Unlike traditional outbound methods like telemarketing, trade shows, direct mail and email, social media is an inbound form of marketing with a social component.
HubSpot's latest webinar offered practical advice on taking advantage of social media. One metaphor for social marketing is a cocktail party without time or space constraints.
Publishing Social Media Sites
HubSpot highlighted the following sites as tools to build interest in our blogs and articles.
- Google Groups
- Podcast.net
- Squidoo
- UTube
- Yelp.
These sites also provide metrics to measure visitor traffic. The webinar also examined Google blog searches and blog alerts.
Networking Social Media Sites
The following sites enable us to build a following of friends with whom to share article and blog links.
- Bebo
- Care2.com
- Eons
- Friendster
- Gather
- Myspace.
An intriguing way to promote a flattering blog that someone has written about your site or one of your articles is for you to then post the favourable blog on StumbleUpon.com. For example, a positive review on Technorati.com with a link to your work makes for a strategic post on StumbleUpon.
Promotional Social Media Sites
Of the promotional sites below, Digg has the most visitors per month with 18 million. Del.icio.us has 2 million while StumbleUpon has 1 million per month.
- Bloglines
- Del.icio.us
- Digg
- Fark
- Mixx
- Newswire
- Propeller
- Slashdot
- StumbleUpon.
Another tip is to search these promotional sites with keywords specific to your website to see what other people are bookmarking.
