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Posts Tagged ‘Social’

Digg, Social News, and Social Authority Building

What is Digg?

Digg ( http://www.digg.com ) is a news-oriented, or “social news” website, where the majority of its content is submitted by its users. Digg’s users also rate the site’s content, determining what’s important enough to go on the front page, and what should be removed. After signing up for a free account, Digg’s users can submit, review, vote on, and comment on news stories and other content they find on the Internet.

The idea is that instead of searching the web for useful content, people can just make one stop at Digg and see the latest current events, feature stories, videos, podcasts, and other content ‘ selected and rated by users instead of by an editor.

Digg is an important tool in building your online presence.

If a link to your content is submitted to Digg and receives a lot of positive votes and comments, your website can receive hundreds or even thousands of visitors within a short period of time. There is a great deal of the traffic that will probably quickly read the article or post and leave but, there’s a good chance that the more targeted visitors will browse your site and sign up for your newsletter and/or RSS feed which will also help you to receive incoming links, trackbacks, and social bookmarks.

You may receive comments, earn extra income, have your rss feeds picked up, and many other possibilities may come from having your content submitted. How does Digg work? In order to make your comment live, Digg requires you to enter your name and email address, and then use a password and confirmation link they email you.

How do links get on Digg’s front Page?

All new content starts out on Digg’s Upcoming Page. Digg’s ranking system for each piece of content submitted is based on an algorithm (yes there is an actual algorithm to compute a story’s importance and popularity on Digg!) that considers things like the category the link was submitted to, how many diggs and buries the link has received, how quickly they’ve occurred, how valid they are, and the identity and IP addresses of the people voting on the link.

When a link receives enough diggs, it gets moved to the home page of its category. If it then makes the “Top 10″ articles for its category, it receives a lot more exposure. However, if the link doesn’t receive enough diggs within 12 to 24 hours, it’s removed from the Upcoming Page to make room for new content.

There is another way to make your submissions more visible, and that is by you genuinely participating in the Digg community (submitting, digging and commenting on other people’s content), the more your profile and content will be noticed by other Digg members. That increases the number of people interested in submitting, digging, and commenting on your content. We call this “Social Authority” building.

What Kind of Content is Successful on Digg?

Digg moves content in and out quickly, with thousands of other story links competing for attention and votes, so although content that is considered “linkbait” on a blog may be successful, it may or may not be as successful on Digg.

That means your Digg content has to grab people’s attention fast. You may need to change the angle of your content slightly, or give it a catchier headline and description to make people stop and look at it as they scan quickly down the Digg content links.

Unlike a regular blog entry or website article that’s posted more or less permanently online for people to read and comment on, content has a short lifespan on Digg. On Digg, it’s all about what attracts people in a fast-moving environment with lots of competing links.

Jack Humphrey is a Social Marketing Expert who teaches website owners how to dominate on the social scene as well as in the search engines at Social Power Linking.


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Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - March 13, 2010 at 3:46 am

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , ,

How to Fully Utilize Social News Sites

When it comes to having a social news site, there are a number of things you can do to further progress it. Obviously you want to make it as interactive as possible.Part of having success on the internet is being social and interacting with people as much as possible.One way you can you can interact with the visitors of your site is to set up a blog.

A fantastic way to network and socialize with people on the internet is to have a blog.Too many entrepreneurs tend to hide behind their web site. While it is important you invest a great deal of time into your web site, it is even more important you show people your true personality.Blogging gives you the opportunity to do just that.

Just as you have to market your social news site, you will want to market your blog as well.This allows people to know about the blog and what it has to offer.You want people to know that your site has more to offer than the same repetitive content you see all over the internet.And having fresh and enticing content can be a great way to get people to come to your blog.

There are a few ways you can go about blog marketing. First, write as many interesting and helpful articles as you possibly can and submit the articles to directories.As mentioned, there is a lot of repetitive content on the internet.By writing articles, you can display your knowledge on various topics and show what kind of ideas you have.People will come to your blog when you place a link to your blog in the resource box.

