As I've mentioned in this space before, I am sick and tired of social media; more specifically, Facebook and Twitter. The B2B marketing world does not revolve social media, though you'd never know it by the amount of how and why articles, blog posts, podcasts, and videos social media generates.
Because I'm a non-conformist, I'm going to go against the grain a bit and look at other social media sites that are often overlooked. I don't use them myself, but I'd like to explore how Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and others you and I have never heard of can help with B2B marketing efforts.
First up, obviously, is Digg. From their website:
Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users.
So here's how it works:
You create an account (free, natch) and submit news, a blog post, article, video, image, or even just a link to your website-whatever you'd like. Then other Digg users vote on your submission by "Digging" it. If it gets enough Diggs, it goes to the front page where millions of people can potentially see it. People can comment on your submission (and the comments can be Dugg too), so you can start a conversation around the topic you're promoting while also hopefully driving a lot of traffic to your website.
It seems obvious to me that to attract Diggs, you need to have a catchy title for your submission. If there was ever a time to be clever, irreverent, and hyper creative, this is it. You'll also want to let your friends, business network, business partners, employees, and colleagues know that you've submitted something on Digg. Provide a link to your submission so everyone can Digg it. While you're at it, ask them to leave a comment.
Digg has made a few changes recently, as reported in the Social Media Examiner, to promote viral exposure a la Twitter. When you submit something, it'll show up on your followers My News page. If your followers then Digg your submission, it'll show up on their followers My News page. You see where this is going. In a word: viral.
A couple of caveats:
Digging can be manipulated more than American Idol voting. And because anyone can submit anything, there's a lot of weird stuff on Digg. But if your goal is to build awareness around a topic and/or drive traffic to your website, Digg might be a great marketing tool. Just be sure your server can handle a sudden influx of traffic-Digg has been known to drive anywhere from 1,000 to over 1 million page views* in a matter of days to one website.
*Figures courtesy of the above mentioned article on Digg in the Social Media Examiner.