social marketing strategy

Let’s talk about some brilliant ways to use FriendFeed…

Across the top of your Home page on the left half, you can see this:

The search feature is self-expanatory as it is a simple site search engine for your FriendFeed. If I want to find Seth Godin or maybe subscribe to people who are talking about him, I would type his name into the search engine and see what I can find. If I find someone worth subscribing to, I simply hover my mouse over it and click the subscribe plus sign that pops up.

Apart from using the search field let’s talk about the posting and advanced marketing options. Read more…

Site Specific Training friendfeed, rss, social network, targeted traffic

The world of Digg can be harsh to business owners and marketers just wanting to share their content or news with the world at large. What most fail to understand is that even though everyone knows about Digg, Digg is a world of it’s own. A world where not everyone, nor every story is appreciated. In fact Digg may not suit your business model or your marketing strategy, so I’ve put together a list of insights and tips on using Digg to help you decide – before you waste your time there.

1. Spend some time exploring the Digg site before committing to a user account. Be sure you understand how Digg works.
2. Pay attention to user comments, and be prepared to respond as well as become an active part of the conversation.
3. Get a feel for how and why certain stories become popular. This will give you a better understanding of Digg, and also give you insight into how to make your stories and postings more popular.
4. Once you sign up for an account, plan to participate daily. A sometimes-on, sometimes-off attitude will make you appear uncommitted to fellow Diggers.
5. Try to accumulate as many friends as you can. Much like Twitter, you want as large of a network as possible. This way, you affect more people with your message and gain more feedback into what the Digg world wants.
6. Start a buddy list. This list is designed to give you a one on one ability within Digg. It allows IM use, but try to not use this feature too much or you’ll turn people off. Read more…

Site Specific Training business, digg.com, rss, social network, website traffic

Here’s a quick scan for the web savvy to get the most out of social networking on YahooAnswers.

1. Come up with a catchy, easy to remember username so people remember you on future questions and answers.
2. Feel free to ask some questions of your own.
3. Get as much knowledge as possible of the topics you’ve chosen to specialize in or questions you’ve chosen to answer.
4. Be sure your answers are honest and reliable. Do not give false answers just to promote yourself.
5. Do not limit to just one topic or subject. No one is one-dimensional.
6. Skim the site daily for keywords that you can jump in and answer in relation to your business.
7. Link to your website, Digg site, or blog when you answer questions.
8. Be sure to read the Terms of Service for the site and make sure you’re in compliance.
9. Do not just answer questions with a link. Be sure to answer it thoroughly first, and then suggest a link at the end in the source box.
10. Do your best to be the first to answer a question. Sign up for your keywords and phrases feed alerts. (See
11. Think about regional questions and answers. This is an excellent way to get new local customers and contacts.
12. Use keywords in the answers as long as you can do it casually and not appear spammy.
13. Check your spelling and grammar before posting the answer. Mistakes in spelling can be embarrassing and people will question your answers when you appear illiterate.
14. Always be polite. Always.
15. If you don’t know the answer, do not pretend to. People can smell a liar a mile away, so answer honestly and only the things you know about.
16. Be careful of copyright infringement. Do NOT copy and paste answers from Wikipedia unless you quote and source it in the box.
17. Be professional. Avoid slang and emoticons.
18. Try not to sound as if you’re chatting. Instead, use concise, informative language that gives a straight answer without all of the filler.
19. Be objective. Do not interject your personal opinions, no matter what the question is.
20. Do not spam. Do not spam. Do not spam.
21. You can incorporate videos into your answers as long as they are yours.
22. Vote on other peoples’ answers and questions, and make your presence known.
23. Aim to get your Top Contributor Badge. Readers will take your answers a lot seriously if you earn this honor.
24. Never discuss politics.
25. Although some answers require a link to other retailers or online stores, as a business it’s not a good idea to lead people to anywhere other than your website, or sites that relate to your business niche.
26. Read the community guidelines carefully on the site before posting any answers on it.
27. Worried about linking too often to your own website? You can cross promote sites that link to your site (i.e., your Twitter, a bookmarking profile, etc.)
28. Utilize tools that can help you to scour Yahoo Answers, and help you use the website effectively.
29. Beware of spamming and over posting. Other users will complain and Yahoo will ban or suspend your account.
30. Keyword phrases should be three to five words, and the rest of the content should just be the answer.
31. Try not to answer too many questions under one account each day. You can create more than one account at a time so try to switch between them.
32. Never answer your other account’s questions.
33. You must use HTTP protocol links on the site; anchor links do not work.
34. New answers to questions can be posted through RSS sign up, so use that for your questions and see what other people are saying. It’s a good way to see what the competition or other users are saying.
35. YahooAnswers relies on users pointing out spammers and trolls so do your part to report these infractions. You can remain anonymous to the person who is getting reported.
36. As things change, make sure your questions change as well. In other words, current events related or technology related questions might need some updating later on as new information emerges.
37. If you feel as though your answers have been flagged or there are issues, contact the staff at Yahoo Answers and let them know immediately.
38. Try to find questions that ask a solution to a problem, particularly ones that your business or service can fix.
39. Link to other sites besides your own, as long as they lead back to yours in some way, it will be beneficial. Too many links to your own site is spam.
40. Take a break from time to time, so people do not notice you’re posting all day, all over the place.
41. Do not try to sell something with your answers. Instead, provide helpful information, and then suggest the links without pushing it.
42. Figure out what works and what does not and constantly try to develop new strategies with your questions and answers.
    

    Site Specific Training link, social network, yahoo answers, yahoo.com

This video will walk you through Gather:

Site Specific Training gather, social network

If you’re using Twitter, you definitely want to be using FriendFeed in conjunction.

Whatever is great about Twitter is now even better because of FriendFeed. FriendFeed allows you to relate back and forth in one convenient spot without the chopped up “resharing” that goes on in Twitter.

Will FriendFeed replace Twitter? Not anytime soon, but it does enhance it. As you’ll see, FriendFeed has a twitter-like feature where you can post a quick message (not character limited, by the way).

But FriendFeed works with Twitter and Facebook and Flickr and Digg and StumbleUpon, and on and on – and funnels all of their feeds into your own feed. Don’t get confused just yet – you’ll see how it works in the tutorial I’m posting in the members’ area! Read more…

Site Specific Training friendfeed, rss, social network

Editor’s Note: I will add more strategic tips to MeetUp for SocialMarketingStrategy.com members next week, right now I am racing against available time to get the remaining videos posted for you. My best, fast tip is to keep anything you do on this site, on target and finely focused. If you have specific questions or your own strategies to share, please post them in a comment below the walk through video… Read more…

Site Specific Training meetup.com, social network, targeted traffic