Get lot´s of highly targeted visitors with Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a fantastic way for ranking well and direct traffic both direct traffic and good rankings. Social bookmarking sites directly show what people are looking at. They are aware marketers use it but know most sites that are bookmarked multiple times are genuinely useful.

Taking advantage of this will help to get your sites ranking well for their keywords.

Firstly, you need to open an account on some social bookmarking sites. Adding manual social bookmarks will take a lot of time, so look at software such as OnlyWire which automates the submission process. This will make your life a lot easier.

When you have your account set up, find some other marketers, friends or family who can set up their own account with Onlywire.

Then you merely swap bookmarks. You bookmark their site and they bookmark yours.

Most marketer's sites are only bookmarked once, with the occasional one gaining more than one bookmark. The search engines will know this and so pay attention to sites with multiple bookmarks.

This simple method can easily get you several bookmarks and will give your sites a boost in the search engines.

You can easily outsource social bookmarking your sites. This will very quickly add up if you are creating a lot of sites. You can find people on forums such as Digitalpoint who will do it very inexpensively for you, but it is still going to add up.

You can use the same technique to web sites such as Stumbleupon and Digg, both of which are potential sources of massive amounts of traffic. The sites expect their content to be more newsworthy and interesting. It is possible get the thousands of visitors in a few hours with a well written article.

Setting up multiple social bookmarking accounts yourself and bookmarking your sites is possible. However, these sites are smart and will realise what you are doing unless you hide behind proxies. This can be done, but often the hassle isn't worth it, particularly when it is easy to network with other marketers.

Networking with other marketers and trading bookmarks also has a side effect of building your network of contacts. Potentially, these could become lucrative joint venture partners in the future.

Social bookmarking is a great way for you to get traffic from both the search engines and social bookmarking sites. This will increase your search engine rankings and from this, your traffic.

How can social media marketing help your brand?

As part of an integrated marketing plan
, social media is the online marketing element that can best be described as the new word-of-mouth marketing. In the past consumers didn’t have any control over marketing messages but new technology gives consumers power by allowing them to decide which brands they want to engage with.

This shift in power makes it vitally important for brands to entice consumers to want to engage with them. Social media present brands with the opportunity to engage with consumers and get them to spread the brand message. When this is done correctly, social media can turn brand ambassadors into brand evangelists.

With so many platforms available anyone with Internet access can become a publisher through networks like Facebook, Twitter and so many others. Consumers can publish their opinions, experiences and thoughts whilst choosing who they want to interact with. Thus, social media gives consumers the power to have their voice heard.

Social media ties in with other online marketing elements like search engine optimisation (SEO) and online reputation management (ORM) as part of an online marketing strategy. It’s a mistake to think that social media and search are mutually exclusive. Twitter or Facebook profiles and blogs are showing up more frequently on the first page of search engine results, whether the group, fan page or blog is owned by the brand or not. In terms of your “Google CV” it looks good if the group or blog post is of a positive nature, praising the service of a brand, but it is a completely different story when it is negative. For instance on the first page of Google’s search results for “SAA” the blog “SAA Sucks” is listed. This of course is where Online Reputation Management (ORM) is all too important to include as part of your social media campaign strategy.

Unfortunately, social media is not as easy as setting up a Twitter account, creating a Facebook fan page and ticking social media off on your marketing to-do list. Social media requires continuous activity and engagement. Amongst other things, social media platforms can be utilised to execute ORM. For instance, by using search.twitter.com brands can see what is being said about them in the Twittersphere. Vida e Caffé is one of the South African brands using Twitter to their benefit. Others include Virgin Active South Africa, First National Bank and iBurst. These brands use Twitter to respond to questions, complaints, compliments and offer advice.

You don’t have to be everywhere, but it is important to have a presence on the more mainstream social networks like Twitter and Facebook. When a brand decides to engage with its consumers through social media there are a few generally accepted conventions to which one should adhere, for instance:

- Do not spam your readers and followers with marketing messages and promotional offers - Encourage dialogue and be interactive, remember it is a conversation! - Always respond to questions, queries and comments, whether it is good, bad or ugly

When a brand offers valuable content it is sure to see ROI from social media. Social media marketing can be complicated to execute, especially when it comes to closing the loop, maintaining consistency and starting a viral effect. If you would like to know how social media can enhance awareness for your brand as part of an online marketing strategy, contact AlterSage for a consultation.