The Power of StumbleUpon
To some these days, social bookmarking sites are almost a little quaint. Facebook and Twitter are the kings of social media content, and bookmarking sites seem so … five years ago. I’m here to tell you, however, that social bookmarking is alive and well as a traffic generator. Recently, for client SleepBetter.org, I was researching which tactics we weren’t using to help people find the sleep tips and advice provided by the site. Of course, we’re on Twitter and Facebook, and we’re also utilizing Google Buzz. We tried Digg, Delicious, and Reddit with little success. Then, we started submitting links to Stumbleupon. The results were immediate and dramatic. In fact, in the month of February, Stumbleupon was our second largest referrer, after Google.
Unlike other social bookmarking sites, such as the aforementioned Digg, Delicious, and Reddit, users of StumbleUpon don’t have to be looking for your content to find it. I’ve often thought this was the downfall of trying to use Digg to help visitors find you. Unless your content is tech-related or involves someone falling off of a donkey and hurting a sensitive part of the body, posting to Digg is often like whistling into the wind. StumbleUpon is different. In fact, the whole point of the site is finding random content that you didn’t know you were looking for. You click a button and “stumble upon” a site. It’s much like channel surfing. StumbleUponn can help you find random content that’s been submitted, or you can have it help you find random content within a category. Obviously, it’s an outstanding time waster.
StumbleUpon’s strength is it’s lack of the cliques found on Digg and other sites. On other sites, it can be hard to generate interest unless you’re already well known. In other words, if you’re well known already, you’ll get plenty of “Diggs”. Thing is, if you’re well known already, you don’t NEED Diggs to help people find your content.
So, what’s the strategy for using StumbleUpon if you’re hoping to generate interest in your site or your other content? It’s pretty simple. First of all, submit your content to StumbleUpon. You can go directly to stumbleupon.com to do it, or you can download a toolbar for your browser that will help you. Then, review others content. Don’t give random reviews that are not well thought out. Find good content relevant to your own, and write good reviews. After doing a couple of reviews per day, if your content is good you’ll find that more people are reviewing and finding your content.
Pretty simple.
Happy stumbling!
PR Learning to Bypass the Media Filter
Public relations has always included business-to-consumer promotions in its arsenal of tools, but a large portion of the PR business has traditionally involved attempting to get stories placed in the media, in the hope that the consumer will then see those stories. Even highly public promotional stunts were largely, in the end, designed to gain mass media coverage.
But, what happens when the media weakens, and there aren’t enough reporters to cover even the most fascinating stories?
I happened upon two different articles this week that say essentially what I’ve been saying for some time — the answer is to create your OWN media. Blogging, podcasting, web videos, online news release distribution, Tweeting, and Facebooking all can take your message to your customers in an unfiltered way.
>>Continue reading…
Facebook Groups Better for Businesses
It went unnoticed for a lot of people because Facebook groups are not used as widely as they used to be, but Facebook earlier this week unveiled a redesign of those groups. The screen shot below is of the former Fight SMA Facebook Group, which I’ve been working for some time to transition to a Fan Page.
The first thing you’ll notice (click the image for a larger view) is that the look and layout are now much more in line with Fan Pages and individual profiles. One obvious unique addition is organization information in the left sidebar, above information about group members.
So, the first question I asked myself after hearing of this redesign is, “Are groups now better than Fan Pages for businesses?” For the answer, lets look at the pros and cons of each…
5 Steps to Proper Setup & Feeding of Twitter
If you’re a member of the Twitter Elite (Twelite? Tweelite?) or even a regular user of Twitter, you probably already know everything there is to know about setting up your Twitter account. This post is for everyone else.
I’m surprised at the number of people who have 1,000+ followers, but haven’t filled out the basic information that Twitter allows. In fact, when I see an account with a mess of followers but no details, I automatically assume they’re playing the Twitter Numbers Game, and don’t follow the person.
Below are a list of five tasks that I feel are required for a successful Twitter account:
Surprise! Journalists use Social Media!
It should come as no surprise, but it’s at least a confirmation of what I and others have been saying for a while. A new study by Middleberg Communications and the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) shows that 70% of reporters use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter when doing research for stories.
Here’s an excerpt from an article about the study on Journalistics:
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