SOCIAL BOOKMARKS

“Assignment for Brand Management”

INTRODUCTION:
Social bookmarking is the process of tagging a website page with a browser-
based tool so that you can easily visit it again later. Instead of saving social
media posts to your browser bookmarks, you can use different platforms'
features to bookmark posts.

Social bookmarking sites began as simple resources for social media and
content marketers. Today, they’re diverse and dynamic online communities,
where users discuss links and develop groups based on shared relevancy.

How does social bookmarking work?

In social bookmarking sites, discussion topics are organized into specific rooms
or threads where users follow content that’s interesting to them. When
following a piece of content, you’ll receive notifications to your personal feed
when new information appears.

Links in social bookmarking sites are the starting point for discussion and
knowledge-sharing. This makes social sites an excellent location for finding
social media inspiration, earning backlinks and networking with potential
influencers.

Some popular social networking tools include:

• Pinterest
• Reddit
• Digg
Why use social bookmarking?

How to benefit from social bookmarking

Social bookmarking sites make it easy to see what’s popular and trending in a
specific industry. For instance, if your company is in the fashion space, you
see what people are talking about in fashion and show your audience how up-to-
date you are by publishing curated content.

Social bookmarking sites also make it easier to expand brand reach by earning
backlinks through other relevant content and interacting with potential
collaborators or influencers. Benefits include:

• Ability to find relevant curated content that allows you to build authority
on social pages and your blog.
• Access to high domain authority backlinks for your website to boost your
presence on the SERPs
• Interactions with potential collaborators and influencers to grow your
online success.
 Benefits of social bookmarking:
Social bookmarking is a great way for internet users, in general, to save
and share important information. Knowing how to use these sites is a skill
that every social media manager should have in their arsenal.

Here are just some of the benefits of social bookmarking:

Identify trending topics

While traditional search engines and trend reports are handy in the long
term, they aren’t always the quickest at identifying trends as they’re
happening.

With social bookmarking, you can identify trending topics as they unfold
based on the behaviors and choices of the people you follow. Build
enough of a following, and you might even be able to influence the
trends, too.

digg trending topics

Trending topics on Digg.

Rank your content

Social bookmarking sites sniff out spam a mile away, but if you use them
more organically, you can still participate in best backlinking practices
that will help rank your content higher in search engines overall.

In general, backlinks (the number of links pointing to a specific web

address) are the number one factor that influences your rank on search
engines. Google interprets each link to your article as a vote of
confidence, so the more links you earn, the higher you rank.

If you share links to your content when appropriate, you can use social
bookmarking sites to earn more organic backlinks to your content. But be
careful! If you act like a spammer, you’ll be treated like one. As long as you’re
chill about it, link-building is a great tool to round out your SEO strategy.
Build team cohesion

Because you can bookmark links and then share them with others, you
can use social bookmarking to develop robust packages for your team.

Whether it’s a series of social media guidelines, a batch of examples for

copywriting projects, a list of inspirational ad campaigns or, really, any
other collection of content, you can curate it and share it internally with
your brand. A tool like Hootsuite Amplify is perfect for this purpose
since it allows you to distribute valuable content to your number one
advocates — your employees.

Network with like-minded folks

It’s not just about building your brand via SEO. Social bookmarking also
provides invaluable access to other users from around the world who
have a similar interest in your particular niche.

That’s because there’s networking built right into the platform — without
being obnoxious, you can comment, discuss or maybe even debate with
other users within your particular niche. The most obvious example
would be using a biking subreddit to promote your bike shop — just by
showing up, offering valuable insights and having the name of your shop
in your profile. Use the tool correctly, and you’ll be able to expand your
community with ease.
The top 7 social bookmarking sites
There are literally hundreds of social bookmarking sites to choose from,
and some of them are ones you might be using already.

Here’s a list of a few of our favorite popular social bookmarking sites.

1. Digg

Digg launched in its current form in 2012, and is a long-running news

aggregator that many believe was the inspiration for Reddit. The site is
mostly used to share articles about science, technology and current
events.

digg popular webpage

In addition to curating top trending stories, Digg also allows users to

publish their own articles on the platform.

2. Mix

Owned by eBay and formerly known as StumbleUpon, Mix is a powerful

social bookmarking tool (available on desktop or in app form) that allows
users to save content based on their interests, thus curating highly-tailored
content experiences.

mix expand your mind

It’s not just personal, either — friends or collaborators can follow your
Mix profile and see the articles you’ve curated. This is a great way to
build influence and showcase relevant links from your organization.
3. Hootsuite Streams

We’d be failing you if we didn’t let you know about our own easy-to-use
aggregation tool. Hootsuite Streams allows you to follow up to 10 sources
at once. It’s a simple platform to keep track of multiple information
sources, curate content and share it with your team.

