Social media sites have been gaining in importance especially in the context of targeted traffic. LinkedIn is a way of providing personal information. Similarly FaceBook the largest social media website provides a huge network with a lot of groups within it. Twitter has been making waves in 2009 even though messaging between members is restricted to 140 characters.

A social website can provide information, attract traffic or provide links. Let us look at a social news media site. Some not all of the factors to consider are

1. Are there many comments for each news story?

2. What is the frequency of new story submissions?

3. Are stories on the front page current?

4. How many members are there? How active are they?

5. Is the focus of the community relevant to you?

Sometimes it’s difficult to find the right social news site and it helps to ask a social media enthusiast.  You can also do a brief background check on social sites by running a query on Technorati or Google blog search.

Bloggers cover such websites, especially if it brings them some traffic. Some bloggers  post traffic statistics, which will be especially useful when you are looking to promote your client.

The best way to understand a social news site is to use it often. Regular participation will give you a gut feeling for the content that will be consumed well by the community.

Your goal is to get your content in front of as many people as possible. In social news sites, you want your articles to be displayed on the front page because that is where you’ll get the greatest amount of visibility.

Here are a few steps when you start using a social news website:

1. Analyze the News Site. Look at what excites or angers the community. Experiment. For example, push in varied story types, view reactions and also the intensity of reactions.

2. Define a Usage Pattern: For example, aim to put in 3 stories a week or comment on 5 stories by other users. Change the pattern after some time.

3. Link up with Others: Interacting with other users is a great way to make friends and build a reputation within the community this will help you in your marketing. How to Get Your Content Popular on Social News Websites

4. Befriend Leaders. They are the ones who influence others. In social media jargon there are mavens who are thought leaders and connectors who are what their names suggest.

To start interacting on a social news website is easy to continue to do so is harder. The gains can be huge since you are going to get targeted traffic not just random searches for information. Further you can make friends on these websites who will help you in your efforts. So bon voyage. (Read Part 2 so that you know what to do in practical terms.)