Being social is very important with your social news site, it is extremely important when marketing a blog too.Posting in forums is similar to blogs in that you post on a particular topic and get the chance to interact with a number of people who are interested in what you have to say.You are not the only one leading the conversation, this is the only difference; you are just contributing and adding to a thought and idea.

You can market your blog absolutely free with the first two ways.You may have to purchase advertising if you are looking for immediate exposure to your blog.You can place banners of your blog on other people’s blogs and web sites or you can pay for a spot in the search engines.Paid advertising is not cheap, so make sure to pay enough to reach a top position; otherwise it is pointless.

If you are hoping to have success with your social news site, it is vital you are social and try to network.Having a blog can be a great way to do this. You can reel in people to your blog, get new business contacts and socialize through your blog by using the blog marketing methods listed in this article.

Tom Lindstrom is a home business owner, and the editor of The Home Business Archive.Learn home business marketing tips including how to use social power linking tactics in your marketing. Visit: http://tlmarketing.net


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Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - March 12, 2010 at 5:03 pm

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , ,

6 Reasons To Avoid The Social Media News Release Part I

The Social Media News Release is a template available for the sole purpose of incorporating social media and multimedia into press releases. And while it may sound like an absolutely ingenious idea, it probably is not the best use of time and money for your business. Here are 6 reasons why using a SMNR may be one of the biggest mistakes you are making.

1. People Do not Read Them. Let s face it, this is not the best way to get your information out to the general public. The number of people who actually view releases on news release websites is quite small. There are better ways to reach your potential customers that are not nearly as expensive or time-consuming.

2. They are Expensive. The optimal use of an SMNR is to send a Social Media News Release with Multimedia, and It is expensive. Even a limited distribution will cost you hundreds of dollars at minimum. Compare this to the cost of writing a blog, which will also allow you to include images and video. The blog is far cheaper and gives you a much higher return on your investment.

3. There is No Critical Mass. One of the most important aspects of marketing with social media is that you can gather a huge number of like-minded or like-interested people in the same place. If you use an SMNR to send your information out to 500 websites, you may only get one or two comments on each website. If that is the case then your interested parties are not talking to each other, which defeats the purpose of social media marketing. Not to mention the time and tedium involved in responding to comments on each of the 500 websites to which your release was sent. Consider instead how you might get those 500 commenters to have a conversation with each other.

4. They Do not Help Your SEO. The whole point of news releases in general is to get inbound links to your site. And while SMNRs contain links, those links are not optimized and generally link to resources other than your website. Use the online Press Release Grader to see how your SMNR release stands up. You will most likely find that you have too many links, and that diminishes the effectiveness of your release greatly.

5. They Do not Help You Reach Your Goals. The whole point of marketing your business is to get people to come to your website and get them to buy your products. So why would you spend money to put your information on another website? We have already noted that SMNRs generally do not result in optimal links to your site, so there is really no sense in using them for that purpose.

6. They Do not Allow You to Use Your Own Mutlimedia Accounts. Did you know that if you want to include a video in your SMNR then you have to upload that video to the news release service s YouTube account? That is right! Never mind that you have already uploaded the video to your own account; now you have to upload it to theirs as well. This means that your video is sitting in an account with thousands of other videos that are not at all related to your product or service. So if a potential customer actually finds your videos and wants to see more from your business, he has to search a lot harder than if all of your videos were lumped together in your account. Another problem is similar to the one we mentioned in #3. The comments left on the new release service s account are separate from the ones left on your account, so your commenters do not have the opportunity to interact with one another. And you have to visit your video in both places to respond to all of the comments.

You are much better off simply creating your own release, without images or video, and sending it over the wire, specially if you do not have the know-how to optimize them. Save the really cool release for your own website where you have control over what happens to it. You will save time and money, and the results will be greatly beneficial.

