Notes on the forums at SMX Social Media Conference 2007

Rand Fishkin – SEO Moz – Comprehensive overview of Social media marketing essentials
-National Geographic plurality map
-Leveraging UGC Sites for Technical goals
-Using social media to control which results how up in search
-Reaching key influencers via blogs and social news portals
-Social Media Marketing supports both branding and marketing goals
-Rising rate of a single link lifts all of the links on the domain
-Helps with traffic and conversion goals
-Social media usage is up, but very few users actually create content -Social media participation
-Brand ambassadors
–Google’s “passionistas”
-Blogosphere engagement

Link-bait – Chumming for Traffic on Social Media Sites
-Attracting visitors on social media sites involves using the right bait — link-bait. Compelling content is best. Added benefit: it appeals to bloggers too. Do it right and they’ll link to you, enhancing the prominence of your brand and driving traffic to your site. This session explains link-baiting and provides examples and ideas to help you craft your own bait.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Brent Csutoras, Online Marketing Specialist, BrentCsutoras.com – Linkbaiting on dig
-Linkerati looking to tap into crowd
-Gotta act fast on current events
–Offbeat or extreme gets good hits

Rebecca Kelley, Search Marketing Consultant, SEOmoz
- Successful link bait creates a domino effect
- One page can strengthen your entire domain
-Research your sectors link worthiness- Dig, Engadget, Boingboing, Flickr, Yahoo buzz, AOL search hot searches, Google trends Ask.com IQ
, Lycos top 50
- See if there is some way you can put a new spin on your topic to make it sync up with what is popular on the internet at any give moment

Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites – Digg, Netscape, Reddit, Newsvine and others allow community members to share and rate news stories. They are primary news sources and influential outlets that must be considered by marketers. But don’t expect to post your old-school press release and get a good response! Learn how these sites work and how to best tailor your message for maximum visibility on them.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Neil Patel, CTO, Advantage Consulting Services – Intro to Digg
- Many 19-24 year olds
- Mostly male (data from quantcast)

Chris Winfield, President & Co-founder, 10e20
- What works to get on dig
- Creative idea
- Links from other websites
- Submitting to dig
- Use numbers
- Have a compelling description

Tamar Weinberg, Search Marketing Strategist, Rusty Brick, Inc. – How to make good content for Digg

A Marketer’s Guide to Social Bookmarking & Tagging – Consumers are sharing best-of-Web content with bookmarking and tagging sites like Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. Flickr, YouTube and Technorati tap into “tagging” to categorize material, so people interested in topics can locate community finds. This session is a marketer’s guide to using bookmarking and tagging effectively.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Guillaume Bouchard, CEO, NVI – Guide to social bookmarking and tagging
- Tagging
- Parses down information
- Benefits
– Helps for search results
– Natural incoming links
- Increased in online social communities

Michael Gray, President, Atlas Web Service – Deli.icio.us – Social Bookmarking
-Bookmarking tool to research and share pages on the web
-Site navigation and functionality walkthrough

Neil Patel, CTO, Advantage Consulting Services – Stumbleupon

Keynote Q&A: Joshua Schachter of del.icio.us & Garrett Camp of StumbleUpon – StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp and del.icio.us founder Joshua Schachter head up two of the most important social bookmarking and discovery services on the web. In this session, the two will talk about trends in social media, where the future may be heading and entertain questions from attendees.

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and others allow people to connect with others and foster networks of friends or colleagues. Participate appropriately, and your company will find “friends” interested in what you have to say (and sell). Cross the line and the mob may turn on you and reject your message. In this session you’ll learn to network and participate in an acceptable and effective manner.

Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Cindy Krum, Senior SEO Analyst, Blue Moon Works – Myspace Woahs and Woes
- Good things
– Flying Dog Brewery
– Using their myspace profile to drive sales and drive traffic to brewery
– Using the photos section to post flyers about upcoming community and brewery events, as well as starting discussion about their branding and labeling artwork.
– Using events listings to get people involved in community events
- Bad Things
– Westwood College Branded Profile
– A large number of people had self identified as westwood students, and they wanted to create a community online for them
- Lessons
– A cool branded profile takes time and skill to create
– Must keep content fresh
– Friends must be managed