Working on the social media side of SEO isn’t as easy as it seems, and should not be used merely to get links. Firstly, it is very time consuming and secondly there is a certain way to go about it. Spamming forums or blog comment boxes with “I agree!” type comments isn’t exactly giving you or your company a good reputation, nor will it earn you any traffic.

I am going to touch on 5 social media practices: forums, social bookmarking, blogging, article submission and social networking sites. Not everyone will agree that all of these topics fall into social media, and that’s fine. The way I see it, all of these topics deal directly with people and therefore fall into the social media category. But enough of that and on to the subject at hand.

1. Forums
Forums are a great source of information. You will find a wide range of expertise on the subject matter of your choice, from beginners to gurus, and all levels of people use forums to share their opinions and knowledge.

Generally, there are a few things that you need to remember when using forums:

- You may only be using them to try and find information but they are a great way to get your brand out there and get some backlinks – that doesn’t mean you should spam them with replies or threads that don’t really contribute or are merely for advertising purposes. Start threads that will entice people to reply or click the link in your signature, when you reply, reply with something helpful. Ask your own questions. Using forums in this way builds a good reputation for you and your brand, earning traffic as well as links. If you spam the sites people won’t give your contributions a second glance and you may even get banned.

- You should read the rules for the forums that you join, that way there is less chance of you being banned for something you might not have known you were doing that is wrong.

- If you do have links to your websites in your signature, try not to list more than 3 otherwise it looks spammy. I’m more inclined to only list 1 as it is more “authentic” but most forums suggest no more than 3.

- The most important thing to remember is that it’s not just about getting the links, this is a good opportunity to find regular traffic and learn new things, make it count.

Some good forums are webmaster-talk.com, www.irishwebmasterforum.com and webproworld.com.

2. Social bookmarking
This is another good way to get links and if you use it, the right kind of traffic too. Social bookmarking is simply telling bookmarking sites that you like certain articles or stories, and sharing those articles with other members when you submit them. You can vote on stories that you like or don’t like and leave reviews.

Of course you can submit your own blog posts or article submissions, but if people see only submissions relating to your site, you could lose valuable traffic because you look like you are spamming the sites.

There is no “trick” to using this kind of social media – all you have to do is not “pretend” to look authentic…but actually be authentic. You will receive worthwhile traffic and build a good reputation this way. Submit interesting articles you read, or blog posts you find funny, include a profile picture…do anything a real user would do – because that is what you should be. There is no quick fix. You need to act like a human in order to receive human interaction with your site.

Some sites you can use are StumbleUpon, Digg and Sphinn.

3. Blogging
By owning a blog you get to share your thoughts, ideas and business with a huge audience. If your content is useful enough you will get links and loyal followers too.

The trick here is to not make the blog about you, make it about your audience. If you have specials running, sure, share it with them…but don’t make your entire blog about specials your company is running. That will encourage…nothing. No links, no loyal followers and no comments.

Make your content relevant and interesting to read. Comment on other blogs you find interesting too – people read those comments and you may get some extra traffic if you contribute something worthwhile, maybe even a link from the blogger whose post you are commenting on – if you get their attention. Interaction is key to making your blog successful.

Other ways of getting more traffic and links in this social media category is by guest posting on other blogs and sponsoring competitions (you will earn links from the bloggers running those competitions etc).

Some good blogs for SEO are mattcutts.com/blog, seobook.com, seo-scoop.com and www.interleado.com/blog.

4. Article submission
There are many online article submission sites you can use to showcase your articles. As with blogging, if they are interesting and helpful enough, they will earn you links and traffic.

Most of these social media sites require an article length of around 500 words – this is to help to ensure that the articles that are submitted are worthwhile reading. As with the other mentioned social media categories, making an article all about a special you are running won’t earn you anything and will probably not be published – most sites have a waiting period of up to 7 days so that the articles can be reviewed.

There are many free article submission sites online such as eZineArticles and ArticleBase. You will be able to find lists of these sites on forums and in blogs – all you have to do is search.

5. Social networking sites
These sites put you in touch with people of similar interests. You are able to create groups that you can send updates to, network with other members and on some sites post articles that the members of the groups may find interesting. Some examples are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

The thing to remember with social media is that pretending to be involved isn’t enough to earn you the traffic you need. If you are interested, people will be interested in you – show them your interest. Let your audience know that you have opinions and knowledge to share, or questions to ask.

