Looking Beyond Digg for Social Media Marketing

Anytime a conversation turns to content promotion via social media marketing, Digg.com is sure to be mentioned within the first few seconds. This is hardly surprising since Digg is the most popular of the social media bookmarking sites. Used properly, Digg can generate a ton of traffic to a website (enough to test even the strongest of servers if the content goes “hot”).

But a well-rounded social media marketing campaign is about more than just Digg. Of course, there are the usual suspects. Reddit.com comes to mind. But you should also take advantage of the many other niche bookmarking sites that have sprung up. While these niche sites won’t get you the volume of traffic that can be had from going hot on Digg, they are helpful for a few reasons.

Niche social media sites help you:

• Get Higher Quality Traffic- Sure, going hot on Digg could get you about 20,000 visitors to your page, but the quality of the traffic leaves something to be desired. The quality of traffic from niche social media sites is usually higher than from a mainstream one. In fact, Tamar Weinberg did an interesting case study to find which generates better traffic: niche or generic social media sites. According to Weinberg the trend indicates that niche traffic is better.
• Build Your Authority in Your Industry- I’ve also found doing well on niche social media sites helps you build your authority. Think about it: if your peers in your industry are voting for your content, it’s a solid endorsement of your level of knowledge and skill. You can use this new found respect to position yourself as an industry leader, thus improving the bottom line of your business.
• Generate Relevant Inbound Links- While I don’t believe link relevancy plays a significant role in search engine placement, I do believe it affects the quality of the traffic coming from the inbound link. For example, let’s say two websites linked to this article: one of them is a website that sells lamps and another is an internet marketing blog. Which link would send visitors that are likelier to be truly interested in this article? The internet marketing blog of course. Niche social media sites tend to generate relevant back links that send quality traffic.

Other reasons to use niche social media sites:

• Niche Social Media Users are more Supportive- If you’ve spent any time at all on Digg, you know how unforgiving the community can be. No matter how great your content is, there will always be trolls trying to stir up trouble. It’s not a big deal, but if you’re thin-skinned, it could get to you. I’ve noticed niche social media sites often have supportive communities that are there to help each other. As someone involved in Internet marketing, I tend to use Sphinn.com regularly. The community there is much more positive than on big sites like Digg, and I’ve learned quite a bit from the users there. It’s a healthy environment for interaction.
• Your Success Rate Will Likely be Higher- Unless you’re a power Digg user, you’ll probably have a tough time getting your content to go hot on a regular basis. However, it’s typically easier to get your content to the front page on a niche site. Again, it won’t generate the volume of traffic Digg will, but if you can go hot on a few niche sites, you’ll get a fair amount of attention on a consistently.
• All of Your Eggs Won’t be in One Basket- One of the best reasons to go deeper than Digg is the simple law of diversification. If you pin all of your hopes on one social media site, you’re sure to end up disappointed. By diversifying your social media marketing efforts, you improve your chances of having success. Of course, make sure you don’t spread yourself so thin that you can’t devote enough time to being a strong member of the community.

So, are you ready to further your efforts beyond Digg? Here’s a great list of 50 niche social media sites to get you started.

About Eric Brantner

You can follow Eric on Twitter at @Eric_Brantner.