Search Engine Marketing Blog: piloSEO

David Harry, AKA The Gypsy, has decided to leave Sphinn and all other social media sites and I for one will miss his contributions. David wrote a blog post outlining his frustration with the various social media properties at his Fire Horse Trail blog. The post, titled Social Media Cash Grab, outlines his frustration with the fact that he and other active members provide valuable content and help to build these sites and essentially get no real recognition for it. I am not going to go into too much detail explaining it because David does a great job doing it himself.

I too have experienced social media burnout

Now, I have never been nearly as active as David and I never put as much time and effort into building a community as he has but I have experienced a social media burnout myself. I always saw social media sites as a great way to share interesting news and interact with the other community members. For a while this seems to be the case but after a short period of time it seems that they become full of cliques, not to mention the proliferation of spam. In time the best articles get ignored and the simple regurgitations submitted by users with a lot of friends make it to the top. Now, I don’t necessarily have a problem with the friendship thing. After all, part of a social media community is developing relationships and sharing news. The problems arise when it is more important to vote for your friends stories than actually promoting quality content. This is a problem with all social sites after they become fairly popular.

Sphinn is losing a valuable member

David was insanely active on Sphinn and he contributed a lot of great articles and participated in the conversation. I will miss his contributions and I think it is a better place with him there. Sphinn and other social media sites would do well to make active members like David feel more appreciated. If it were not for their constant efforts these sites would not have reached the status that they have. I will continue to visit Sphinn and I will continue to interact with David through Plurk, Twitter, and Friend Feed but I will miss the contributions he provided at Sphinn.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I just popped into Digg a few minutes ago (a bit after I got a message stating that they were updating and would be back soon) and noticed they have a new comment system. It looks a lot cleaner and seems to be quite a bit faster. I have not interacted it with the new system much but the look and feel is much more user friendly at first blush. Here is a screenshot of the new layout and you can check out the Digg Blog to learn more about the new system.

Popularity: 20% [?]

I see a lot articles discussing how to be a useful and productive member of social media sites. Nobody is speaking for those who want to fail. Sure most people want to become useful members and help the site become better (while sometimes even helping themselves in the process) but there are some people who want to use social media for their own purposes only and in no way contribute to the site in a positive manner. So for those of you who fit this profile I have great news. I have decided to compile the top 5 ways to fail in your social media efforts. Follow this advice and you will have no problem getting under the skin of all the other members and achieving your ultimate goal of a permanent ban.

5 Rules to Guarantee that you fail in your social media efforts

1. Do not complete your profile: By creating a complete profile you will inherit some credibility. Heck, by doing a little more than the minimum will allow to at least look like you desire to become a valuable member. If you don’t want any credibility you will need to fill out the bare minimum. Don’t add a picture, don’t add any interests, don’t join any groups, etc. Just throw up a user name and an email address. This will help you avoid participating in the social part of the equation.
2. Only submit or vote for your articles: To make sure you are unsuccessful be sure to only submit your own blatanly self promoting stories. Social media and news sites are designed to help members discover and spread interesting articles, news items, blog posts, etc. The most successful members submit, vote for, and comment on interesting stories regardless of the source. You don’t want to be like them. Write a bunch of poorly written, spammy, self promoting articles and submit them as fast as you can. Oh, and be sure that you do not submit or vote for articles from any other sites but your own. Being an active participant can lead to at least some success, you don’t want that.
3. Don’t comment on anything: Again, participation can lead to success so avoid commenting at all costs. Commenting on stories allows you to express your opinion and can lead others who agree with you to send friend requests. You don’t need an social media friends. Why would you want that. Avoid the possibility of receiving friend requests by not participating at all (other than submitting your own stuff). If you feel you must comment on something make sure it is trolly and obnoxious. That way you can get the need to comment out of your system and at the same time guarantee nobody will want to send you a friend request.
4. Deny any Friend Requests: If you are doing this right you should not get any but there are some weird people out there and you may actually receive a friend request from time to time. Make sure you deny these as fast as possible. Again, why would you want to create a network of friends on a social site? Sure, they could turn into loyal readers of your blog or find something on your site that they find interesting and write or talk about it on their blogs but who needs that. You have enough friends in the real world and your entire family reads your blog every once in a while. Bonus Advice: If you really want to lower your chances at success send a snarky email to member who made a friend request explaining that you have enough friends and you don’t need any loser online social media friends. Be as mean as possible.
5. Create multiple profiles: Refer to point number 1 when creating these profiles. Once you have more than one profile make sure you follow all of the steps I have listed. You should take extra care to only vote for and submit your blatantly self promotion stuff. Switch it up. Submit with one profile for a while and vote with the others. Then submit some other articles with a different profile and vote for it with the others. Do this all the time. Social media sites strictly forbid multiple profiles but you can get around this. The other members will generally pick it up fairly quickly if you follow the rules I have given you but who cares right. You don’t need their approval or acceptance you just want them to buy something from you. If you get booted just create a new profile and start the process over again.

Follow my rules and you will be on your way to complete failure

By following these 5 rules you will be guaranteed failure in your social media endeavors. If by some chance you don’t get banned or draw the ire of everyone who happens to find your profile you are on your own. I am sure you can find other ways to fail here. Chances are if you follow my rules you don’t have to worry about succeeding and becoming a useful member. So get to work.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Digg, Reddit, Stumble Upon, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Newsvine, etc. I am sure that most Internet users have heard of at least one or two of these social media/news sites. A good percentage of active Internet users have a profile on at least one of them. They are great places to share ideas, market your business or yourself, and share news. They all have their benefits and drawbacks and they are all a little bit different. One thing they all have in common is that they try to include everyone and everything. None of these sites is dedicated to news and interaction for individuals in any specific industry. They still offer excellent opportunities for businesses to market themselves but a new crop of social sites may be better for your business.

While the general social sites mentioned above offer excellent marketing and networking opportunities there is a new breed of social media sites that may suit some businesses much better. As social media has taken off some industries have moved past the general sites and developed social networking and media sources specific to their industry. The niche social networking sites bring related industry professionals together and allow them to share ideas, news, opinion, and provide networking opportunities. They also provide businesses the ability to manage their reputations, market to interested users, and establish their authority in their industry. By establishing yourself or your business as a power user in the niche sites you will stand out from the crowds and become a resource for individuals looking for information about your industry. This authoritative status builds trust and authority in the eyes of your peers and potential customers.

There are new social media sites popping up every day and while we are seeing a tipping point in the general sites the industry specific sites are just beginning to take off in many markets. This is where the social networking trend will expand and forward thinking businesses will take note and become active in those sites focused on their industry. Here are a few of the niche social sites that I believe can benefit businesses and individuals in related industries.

• Real Estate
  • Active Rain
  • Real Estate Webmasters
  • Real Estate Voices
• Photography
  • Flickr
  • Photo Bucket
  • Dot Photo
  • Ringo
• Law/Legal
  • Lawyers.net - Beta
  • Law Link
• IT
  • Techocracy
• Developers
  • D Zone
  • Pixel Groovy
  • CSS Globe
  • Developers Niche

As I said these are just a few of the industry specific social media sites out there. If your industry is not represented here you should try to find a site dedicated to what you do. Don’t just join them. Interact with the other users and establish yourself as a power user and a leader in the industry. Doing so will make you a go to source for your industry in terms of information and the product or service you are selling.

Popularity: 14% [?]