Social bookmarking is just one step you should include in your marketing strategy, so I am thrilled to have Alice from Seriously PR share her top tips. 

The internet is a vast, seemingly endless expanse of information that the whole world accesses on a daily basis. When was the last time you went a day without checking your emails, googling something or updating a social status or commenting on someone else's?

Are you struggling to make the most out of your content, with low reach and little conversion? Rather than simply following the new trends and going through the motions you can strategically tap into this free marketing tool to ensure that your business is always one step ahead.

Here are 5 steps to social bookmarking that will have your organic content turning into sales.

Mindset...

Think of your website as a hub - don’t get caught up being precious about keeping your content on your channels, just because it’s leaving the nest it doesn’t mean that people will reap the benefit and you’ll get none of the accolade. In fact it’s the exact opposite - you should be actively thinking about all the areas where you can share your content, if it’s expertly written and makes you sound like a genius, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pass this expertise onto others who can learn from you, it will position you as a leader and influencer in your field which, in turn, will encourage more writing opportunities such as guest blog posts.

Your website is your hub, it is the core of all your social bookmarking from which you branch out and connect with other channels.

Quality and quantity = increase in traffic...

You need to be thinking about SEO, shareability, readability and relevancy when creating your content.

You should be using keywords, a catchy headline and body content that will give your readers value. It also needs to be relevant. There is no use posting a piece of writing that gives tips on travelling with a family on a forum that talks about honeymoons.

This content from Black Tomato features unique tips you wouldn’t expect to see a Disney World package on here and if you did it would put you off it would have no value and wouldn’t result in converting you.

Do a little research into what topics are trending on different sites and forums to get a feel for the type of content you should be writing about and what people want to hear, you might also uncover a niche that nobody seems to be filling, this will allow your posts to stand out. I should highlight that forums are for discussion not self promotion but they are excellent platforms to share your expertise, are you looking to build your personal profile within the industry (this will only benefit your business) then have an active voice and start your own discussions too.

Social media and social networking...

You wouldn’t be the only one one to think these were the same thing. The fact is though that they’re not, although they are of course linked. By dictionary definitions social media and social networking are very similar, it would be difficult to highlight the key points to define the two so here’s a simple breakdown:

Social media encompasses everything social, a platform where you can share, where you would instigate a conversation, recommend and review and engage.

Social media = Facebook & Twitter

Social Networking channels are a platform where you share and inspire, but not where you would go to converse with other users, this doesn’t mean you can’t it just means that if you wanted to talk to someone you wouldn’t choose these channels to do that.

Social Networking = Instagram & Pinterest

When social bookmarking your content you want to use both to your advantage, focus on the social media channels to post the body of your content, they provide the best platform from which your content can be read, acted upon, engaged with and shared. Use social networking to talk about this content and link to it, building as many paths to your content as possible. This increases your reach, exposure and conversions.

Engagement and conversion...

In short, a post with a link back to your website = conversion and a post with a question = engagement. Ideally you want to be doing both, so you create conversation around the topic you have posted about. This encourages social sharing all of which increase the views back to your website and in turn your conversion rate will grow.

Here’s a question for you, what’s better a lead or a sale? The simple answer, both! Leads generate sales and so the cycle continues...

Social bookmarking in practice - where to start..

I was already a fan of Flipboard for the inspirational daily curated content delivered to my inbox but have discovered a whole new use for the website and it’s why I want to share it as the starting point for your new social bookmarking skills. Much like Pinterest you can download the Flipboard ‘flip’ button to your desktop and from here you can add content from your own blog or website to your Flipboard account, this means that others can see, share and link back to your website.