Front page Diggs, Stumble traffic, and so on is not just a blogger obsession any longer but big business. If you are selling product online then you need search rankings, and to get those rankings you need links. Right now, everyone is getting into link bait.
Conventional wisdom is to build up a power account to submit your stories, but is that really the answer?
The idea of course is that your story will gain more attention and therefore traction. This part I do not question, being submitted by a skilled and popular social media user is not just a good idea but probably essential.
Does that social media user need to be you though?
I’m thinking no.
There is enough to keep a blogger or business operator busy without having to spend the time creating powerful social media accounts, especially when you consider there are a growing number of mainstream and niche social bookmarking venues.
By all means you should have accounts, and you should especially take part only when you have time.
What I do not see the return from is stressing out over making your account have the kind of influence that is required to fire a story right to the homepage. If top users like MrBabyMan and MSaleem need hundreds of hours of quality concentrated Digg time, how on earth are you, starting from square one, going to get anything else done?
My advice is to make friends. Lots of friends. Find and make contact with as many people in your niche as possible.
Just to clarify, I am not talking about making fake friendships for the sake of improving your social media standing, “friends” are what Digg calls your contacts. This is about networking and mutual benefit but with giving first before you even think of getting in return.
Don’t hassle the very top guys unless you can do them valuable favors in return, you can be sure they get enough hassle already. Instead find the consistent performers that match your own topic and get talking to them. See if they need a hand with anything, get talking on email and IM.
Most of us are not going to get to the powerful status of the top Diggers, but neither do we need to. Take part on Social Media but don’t fret about dominating it. Focus instead on creating the content for others to Digg.