4. Scoop.it

Having existed since 2007, Scoop.it is one of the veterans in the social
bookmarking space. The company allows users to create “journals” where
they bookmark articles across various topics, which are then aggregated
across blogs.

There’s also private sharing for bookmarks or the ability to share them on
social media. Free accounts are allowed up to two topics, while there’s a
robust business platform for professionals who upgrade.

5. Pinterest

If Pinterest isn’t already part of your social media marketing plan, it

absolutely needs to be. And a major reason for that is its power as a social
bookmarking site.

pinterest bedroom makeover inspiration new home new space

The app encourages social bookmarking by allowing users to pin items to

boards. In fact, that’s really its main feature.

Plus, if you’re a retailer, you can go a step further and sell directly
through pins, thus making it even easier to sell online.
6. Slashdot

One of the longest-running sites on the list, Slashdot was first launched in
1997 and billed as a place to find “news for nerds.” It has since evolved,
though the site is still primarily focused on science, tech and politics.

Articles are organized with tags and shared across the site. They’ve been
a major player in the social bookmarking space for decades.

7. Reddit

Of course, there would be no article about social bookmarking without

mentioning the big dogs in the aggregation space. Reddit is, well, a little
bit of everything — and it’s also one of the top most visited websites on
earth.

But if you’re using Reddit for your social marketing plan, be very careful.
The self-moderated site looks down on too much self-promo, and you
could be hit with a shadowban if you’re not careful.

Make sure you actually use Reddit like a Redditor: Comment on posts
and topics that you have knowledge on, and only point to your product
when it’s relevant.
WAYS TO USE SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
1. Content Curation

As a marketer, especially in social media, one of your duties is to curate

content to share with your audience. People look to your brand for
resources and expertise in your industry. With a social bookmarking site,
you can save articles or resources you find online so you never run out of
content to share with your audience. Social bookmarking saves time and
gives you the ability to schedule content ahead of time.

For example, below is content I have curated on my personal Pinterest

page for recipes. If any of my followers are looking recipes (especially
keto or low-carb), I have an entire board dedicated to curating content in
that category.

2. Organize and Save Resources

A benefit to social bookmarking sites is that you can organize and save
content that you want to revisit later. As a marketer, it’s important to keep
track of resources that help you develop professionally. Using a site
where you can keep these resources organized is helpful, so you won’t
lose valuable content.

3. Tag Content

With most social bookmarking sites, you can “tag" content, meaning you
can label it. For example, if there’s a blog post that is about YouTube
SEO strategies, you can “tag" that content as “YouTube.” Then, when
you want to go back and look for that article or you need resources for
YouTube, you have a section in your social bookmarking account tagged
YouTube. This keeps the resources you save organized and readily
available.
4. Share Resources

Another way to use social bookmarking tools is to share content with

your team. As a marketer, if you find an article about social media
strategy, you can tag the content as “Social Media" so your social media
team can find it. Plus, if everyone on your team has access to the social
bookmarking site, they can regularly check in to find the resources they
need. This is helpful for employees to continue developing their career
and also share things they learn with their colleagues.

For example, in Pocket, you can “tag" content. On the left-hand

side of your profile, you can click the “Tags" category to pull up specific
articles.Pocket home page features Tags, or saved stories.

5. Build Backlinks

Social bookmarking sites can be a great addition to your link building

strategy. You can use your profile to bookmark resources on your
website. However, you shouldn’t only add bookmarks to your site.

Use social bookmarking as you normally would, bookmarking other

resources you come across, but sprinkle in a post or two from your own
site. While social bookmarking shouldn’t be your sole link building
strategy, it can round out your current strategy.

6. Promote Your Mentions

Besides bookmarking articles on your own site, you can also use social
bookmarking to link to articles or blog posts that mention your company.
However, your social bookmarking profile should contain a variety of
self-promotion versus unbranded content.
7. Drive Traffic to Your Site

Social bookmarking sites can drive traffic to your site. If people

bookmark your post and vote for it, it will show up in searches, and lead
to traffic to your site.

Besides sharing your own posts on your social bookmarking profile, you
also want other people to bookmark your content. To make this easy for
users, you can add social bookmarking buttons to your blog so readers
can bookmark your content with the click of a button.

In the example below, writer Nicole Peeler drives traffic to her website
through the content she creates on Medium. Below her post, she has her
website, her Medium profile, and the organization profile linked. If users
like her post, they can easily find out more information with the links
below the article.

Medium social bookmarking site profiles drive traffic to website.

8. SEO

Search engines often list results from social bookmarking sites. When a
site is bookmarked on a social bookmarking site, a link is made and
indexed by search engines. This earns credibility with search engines.
Content that is voted for and bookmarked a lot by users on social
bookmarking sites tends to show up higher in search engine results.

Social bookmarking can help develop your team and keep your marketing
skills sharp in an evolving industry. Plus, it can also be used as a strategy
for your team to gain more traffic and credibility with Google.