Seomul Evans is an internet Marketing expert with a leading Search Engine Optimization Firm specializing in Meta Search Engines and a contributor to Moe’s SEO Articles.


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Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - March 11, 2010 at 9:46 am

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , , , ,

The African Social News Network

I was recently asked by my magazine editor to carry out a review of a new addition to the social bookmarking scene, the website is called AfricaNe.ws. My first impressions were very good, the site is well laid out and incorporates a warm welcoming feel, something generally lacking in the social networking sector. The site provides an array of news and gossip from around the African continent, this site more than any other shows how fast web 2.0 is progressing through the online world. The site is bound to attract huge support as there are very few media based African websites. To my knowledge this is the first African based social bookmarking website. I feel honored to be the first to review this unique venture.

The AfricaNe.ws site provides the ideal portal for news based publishers and the general public to post their own news or African related stories. The site encapsulates all aspects of African life with each post being listed in its own geographical section. I prefer these types of sites when I am researching a subject or simply catching up on the latest news, the reason is, they provide an unbiased view and they house all the information under one roof. This prevents me having to visit numerous sites whilst gathering information on a particular subject.

The site is easy to navigate and user friendly, it has a comfortable feel to it, this is backed up by the enforcement of a strict editorial policy, this is important as all the information displayed on the site is deemed suitable for all age groups. The use of colors and fonts certainly help to give an African feel to the site.

I managed to catch up with the owner, Mr Mike Kofi Okyere. I asked him for his thoughts on the AfricaNe.ws project and if he had any future plans for developing African themed websites. Mike Kofi informed me, he has always been passionate about providing a news based African website, in the end he decided to incorporate this idea into a social bookmarking network. With web 2.0 products growing daily I see this as a wise forward thinking move. Mike Kofi also went on to state that this would be the first of many African based websites, he would like to be an integral part of the expansion of the Internet within the African Continent. If the AfricaNe.ws venture is anything to go by I am sure Mike Kofi will have some interesting projects lined up for the future.

I give AfricaNe.ws a big thumbs up, I find the whole site generates a refreshing atmosphere, I am sure it will be well received by its members and visitors alike. As this is a totally new venture I imagine the first few months will be slow going; however I expect the site to gather momentum very quickly and in a few years have a multi-million membership base.

I would like to thank Mike Kofi for allowing us to carry out this review of his website, we wish him well with this and other ventures he undertakes in the future.

Stay updated with African News and Africa News RSS Feeds.


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Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - March 10, 2010 at 8:55 pm

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Social Media News Releases Explained


You’ve surely heard the term “social media news release” in all the buzz about the new, social Web, but what does it mean? A social media news release is just like a traditional news release, except that it is also social media and Web 2.0 optimized. In short, this kind of news release encourages interactivity, is easily shared in the social Web, and contains a number of other Web 2.0 elements.

Generally, these additional elements include:

* Multimedia items, such as downloadable images, PDF/DOC files, or audio/video files.
* A way for readers to comment directly on the news release content.
* An obvious and easy way for readers to bookmark the news release in social bookmarking sites, or to share it via email.
* Technorati tags and links to purpose-built del.icio.us pages.

If you or your business produce online or email press releases regularly, you should be utilizing social media news releases. Like everything else on the Internet today, there is an expectation that content will be interactive, easily shared, and will offer sources to similar information. If your news releases do not live up to these expectations, your chances for major media coverage may be hurt. It’s fairly simple to create your own social media releases, or you can use a service like PRWeb. And, since a social media news release is just a traditional release with added elements, you do not need to change your present format, just include some additional sections. These added elements include:

Multimedia section: Here you will offer a number of downloadable items, including PDF or Word documents, such as book excerpts, advanced reviews, white papers, brochures, etc., and images, like author photos, company executive photos, book cover art, company logos. Also provide any relevant podcasts and video clips in this section.

