content that is already all over the Internet and can be found by quick searches is generic not to mention lame.  This type of submission just won’t get many votes or much attention. You wouldn’t believe how many people do it every day. When creating content for submission make it original and creative, draw from your own experiences and knowledge.
 

Don’t submit client project news items either, they just don’t work on the social news scene. Only you and your client care about the projects.

 

If you are trying to come up with content off the top of your head to submit then stop and rethink for a bit. Because you think your submissions will be instant hits doesn’t mean it actually is. That’s just plain delusional thinking on your part. Think for a minute about how large of an audience would find it interesting; ask friends, family or co-workers if they find it the least bit interesting. Ask them for an honest opinion; it is better to find out from them than from your social news friends. If they don’t care for it, chances are no one else will.

 

Don’t submit affiliate program based websites, spam blogs (Splogs), other types of schemes, pirated software sites (warez), etc., it doesn’t take long till the submissions get buried or removed. Often times these types of submissions will get you banned.

 

This may make a few people mad but submitting Squidoo lens is so 2006. As soon as I see a link to a Squidoo link, I go somewhere else fast. In my opinion, they are attempts at SEO spamming. If you look through the upcoming least popular items, you will see a huge number of Squidoo lens submissions that only have one or two votes. Please give up on this, it doesn’t work anymore and smart social news members won’t vote on them.

 

Don’t be greedy with your votes and comments. If you see or read something interesting, give it a vote up and comment if you have something to say, this goes a long way in creating credibility on social sites.

 

Don’t submit items and run (drive by submission), spend some time on the social sites you are submitting to, the more active are the more votes and comments you will receive (you can bet the bank on this). Try submitting only one item a day, two at the most. Don’t share or shout out to all your network friends on every submission a day. You will find you get more votes if you keep your shouting and sharing to only one or two a day. After you have been involved with a site for a while, your mutual friends will find your submissions and vote on them without you having to contact them.

 

Don’t freak out on negative comments, don’t attack others via comments either. If someone posts a negative comment on your submission, try your best to respond objectively if you respond at all. If the negative comment is an obvious slam, I tend to ignore it, no use in getting frustrated and angry because the commenter likes to cause problems. Remember those who give votes, can take votes away.

 

Remember often times controversy gets more attention that none at all. Controversy can cause you to get a lot of attention (bad or good), of course, you need to handle it accordingly and not shoot yourself in the foot. Let other users have their say and remember the “golden rule” (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), instead of lashing out or attacking negative comments.

 

Don’t just vote on items submitted by your mutual friends, look around and vote on new items. I spend a lot of time in upcoming news to find interesting items that might not ever make it to the front page of the site. Just because an item isn’t on the popular category doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting or insightful.

 

If you do submit helpful self-promotional items such as articles, news, tutorials, etc. please try to keep it to only one per day. No one likes a windbag and after a while it becomes annoying.

 

Now that the don’ts are out of the way, now we can discuss the do’s of marketing via social news and bookmark websites.

 

There are so many things one should do when participating on social sites that I hardly know where to begin.  So here goes and hang on, we are half way finished.

 

Getting good visibility on social news and bookmark sites is much like running for political office. In order to succeed you must appeal to most other members to win votes. Original or very interesting content also helps get more votes and popularity. Buying votes won’t work for long, so don’t do it. It is easier to be friendly and supportive to other members of the site you are participating on to gain more visibility for your submissions, it will happen naturally.

 

Participate (a lot). With social websites, you get of it exactly what you put into it. If you spend some time and get to know your social friends the votes will come. Comment on submissions, vote for interesting items. I do suggest that when making comment try not to be negative, if you can’t say something nice then don’t comment and/or don’t vote on the item.

 

Negativity breeds negativity and you can bet the negativity will come back and bite you later. Believe me on this one. It took me a while to learn that being tactful is far better than hurting other member’s feelings. If you don’t like something then ignore the item and go onto other submissions.

 

Add friends to your profile. Find other members with similar interests and follow them, vote on their submissions and comment. You will find that your submissions will get more votes.

 

Vote and comment more than you submit, no one really likes a hyperactive random submitter or drive by submitter.  At least if you are going to submit many items, don’t share or shout every one of them, give your friends a break. I generally only share or shout one item per day, occasionally two items, but that’s my limit. Even though I’m fairly laid back and easy going, but getting six or seven shares or shouts a day from one person can get a tad annoying.

 

Do submit interesting items around the web. Give a little “social love” from time to time. You will find you will get more votes on your own items if you aren’t stingy with your submissions.

 

Do explore the whole site, get out of your comfort zone, and look at new things. Look in other areas besides the popular items, there is a lot to see and experience. I find some great items in the new and upcoming categories that most people miss completely.

 

Try to be open-minded of others criticism when they comment on your items, it is better to say nothing and just go on your merry way than it is to start a fight. Put you in the commenter’s “shoes”, they may be having a bad day, or they might just be an honest to goodness jerk. It doesn’t matter either way, be positive, patient and understanding, it will carry you far. It’s hard sometimes to bite your lip and move on, I know, I’ve been there many times and every time I bit back it caused a bit stink that should have been avoided. Sometimes you do need to stand your ground, if you do feel the need to reply to a comment do not attack the commenter, acknowledge their opinion and reiterate your feelings. Use words like “I” and “me”, avoid works like “you” and “yours”.

 

Create original content, be creative, it will pay off. Informative articles, guides and tutorials are great even if they are self-promotional. If you are self-promoting at least be original, you do that and you can’t go wrong.

 

While reading this article you may have noticed that there are more don’ts that there are do’s, there is a reason for that. Many people make common mistakes that can be avoided, of course there aren’t a lot of detailed tutorials on using social networks, it is more of a learn as you go thing. I hope that this helps you to avoid many of the social networking pitfalls out there. At least you can avoid many of the mistakes I made when I first became involved in them.

 

Remember you are going to get exactly what you put into a social network site. The more time and effort you put in the more you will get out of it. I can just about guarantee it.

 

In addition, the popularity effect (traffic influx) from any of the major social news and bookmark sites can temporarily overwhelm your server or connection. Afterwards you will continue to see good traffic as the popularity of your item trickles through other websites. All I can say is get ready for it when it does happen, it can be a bit of a shock (and awe) when experienced the first time.

 

I would like to take a moment and thank all of my mutual friends on both Mixx and Digg, you helped me to understand what it takes to be truly a part of such great sites and to be my real true self. Thanks again to all of you!

 

 

Copyright © 2008, Allen Harkleroad, All Rights Reserved.