Social Media Marketing
In Search Engine Marketing we have already explored the techniques often employed by SEOs in driving traffic to their websites and increasing Page Rank. Basic methods of link building such as submitting details of your site to search engines and web directories, submitting your articles to free article directories, commenting on relevant blogs, participating in highly relevant forums, and lastly submitting and participating in social bookmarking sites and social news sites. There is, however, another field in Search Engine Marketing which uses the power of the crowd in pulling the much needed web traffic to a website. This is called Social Media Marketing.
Social Media Marketing makes use of the popularity of social media sites. Social media in general would include social bookmarking sites, social news sites and social networking sites. The group also includes other types of content sharing sites such as video sharing, microblogging, feed aggregation, music and podcast sharing and photo sharing sites. Notice that the word sharing is very vital in a social media site.
Content generated by users are the common staple in social media sites. And this same content is also the one most valued by search engines. This is the reason why when it comes to SEO and SEM in general, content sharing is more effective than just sharing links or submitting links.
For your task in Social Media Marketing we will be exploring sites that allow you to share content and can positively influence your web reputation.
Creating a Squidoo Lens
Step 1: Go to www.squidoo.com and sign up as a member. Follow the instructions as you go filling up the fields required for creating a lens.
Step 2: Start building your lens right away. You can accomplish this by filling your lens with short articles, images and links to web resources relevant to your topic.
You can add modules by clicking on the Add Modules button on top. A list of modules will be presented and to add just click on the Add links. Each module type is saved into your cart and you have to subsequently click on the Save button to save all your chosen modules into your lens.
 Step 1: What's your lens about? |
 Step 2: What's your goal for your page? |
| TIP: Be creative in your lens title. The ideal title has your target keywords in it but if it’s not possible then try the next best thing: innovate. Change a word to its synonym or turn a noun into its plural form. | |
 Step 3: Create a title and url |
 Step 4: Tag your page so people can find it |
Step 3: Once you have finished creating your Squidoo lens you need to promote it. Optimize your lens by asking other lensmasters you know to Rate it and maybe tag it as their Favorite. Rating stars are found on top below the lens title. The Favorite link is found on the sidebar along with the social bookmarking buttons for Stumbleupon, Digg, Facebook and Myspace.
Instead of submitting your lens to web directories, try submitting it to social bookmarking sites. Also every time you update your lens ping it using either Pingomatic.com or Pingoat.com.
To extend your lens’ popularity you can ask friends to join your fans club by having them visit your profile page. Your profile is found by clicking on your Squidoo name. Your fans can now be updated on changes in your lenses or new lenses you may have created.
Creating a Hubpage
Another content sharing site that can contribute to your search engine promotions strategy is Hubpages. It works similarly to Squidoo but has more money-earning features such as Adsense, eBay and Kontera. Unlike Squidoo where your lens is ranked against other lenses in your specified category, Hubs are scored according to originality and popularity of content.
Step 1: Go to www.hubpages.com and sign up to be a member. Follow the steps as you go filling up the required data for creating your own hub.
Hubpages New User Signup Page
Step 2: Start creating your hub as soon as your membership is approved. Click on the big red Create a Hub button. Put in the title, URL and tags relevant to your topic. Be creative.
Hubpages Create a Hub Page
Fill your hub with a well-written and original article together with pics and videos if available. Whereas Squidoo has modules, Hubpages have capsules. You can add a text, video, photo or RSS capsule. You can even earn when you add an eBay or Amazon capsule. However, you must provide your eBay, Amazon, Kontera and Google Adsense account information so they can attribute the clicks to you.
After publishing your hub, invite other hubbers you know to rate your hub and join your fans club. You can also comment on other hubs of related topics and the owners will reciprocate with their comments on your hub.
To optimize your hub, you must bookmark it using the given services at the bottom of the hub: Facebook, Myspace, Digg, Mixx and Stumbleupon.
How To Make A High Ranking Hubpage
How To Optimize Your Hubpage
Required Output: Please save the URLs of your Squidoo lens and Hubpages hub in a text file with the filename format:
socialmedia.txt
Save this under your folder with your name as folder name.