Technorati tag section: Use this section to list links to Technorati pages that are tagged with a list of good key terms relevant to your news release.

Social bookmarking section: In this section, provide links to any of your relevant purpose-built del.icio.us pages. You could also provide links to relevant pages on Digg.com or any other social bookmarking and crowd-sourced news sites.

Sharing and commenting: In addition to the sections listed above, you should also make it as easy as possible for your readers to share or bookmark your release in any number of ways. Allowing visitors to comment on your news release makes it truly interactive.

Social media section: If you don’t have a social media newsroom to refer your readers to, you should consider adding a section to your news release that lists where you have a presence in the social Web. Link to your profiles in places like MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.

Creating your news releases using a blogging platform like WordPress makes it easy to incorporate the additional social media optimizing features. Commenting is already built in, and there are a number of good plugins for adding Technorati tags to WordPress posts and for social bookmarking, among other features.

Check out some social media news release examples here:
http://owenegertonnewsroom.com/?p=54
http://www.shiftcomm.com/Web20Releases/6102008.html
http://www.puresoapboxnewsroom.com/?p=13
http://www.hiddenlandsofnodnewsroom.com/hiddenlandsofnod/?p=33

Deltina Hay is the principal of Social Media Power, a Web 2.0 development firm in Austin. Ms. Hay’s graduate education in computer science, applied mathematics, and psychology led her naturally to social media consulting. Find out more about using social media and Web 2.0 tools from her new straight forward, easy-to-follow e-book on social media marketing and Web 2.0.

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - February 27, 2010 at 8:58 am

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , ,

The Importance of the Social Aspect of African News Portals

African news portals, driven by social bookmarking content, play an important role in connecting the world with the happenings on the African continent. What happens in Africa impacts us all, and it is critical to know the relevant news and events that shape the continent. Using social bookmarking news portals, users are updated with the latest events that take place on the African continent. The news portals add socially driven news every day, which is useful for distributing relevant, real, and unfiltered news internationally.

Today there are new resource tools that give users access to African news, such as AfricaNe.ws, which helps users to stay updated with the latest changes around the world. The African continent is always changing and growing, and each day, something new is developed. On the same token, there are also daily changes that take place in Africa that cause the people of certain countries to suffer major setbacks. No longer will the news be filtered through news organizations domestically and internationally, but in fact, the real, relevant, and important news can be easily accessed directly through African social bookmarking news portals.

One of the most important aspects is the “social integration” relationship that occurs with social bookmarking news portals. By simply loading a website, people are instantly integrated through the portals that connect them directly with African news. No longer are individuals spoon fed news that have been filtered through various organizations; rather, each person can take the news into their own hands and become involved with the African continent at anytime.

The news media broadcasts new information each day at the African news portals. The news is useful, yet it is the voters that cast their votes to determine how valuable the information is to the readers. At social bookmarking news portals, such as AfricaNe.ws, all users can cast votes easily, which collectively ranks the importance and quality of each article. Each individual can make a tremendous difference in creating and shaping the events and news that impact the African continent daily.

By the collective aggregation of votes and rankings, relevant news is determined organically by the people. The social aspects of African news portals are a powerful force that provides relevant, important news without any domestic or international news filters. Thus, through social bookmarking, people from around the world are directly connected to the heartbeat of news on the African continent.

Stay updated with African News and Africa News RSS Feeds.

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - February 20, 2010 at 6:02 pm

Categories: Headlining News   Tags: , , , , ,

Frontpage King: Trade Secrets To Dominating Social Media Outlets.

Learn How To Swiftly Harness The Power Of Social News Outlets To Generate A Wild Storm Of Visitors All Over Your Sites. Frontpage King: Trade Secrets To Dominating Social Media Outlets.

Be the first to comment - What do you think?  Posted by admin - February 18, 2010 at 7:27 pm

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