Web 2.0: Smart Marketing with Social Content

What’s the first thing you think when you hear Web 2.0? I’ll bet I can guess… It’s one of two things — Facebook or Twitter, right?

Well, those two sites are definitely at the forefront when it comes to Web 2.0 properties, and they’re totally worth the effort of maintaining presence in both places. But I have a very POWERFUL weapon in the Web 2.0-verse that you may not be thinking about — social content sites.

These are great places to pop ...

some content into for various reasons:

Each place has a different audience of regulars, and so you’re meeting new people to further your  brand

Each place provides a social element that the article directories just don’t have

Each place will give you links back to your website, even if they’re only linking back from your profile

… and each place is really worth working into your traffic routine. Maybe you can’t afford to submit to them constantly, and that makes sense. It’s too hard to do everything at once. But what about adding one article a month to each place? That’s totally doable, and will definitely help you with SEO.

Here are the places I maintain some presence in:

Squidoo: Everyone knows Squidoo by now, and it’s a great place to post a cool page about your niche and to use for sending traffic back to your website. To learn more about getting traffic to your lenses, check out Pot Pie Girl, who really knows the Squidoo ropes.

Scribd: This is a very strict content site. Though you can add your stuff pretty easily, don’t make the mistake of doing any marketing there. If you add links to your stuff, they’ll not only boot you, they’ll ban your IP address for a goodly length of time. Be sure to read the terms of service and editorial guidelines here before doing any posting.

HubPages: This is a great site, and it’s a lot like Squidoo. You can monetize your Hubs and make money while giving your niche community some great content with links pointing back to your site, too.

Gather: Add articles, videos, or photos to Gather, where people are really social and active. You’re graded on your participation and there are groups to join that assure your content will be read.

Zimbio: If you have a blog this is easy to use. You just allow Zimbio to ping your blog and it comes up with articles you’ve written since your last visit. You can choose articles to add directly from your blog, but it’s dupe content. You might be credited, but then again… maybe not. Best to use unique stuff everywhere for the biggest SEO bang.

Remember that your content building takes time. But as you continue to add articles to the article directories, don’t overlook the social content sites, either. They can be even more worthwhile because there’s a social element added in. When someone in your niche finds that you’ve created some ass-kickin’ content, they’re more than likely to pass it on to the group.

Nothing better than when something goes viral, eh?

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