Lee Odden of
Top Rank Online Marketing shared some best practices for leveraging social media:
What Not To Do 1. Submit press releases
to social news sites (they don't want to hear from you in that way) 2. Overkill social bookmark/news options (put too many icons next to your content for people to digg, tag for del.ico.us,
stumbleupon, etc.) 3. Submit your own content (eg. setting up a YouTube account in the name of your brand) 4. Rely on a network to vote on your content (they won't) 5. Encourage others to endorse
your content in comments (doesn't come across as authentic)
What To Do 1. Inventory your media 2. Keyword optimizie your media 3. Research social media communities (if you
want a higher-end audience, give your users the option to submit to Netscape) 4. Create profiles 5. Grow a network of friends (grow it organically) 6. Participate in the community 7. Measure
results Lee's quote of the day: "You're not going to see value unless you create value."
