Social media etiquette aside, there are benefits for all of us in social media bookmarking and blog commenting strategies.
First, when you share valuable information through social bookmarking, you position yourself as a resource to your online community. You train your potential customers to follow you to stay up to date and in the know on advances, news and strategies in their fields of interest.
Social sharing creates social influence for you and the original content creator.
When you comment on a blog post, and, this is important–add to the conversation by contributing additional resources, original thoughts or insights–you also position yourself as an individual or brand highly engaged in your field of expertise. The more interesting your comments are, the more likely people will follow your digital footprint back to your home base and subscribe, follow, friend or bookmark you.
Share to Position Yourself as a Leader
When you read a blog post you like from a writer whose work you value or respect, leave a comment. By doing so, you provide a service. Google and other search engines pay attention to the amount of interaction that takes place on a website and the more interaction, the higher the social authority of that particular blog.
Think about it in this way.
- You’re at a business conference where you hear a presentation about a new technology coming out of a brand new start-up.
- You go back to your company and tell your colleagues to check out this new start-up because they have some valuable marketing tools that might help you on an upcoming project.
- Your firm hires these new innovators for a project which is hugely success because of their new technology.
- They grow and continue to innovate and help your whole industry.
- You are a hero at your company and you, in turn, consider that original business conference to be your new “must attend” event.
- HOWEVER, if you attend the conference but tell no one about what you’ve learned, their start-up fails to thrive and grow for lack of customers and eventually they don’t produce any new ideas or products and perhaps even go under.
- Everyone loses; the start-up, your company, and you.
The same thinking applies to blogs. If you find a blogger is consistently providing you with valuable tips and strategies, then commenting is your way of encouraging Google rank them well and ultimately to help others find this blogger. So being a conscientious blog content consumer by subscribing and leaving comments is a way for you to contribute to the ecosystems you inhabit. And, in return, you garner social equity for yourself as an aggregator of useful information, a leader in connecting your fans and followers needs to resources they can use and as an informed player in the marketplace.
Bookmarking Benefits
Social Bookmarking is another responsible way to help spread valuable or entertaining information. In addition to leaving a comment, go to one of the many social bookmarking sites and recommend the blog post to others. Social bookmarks are a way for you to save links to posts you’ve found helpful, and others can subscribe to your bookmarks. By bookmarking a blog, story or news article, you create a home for it where you can easily access it and refer to it again later.
This serves as a visibility strategy for you because you found the post or blog, and now, by bookmarking it, you’re telling other that it’s worth reading. You increase your own social currency as someone who passes on great information and ideas, and you increase the visibility of the original blogger.
It’s Called “Social” Media for a Reason
Social Media is, at it’s heart, people engaging and sharing ideas with one another. So remember to consume information and pass on the tips and strategies that you find most useful. In this way you become a valuable resource to your followers, you become more visible to those you follow and you foster a sharing mentality throughout your network.
Some social bookmarking site you might consider using include:
* Digg
* Delicious
* StumbleUpon
* Reddit
Please let me know if you have a bookmark list so I can consider subscribing. It’s time to create conversations about YOU by creating conversations about others.
This is the first time I’ve visited your blog (I was a Queen fan) and your message resonated. I often share & attribute via twitter. Your example of the start up made me realize that, at the very least, I should thank the writers for an informative read. Thank YOU for a post that will help improve the way I interact.
I really appreciate your comments, Pat. Thank you!
Awesome post admin… May I ask what theme are you using on your blog? Where did you get it? Looks cool :)
This is a wordpress site that has been customized for me and isn’t based on an existing theme.
Thank you for your advice on blog commenting. I always struggle with what to type as a comment, too much and it seems I am being narcissistic, too little and it seems impersonal. Your tips really helped me see that bringing in some of my own experience may not be so bad.
I understand that feelling Tracy. I’m grateful you took the time to tell me that the post was helpful.
This is a very nice article. I have bookmarked this site for future reading. Keep up the good work and thank you for the information.
Hi Cindy, I do social bookmarking for some of my clients with blogs, and I’m always looking for new tools. Can you recommend any?
Karen
Karen, Besides the four I mentioned in the blog above, I use Google+ as a bookmarking tool. I’ve created a circle that I call Important Links and I share links I want to book with that circle, which has no one attached to it, but me.
Hi Cindy,
I’m fairly new to this. Thank you for this excellent post. You’ve given me a couple of good ideas.
Thanks Michael. I always appreciate the feedback.
Find a person tweeting something relevant to your search and access their profile page by selecting their name and you can monitor the conversation further or directly contact the person through a tweet to address any questions or issues the person may have regarding the topic or brand. Thanks for sharing.
Twitter is my favorite platform, too. I’ve formed partnerships, friendships and met press people and found new clients through that exact strategy. Thank you for sharing that.
Thank you and questions:
Digital footprint is – I think – the term I’ve been looking for. I’m exploring social media as a marketing tool because as a freelance copywriter more and more clients are asking me about it. So I want to explore and to engage, but I often feel like the only newbie on the scene and it’s all quite intimidating. So thank you for your post. It’s been really useful to me.
Could you help me further?
I want to know how to leave a customised avatar when I leave a comment.
I’ve used DISQUS for one blogg, but how many commenting platforms do I have to sign up for? And what do I do when there are no prompts taking me to a commenting platform?.. Which seems to be most of the time…
I’ve asked techno savvy friends and associates and I’ve googled it and Twittered it..
How comes everyone else seems to know what to do?
Lydia, You’re most definitely not alone in feeling that you’re the only newbie on the block. But please know that you are not the only one. You should set up a free account with Gravatar, http://www.gravatar.com. Many blogs pull the images of people who comment from Gravatar. This is one of the most universally used sites for that purpose and you’ll find you don’t have to register at each and every blog in order to show your customized avatar.
Blog comments are a critical part of a successful blog.A business owner can share news about his business.
Whirlpool Baths
Lydia, You’re most definitely not alone in feeling that you’re the only newbie on the block. But please know that you are not the only one. You should set up a free account with Gravatar,
mlevi2538@gmail.com
Nice articles! Thanks to share with us such as informative articles. By help social bookmarking Faster indexing, Increases website traffic, free online promotion. Those are main purpose of the social bookmarking. I found 40 plus social bookmarking sites list