More importantly – make sure your business will benefit from this aspect of SEO as it is time consuming and hard work needs to be put in. Articles and blog posts need to be optimised for the search engines, profiles needs to be created, forums and blogs need to be checked and contributed to. But what’s anything without a little hard work?

Are you networking strategies producing the results you want? If not, incorporate the Social Web into more of your plan.

It’s new and hot. The Social Web. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slashdot, Digg, YouTube. . . the list gets longer and longer with each passing day. The balloon of convergence grows bigger and flies higher. The time when it is no longer important which network you are using is ready to be ushered in. However, proper management of whatever network you choose will soon validate the difference your company’s value. With the opening of previously exclusive systems, interacting systems will soon find that their merge into one. Soon which network is better will no longer be a question needing an answer. Rather the question will be limited to which value proposition to use and how to use it to reach your business or personal goals. You will have in your own hands the power to build your own kingdom of networks, relationships, information, knowledge and ultimately your value.

Technology has already placed in your hands the tools you will need, and the relationships that you build using these tools will give value to your company. The relationship economy is a reality now. You need to step up and face the challenge. The methods of yesterday no longer apply like they did previously, instead you need to adapt and grab the opportunity to maximize your value.

I have a few suggestions on how you can decide and plan for your chosen social network. Use them to evaluate whether you can stay on with your present networking strategies, improve on them or whether you need to totally trash them and work on a new plan.

Choose the social networks that you want to work alongside with the ones you are using now. Work towards building your relationship capital. Of course you don’t the selection randomly. You need to look for the networks which echo your own interests and values. Which one matches or complements your own choice of personalities and content. Choose the one which will give the best relationship capital for your company.

Look for the networks that will help you geo-target your audience and prospective clients, be it according to industry or topic. What’s that… you want to just work a network locally or regionally (geo-targeting)? Will the Social Web still help you? Without a doubt. Take for instance, if you used Twitter, since small businesses rely on local customers, it would imperative that they find and connect with local Twitter users. I recommend using these sites to do that:

Twitter Advanced Search http://search.twitter.com/advanced
Nearby Tweets http://nearbytweets.com/
ChirpCity http://chirpcity.com/
Tweepz http://tweepz.com/
Monitter http://monitter.com
Twitter yellow pages http://twellow.com
Scoopler http://scoopler.com

One important recommendation: manage your “stream.” When you first start to follow more and more people, you’ll notice the “stream” fills up quickly. Use Twitter search function to follow your own company/name mentions, and use tools like Tweet Deck to help you filter out the noise. This helps you focus on the most relevant users.

I read one great idea: since you’re ultimately trying to connect with complete strangers, before randomly follow anyone locally, take a creative approach and make your most recent tweet says something like “I’m looking for other Chicagoland folks to follow on Twitter.” That way, when they see I’m following them and check out my profile, the message explains the reasoning why a total stranger is suddenly following them. You’ll find it’s much easier to take the next step in networking, in person meeting, if others can just “check you out first” on Twitter, or where ever

Know the rules of the networks you will choose. What are their standards for connections? Do they employ RSS feeds? Picture…video’s? Does it offer a wide array of social media?

If you haven’t decided on the image you want to project and the brand you plan to use as your image, you had better start on it. If you’re using one now, ask if it will build your value proposition on your desired level – locally, regionally or globally.

You can now use multi-media tools to enhance your company’s value. Choose which network channels will help you reach your targeted audience.

And to sum it up, always keep your goal in mind and work your way towards it using all the tools that are now available, tools which will link you to the whole world.

Just happened upon the new Twitter look tonite…

to see it simply click on your FOLLOWING or FOLLOWERS link to the top right. Here is one version of it – the EXPANDED look

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Then there is the LIST look.

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I like them both. Makes it easy to see what that potential new follower has last posted. And with the rash of spammers now setting up shop on Twitter, it makes deciding on whom to follow much easier.

If you click your cursor in the ACTION button, a mini menu of four choices pops up. Much more elegant.

The only addition I wish Twitter would make is a radio button so you can mass follow and unfollow. Today I was a :grateful recipient” of being followed by a spammer who created 50 accounts and they all followed at once.

You can see there is no text indicating they had tweeted anything yet… but the way he created accounts is a dead giveaway as to his spamming intent. Lucky me I had 2 more bacthes of 50 so to delete/block almost 150 accounts is time consuming.

Twitter has gone through incredible growth over the last 90 days. Its really about time these “tweaks” were put in place.

G. Wayne Clayton is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Integerol LLC  along with SocialMarketingExpert.org.  He’s a former newspaper publisher and investigative journalist. He has been seen seen and heard on CNN, Fox News Talk radio, quoted in The Toronto Star and is a Guest Blogger on FastCompany.com.

