Social media bookmarking sites are a wonderful way to market your business, product or service without breaking the bank. Sharing resources, data and content through social bookmarking, you're able to connect with your target audience and provide them with information that's relevant to their needs. Because social bookmarking is social in nature, the opportunity to engage with an otherwise untapped audience is (remarkable/guaranteed).
Of course, the obvious question is how do you start marketing with social bookmarking? We've put together a list of suggestions and strategies to get your social bookmarking marketing efforts moving in the right direction.
1. Pick Your Poison
There are quite a few social bookmarking sites to choose from. Some of the more recognizable names include, Delicious, Stumble Upon, Clipmarks and Digg. Keep in mind that most social bookmarking users are typically loyal to one site, but that doesn't mean that you need to be. Opening accounts on multiple sites will increase your audience reach and depth.
2. Sir Links-a-Lot
This may seem like a no brainer, but many people often overlook it - don't forget to bookmark your own website. Creating social bookmarks help to generate backlinks for your site and everyone knows that the more backlinks you have, the higher your page will rank in search engine results. This is why it's a good idea to establish accounts with several social bookmarking sites.
3. What to Share
With social bookmarking you can save just about anything that's on the web. Create links to photos and video and, drumroll please, your website's blog posts. Each time you upload a blog post you should make a new social bookmark link to it. Each day, social bookmarking sites receive millions of visits and spotlighting your blog posts is how you'll bring them back to your website.
4. Keywords to Success
Marketing with social bookmarking uses a bit of search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. In other words, incorporate keywords into your social bookmarks that you're building. When you save a blog post or video to a social bookmarking site, you'll need to tag it with relevant keywords to help others find the bookmark. You'll also to give your bookmarks come catchy titles that have few keywords added for good measure.
5. Badges! We Got Your Stinkin' Badges!
After you've built your social bookmarking profile, added and tagged your links and inserted appropriate keywords, you're ready to shamelessly promote the fruits of your labor. Create social bookmarking badges for the sites that you belong to and display them on your website and other social media profiles.
Marketing with social bookmarking is the fastest way to get recognition from search engines. If you're appearing with the search engines you'll be increasing brand awareness and generating additional traffic to your website as a result. Focus on posting interesting and fresh content that will appeal to your audience and keep them coming back for more.