Social Media
Social Media sites are places where people share, opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. Social media can be considered anything that can help to build a community. Websites such as Digg, Delicious, Facebook are prime example for social media Web sites.
Social media is in many ways connected to viral marketing where word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way the engagement with blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS and special blog search engines.
Social media optimization is a form of online marketing that focuses on participating on various social media Web sites to generate traffic, buzz, and links back to your site. Social media Web sites include social news Web sites as Digg, StumbleUpon, video sharing Web sites such as YouTube and Rewer, and social network Web sites, including MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. These social media sites are often used as an effective and powerful method to quickly build large numbers of back links, which can lead to improved organic search engine rankings. The increasing numbers of businesses are currently using MySpace and Facebook as a vehicle to manage reputation, build brand recognition, and promote products.
StumbleUpon is a peer and social networking technology that includes a toolbar that you install in your Web browser. The StumbleUpon toolbar allows you to discover and rate Web pages, videos, photos, and news articles. Getting your Web pages, photos, videos, and news submitted to StumbleUpon is an effective way to generate traffic and build backlinks to your site.
Twitter is a free social networking service that allows you to microblog by sending short “updates” of 140 characters or less via text message from your mobile phone, by typing a message from Twitter site, or using instant messaging from Jabber or Google Talk. Twitter is great way to build a list of followers. For business purposes, you can quickly send messages to your Twitter friends when a popular item comes back into stock or as a means to share a special offer or deal.
LinedIn is a popular business-oriented social networking site that allows to network with like-minded business professionals and build a list of contacts. By building a database of contacts with people you know and trust in business, you have access to a large network of friend with whom you can conduct business, offer jobs, and promote your business. LinkedIn is an effective network for sharing professional information and news about your business-related activities.
Video sharing sites like YouTube allow users to upload, view, and share video clips. Videos are great way to promote your business or to generate interest to your Web site. Videos build trust in your users and can result in becoming viral if people find your videos interesting.
Social news sites like Digg allow users to submit news stories for other members to view and vote on. News stories that are most timely or interesting trend to make it to the front page of social news Web sites like Digg, which can generate thousands of unique visitors and hundredths of links back to your site within a few hours. Getting a news story about your Web site on the front page of Digg is not easy; however, there are numerous proven strategies that are likely to scientifically increase the odds.