The rise of social networking sites over the past few years has been nothing short of phenomenal, but yet, many people still don’t understand why these types of sites have succeeded. Especially given that many of the sites are extremely basic, and simply offer methods of communicating that people have enjoyed for decades.

On more than one occasion I’ve heard people say about Twitter, “so what’s the big deal? What can you really say in just 140 characters? After all, don’t you need more room (than 140 characters) to say something really important. And frankly, I don’t care to hear about what someone’s eating for lunch!”).

True enough. I don’t care what others are eating for lunch either, but for some reason, people are more comfortable sending a message via public forums like Twitter and Facebook, rather than simply picking-up the phone., or typing an email.

This fact is backed up by a recent Nielsen report. In it, Nielson states that the use of social network sites (called Member Communities) such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube finally passed the use of email in becoming the 4th most popular activity online. These communities are realizing a growth rate more than twice that of any of the other four largest sectors. The rapid increase in the number of social networking sites has been such a marvel that many fail to appreciate or comprehend why they keep growing or why they thrive.

So… just why have Social Networking sites become “the next big thing?” The key is the first word… social – the social part of the operation. People are such social beings that they naturally will start “friending” as a big group over common ideas or interests. In other words people collect, concentrate, congregate, convene, converge, convoke, corral, flock, gang around, gather, hang out, mass, meet, meet up, muster, pack, rally, rendezvous, round up, and swarm, This is why you will see groups of people gathering over Maker’s Mark ® Bourbon or bingo. This “friending” creates a bond among those who are in the group. Social networks keep track of those common ideas, interests, and information that then can be used to find other people with whom we share those same common likes and interests.

Let’s say I made an acquaintance at a restaurant on a weekday. We sit over a few bottles of beverages sharing with each other about our past week and I discover that he is a carpenter. He impresses me and seems to know what he’s doing. Remember now, this was the first time I spoke to him. Five days later, one of  my co-worker’s tells me that he needs someone to remodel his basement. Recalling that my newfound friend is a carpenter, I put my co-worker in contact with him — I refer him. This is a simple illustration of a business concept that has been repeated a million times over in many different venues. It’s called “word-of-mouth.”

This is the concept that social networks have tapped. People recommend others and invite still others to join conversations. The sharing of knowledge spreads camaraderie and trust.

This concept is what many internet markets build on. By using social networks, it is easy to build a following for your products or services that get you trust by proxy. Doing one good thing for one person alone will result to more customers if that one satisfied person you helped passes on the information to others. Social networking is one that also encourages responsibility and diligence — it’s “word-of-mouth” (for both good and bad experiences) on steroids.

G. Wayne Clayton is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Integerol LLC  along with SocialMarketingExpert.org.  He’s a former newspaper publisher and investigative journalist. He has been seen seen and heard on CNN, Fox News Talk radio, quoted in The Toronto Star and is a Guest Blogger on FastCompany.com.

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I saw a new post on ReadWriteWeb.com on Twitters latest “changes” (if its really any true changes at all…) in the post entitled

Dear Wanna-bes, Your Twitter Stardom is Coming to an End

One of the most controversial practices widely used to build up influence on Twitter is now cause for account suspension, according to a message on the Twitter developers email list from a company support team member.

Using third party software to systematically add a large number of social connections each day, then break those connections with anyone who doesn’t reciprocate, is a method used by some number of Twitter users to create an appearance of legitimacy for subsequent new connections. Twitter’s Doug Williams said last night that such practices will now risk account suspension. Some users will be unhappy about the policy, many others will probably applaud it. There are valid arguments on both sides of the position.

Read the entire article at  http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/dear_wanna-bes_your_twitter_stardom_is_coming_to_a.php#comment-143353

My response:

Twitter…why not set up that when you follow someone, you cannot unfollow them for a week. Wouldn’t that put a kink in the “effectiveness” of the Twitterspam?

Also while you’re at it, NO ONE can have more than 200 followers with less than 20 posts. Tired of seeing people following 2000 and having 1500 followers with 2-3 (or worse NO) posts. Unless you’re the Dalai Lama, no is is THAT interesting in 3 posts/updates.

I find intersting one of the replies asking if maybe this whole response by Twitter wasnt a PR ploy… hmmm…  * naw.

Here’s something completely and utterly shocking…according to Social Media Survey of marketing professionals by McCann Erickson. Two-thirds of marketing experts have admitted that they don’t understand social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. This comment came even after agreeing that social marketing media was here to stay.

