What happens when your site is added to the Digg autobury list? Should you just give up on your social marketing campaign? No, absolutely not! Digg is undoubtedly an 800lb social media gorilla, but it is not the only place that can send traffic and generate links. Far from it!
Coming from an SEO background and wearing my stylish tinfoil hat, I am forever looking for ways to reduce reliance on any single distribution channel: being hooked on the Digg crack is just as bad as relying solely on free organic traffic from Google.
Are you wasting time?
Getting onto the prime patch of internet real estate that is the Digg front page is, of course, very desirable. But does it scale? Think carefully about the time you have to dedicate for the promotion of your submission, time that you could be using to create another linkbait.
Submitting your linkbait to Digg where highly volatile users bury content with the slightest sniff of being commercial can be a huge time-suck, and one that can do your linkbuilding campaign more harm than good. Preach that truth to yourself before wasting hours IMing, emailing, shouting and begging for Diggs only to get buried in the 23rd hour! I should know, I’ve been there.
What’s best for your linkbuilding campaign?
My point is this: what would you rather base your marketing strategy on? Can you really depend on steady exposure to Digg’s infamously immature user base while dodging curveballs from their moody algorithm? Or should you break the habit and find more reliable methods of distribution? My money’s on the latter.
It could be said that I’ve spent a bit of time looking for alternatives to Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious and Reddit. And yes, they do not send as much traffic but that doesn’t mean you still don’t get links and exposure. So here they are, in all their glory. Fire up your engines and spam submit your content!
Bazooka Buzz [General News]
This Swedish site is a real gem that will send a couple of thousand visits to a popular post and generate linkage. Thankfully stories don’t have to be written in Swedish to make the front page.
Cracked Pipeline [Offbeat]
If you are taking the humour angle with your bait then this is a great place to submit. Not only will Cracked Pipeline send traffic, if your story is made popular you’ll also pick up a few citations from other blogs.
Design Float [Design]
A site to submit anything from graphic design and marketing to architecture and digital art. Design Float doesn’t send a lot of traffic, but you are getting exposure to bloggers in the niche.
DZone [Development]
If you are baiting on sotware and web development then don’t miss out on DZone. A popular story won’t crash your server, but a good bait can pick up some good links.
eBaumsWorld eLinks [Offbeat]
The addition of eLinks means it is now possible to get a link and traffic from this aged domain. Strange or funny images and videos as well as humourous stories tend to do best.
Lipstick [Celebrity]
You’ll be instantly familiar with the Lipstick layout and system because it is based on Reddit, only it’s specifically for the celebrity niche. The site doesn’t send much traffic but you can get some decent links with the right story.
Meneame [General News]
When it comes to the ratio of traffic : linkage, I have never seen any site perform as well as Meneame. A popular story on this Spanish social media site will also send you a few thousand visitors.
Shoutwire [General News]
Should you submit a story here, go easy on your promotion as the editors are known to come down hard on anything that looks suspicious. Shoutwire will send traffic to a popular story and generate some linkage.
Sphinn [Marketing]
Sphinn was destined for success ever since it was spun off from the highly respected Search Engine Land. This is the best place to submit articles on SEO, online marketing, usability and other related topics. Users at Sphinn tend to be conversational; you’ll get comments and backlinks.
SugarLoving [General News]
This one is part of the Sugar Inc. network, so by submitting your content here you may also get coverage on one of their blogs.
15 comments ↓
Thanks for this post. I was looking for something exactly like this. Very helpful.
[...] 10 Of The Best Alternative Social Media Sites [...]
[...] appropriate too given that Digg can be very tempermental. 10 Of The Best Alternative Social Media Sites | The Matchbox Blog Traffic With Social [...]
Yeah, screw digg. There’s a lot of alternatives out there.
[...] matter what the largest social network is if your specific audience isn’t represented there. Niche social networking tools may be a far better option than simply going with networks that always seem to be getting the [...]
Thanks for this good listing. The strategy is already good.
Sphinn is interisting and for the others i’ll look soon.
Thanks for the tip, its always good to hedge.
Good list. Thanks for the post.
Another one i like to use is photographyvoter.com or just search other niche pligg websites. There are so many of them with good PR.
thanks for sharing information
[...] 10 Of The Best Alternative Social Media SitesSetFireMedia [...]
thanks for the great links. Very helpful for someone getting started. I will be sure to check them out
[...] matter what the largest social network is if your specific audience isn’t represented there. Niche social networking tools may be a far better option than simply going with networks that always seem to be getting the [...]
Thanks for the list. I love social networking. I think it
is the hottest thing on the internet and the best way to
market.
[...] matter what the largest social network is if your specific audience isn’t represented there. Niche social networking tools may be a far better option than simply going with networks that always seem to be getting the [...]
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