Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [222]
StumbleUpon works on a similar principle yet is a bit more random, as users “stumble” upon a website rather than pick and choose from a list on a website. This is more like channel surfing, because you never were sure what the next page would contain. Users can pick a category, such as science fiction, and then be shown a series of articles in that category that has been voted on from other StumbleUpon users. Of course, you then vote on the sites presented to you.
For a few years, and even into today, these are some of the favorite link-building sources for SEO specialists, because you can quickly generate tens to hundreds of links to an article or a website by developing a catchy article, recruiting a network of friends to vote on the article, and then watching it climb in status on the social-news site. Unfortunately, many firms and specialists saw this as a prime link-building opportunity and specialized in creating articles that would be picked up and ranked highly in these services. They built extensive networks of users and services that would vote on articles in order to circumvent the traditional methods and create an artificial method of “fooling” the social-news sites, propelling articles to the top page consistently. This gave many business owners and marketers the sense that they could do the same thing, especially after reading or hearing about the visibility, linking benefits, and the potential for tens of thousands of visitors. Unfortunately, without a large network of resources, the same effects were very difficult to duplicate. Although many how-to guides were published, many of the secrets and tactics were not easily available to marketers and business owners in order to fully understand how they could take advantage of this link-building and website traffic source.
Today, Twitter and LinkedIn have done a lot to displace the power of social linking and bookmarking from the once-popular sites of Digg and Reddit. In addition, many specialized niche news sites have risen that provide readers with recommended articles within a specific industry or niche, which also provides a more focused and attractive outlet for marketers. The accessibility of gaining visibility with an article is easier, and it is presented to a more relevant audience.
Wednesday: Communicate Your Message Effectively
The primary foundation of any social-media participation is to first evaluate your business and your message. Your message is of significant importance. It communicates who you or your business is and the value that you bring to the marketplace. Your message is the hook that brings people to your website, makes them curious to know more, and persuades them to take action. The development of your message is the first step to developing your social-media campaign. Your message is what makes you unique, and it communicates the benefit you provide. The message does not change.
Marshall McLuhan was a visionary in the technology space. Just about any student in media has heard his famous phrase “The medium is the message,” which was originally applied to the three big mediums, radio, TV, and print. Today, we have innumerable applications to this phrase and more than ever need to understand the implications of this truth.
“The medium is the message” is the observation that the same message will be interpreted in different ways depending upon the medium through which people receive the message. One of the earliest, most famous examples of this was in the early days of television in the presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Those who watched the debate on television overwhelmingly thought that Kennedy won the debate, because Nixon appeared tired and worn. Kennedy was young, energetic, and played well to the television audience. To those who listened to the debate on radio, Nixon was overwhelmingly perceived as the winner, because he was well reasoned, factual, and engaging. Two very different groups of people received