The revelations showed that 86 percent of them thought social media is more than just a fad, reports Brand Republic.

Despite their confidence in social media 65.6 percent marketing pros said they didn’t know how to use it for marketing.

The breakdown shows:
Facebook (72.8%), Twitter (42.4%) and LinkedIn (40.2%) are the most popular social networking sites that marketers actually use – followed by YouTube (28.3%), Flickr (14.1%), MySpace (10.9%), Bebo (3.3%) and Plaxo (1.1%).

Around half said their IT departments usually blocked access social media sites, which accounts why many can’t do any monitoring and see what’s happening with their brands.

Joanna Randall, head of PR at McCann Erickson, said: “This study highlights that some of the UK’s major businesses are ignoring social media channels – but they do so at their peril. Word of mouth is now more powerful than ever – opinions can be shared with a global audience at the click of a button.

“We all have the ability to influence, both positively and negatively, and therefore as marketing professionals we should be considering how best to harness the power of social media.”

Just picked up a new book that came highly recommended to me. It titled: What Would Google Do? & authored by Jeff Jarvis. It’s published by Collins Business, a division of HarperCollins, and should be avilable in most major retail bookstores, and online, of course.

The idea: Jeff tries to reverse-engineer the success of the fastest growing company in the history of the world, the one company that truly understands how to succeed in the internet age, and then take those lessons and apply them to a number of industries, companies, and institutions, from carmakers to restaurants to universities to government. 

Wild guess on who that company might be? Anymore? That’s right, Google. 

If you’d like to watch Jeff talking about his book, here is a 20 minute video to check out  -  http://fora.tv/2009/02/18/Jeff_Jarvis_What_Would_Google_Do 

Here’s the blurb from Amazon:
“In a book that’s one part prophecy, one part thought experiment, one part manifesto, and one part survival manual, internet impresario and blogging pioneer Jeff Jarvis reverse-engineers Google—the fastest-growing company in history—to discover forty clear and straightforward rules to manage and live by. At the same time, he illuminates the new worldview of the internet generation: how it challenges and destroys, but also opens up vast new opportunities. His findings are counterintuitive, imaginative, practical, and above all visionary, giving readers a glimpse of how everyone and everything—from corporations to governments, nations to individuals—must evolve in the Google era.

Along the way, he looks under the hood of a car designed by its drivers, ponders a worldwide university where the students design their curriculum, envisions an airline fueled by a social network, imagines the open-source restaurant, and examines a series of industries and institutions that will soon benefit from this book’s central question.

The result is an astonishing, mind-opening book that, in the end, is not about Google. It’s about you. ” 

I should finish it over the next week. I will let you know my thoughts on the book.

 Even with a small amount of experience in the world of social bookmarking, you’ve undoubtedly come across someone saying you need to fill out your profile. Why is that important? Well it helps to draw targeted eyeballs (prospects) to your online business. You match what they are looking for. Does it work? Well in theory, yes. But in the real world, you may find varying results. 

What doesn’t work so well for many people is those eyeballs don’t always convert very successfully to leads. Then, on top of that, the few leads you do get don’t always convert well into buying customers.

If this is your experience, first realize you are not alone. Second, understand that does not mean that “working” social bookmarking sites are a waste of time. You have the power and control to leverage your time using social bookmarking sites.

How to MAKE It Work 
It may sound simple,  but it’s not easy. If you want a responsive audience, then give ‘em what they like. Doing this will virtually guarantee you that they will promote you and spread your content. Be more entertaining. Offer more education. Connect and cater to them with more of what’s going to make a difference in their lives, and they will become a follower, and maybe even a friend. When they emotionally link to you, they will virtually link to you, which is an incredibly valuable experience. It’s so important that Google determines your rankings by how many and what type of websites link to your site. So, if you can develop yourself on the social bookmarking sites as an expert — one who gives great value and resources, then you will realize a lot of one-way, incoming links. That one simple, interactive strategy can make you very visible and popular. Google likes people who are visible and popular and rewards them with better search listings.

Research what the needs are of your audience. You’ll quickly see how those can become the keywords from which searchers will find you, first in social bookmarking sites, then Google. When a Google searcher types in a keyword phrase, they are looking for something specific. You want your name, brand and website address to be found in that path. We want them to “stumble over your info.” Give them the reasons they need to click on through to your site. Google brings them to your door…now it’s your turn to really show them why they should “come in.” 

So it’s not really any social bookmarking site that is to blame for your lack of results. Instead look at what the prospect sees. Is this information worth looking at? It’s similar to the old adage GIGO – garbage in, garbage out. 

G. Wayne Clayton is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Integerol/SocialMarketingExpert.org. He’s a former newspaper publisher and investigative journalist. He has been seen seen and heard on CNN, Fox News Talk radio, quoted in The Toronto Star and is a Guest Blogger on FastCompany.com.

When Lee Odden quized readers/ businesses to see which marketing tactic will dominate in helping their businesses, social media strategies come out on top. This topic is interesting in light of just how many businesses are cutting the monies available and/or normally used for marketing.
At the Online Marketing Blog (http://www.toprankblog.com/), 532 readers revealed that 63 per cent of those polled intended to focus using blogs and microblogs this year. Let’s point out that the microblog site listed was Twitter at 29 per cent, and 32 per cent of that figure for blogging.

Incredibly six of the top ten tactics are Social Media related.

Also in the mix of popular strategies listed included Search engine optimization with 28%.  social networking with 26%, email marketing and social media monitoring and outreach both at 17%, and pay-per-click advertising at 14%.

Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog emphasised the fact that the perfect digital marketing strategy very much depends on the type of organization and the target market, among other factors.

“Traditional marketing budgets are increasingly shifting to digital marketing and why not? Internet marketing is often more cost effective, builds awareness quickly, fosters relationships and is measurable in ways traditional advertising just can’t match,” says Odden. He mentions that some companies are prepared for digital and social media marketing programs and many are not. So to get ‘ready’, companies really need to develop strategic plans so they can get up to speed on both best and worst practices.
http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/02/reader-poll-top-digital-marketing-tactics-for-2009/

Oddens research does gowever fly in the face of a Forrester Research poll done last year. According to the Forrester survey, corporate blogs are the least trusted sources of information among U.S. consumers.

The most trusted?  Emails from friends.

G. Wayne Clayton is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Integerol/SocialMarketingExpert.org. He’s a former newspaper publisher and investigative journalist. He has been seen seen and heard on CNN, Fox News Talk radio, and is a Guest Blogger on FastCompany.com.

Poor Facebook. They can’t seem to do much right over the last few years in spite of their amazing growth. Like for example, Facebook finally fesses up and admits they DID try and buy rival Twitter — after continually denying it. Here’s the story from PCMAG.com… 

Facebook Did Try and Buy Twitter
Speaking with BusinessWeek, Facebookexecutive, Peter Thiel confirmed what we had figured all along: his company tried and failed to buy microblogging site Twitter, last year. “It became pretty clear it wasn’t going to happen,” he told the magazine. “The deal would have to be done with Facebook stock. And then you have to figure out how much the stock is worth.”  

Why did Facebook have such a hard trying to acquire Twitter? Legal issues and unresolved accuracy on just how much a company like Facebook is worth have much to do with it. Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer said:

Controversy over the true value of the privately owned company also came into play earlier last year when the settlement of the ConnectU vs. Facebook lawsuitwas being negotiated. Court documents were redacted to keep the true valuation under wraps, and media outlets, including CNET News, petitioned to have the documents made public. The founders of small social-network ConnectU, who had sued Facebook because they claimed founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their code and business plan, contested the original settlement when they said they had been misled as to Facebook’s true valuation. 
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10185022-2.html

I  love Twitter but how are they coming up with that number? The old rule of thumb on the Internet is that any one subscriber is worth $1/month for the service. Twitter has, I believe, about five million users. So that’s $5 million/month, or $60 million/year.

Moreover, Twitter is very much a platform where the real value is in the users. Twitter works and is working because the average user on the service is intelligent, well-read and has something to say (and share). Being absolutely frank, if the network suddenly booms to a 100 million users (i.e., Facebook-levels) a lot of these newcomers are going to be slightly less impressive (i.e., MySpacers). This by default will make the overall value drop. End result: a lot more eyes on a exponentially decreasing prize. We’re already seeing this to some extent with the dumbing-down of the current celebrity blitz on there. 

 I tend to agree with @Sheamus ‘ point…my concern is just what would massive success for Twitter do to the user base. Frankly one MySpace is enough. You know we’re in trouble with Twitter when they start allowing bright neon type flash, and walls for others to post blingy images on your profile page.

G. Wayne Clayton is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Integerol/SocialMarketingExpert.org. He’s a former newspaper publisher and investigative journalist. He has been seen seen and heard on CNN, Fox News Talk radio, and is a Guest Blogger on FastCompany.com.