Can You Digg My Inbound Marketing Strategy?

If you're not already active in Digg as part of your inbound marketing strategy, you should be. If you write a great blog post and it makes it to the front page of Digg, you can benefit from a huge increase in traffic and inbound links to your website. Ripple effects can include higher Google page rank, increased leads and enhanced brand awareness. Lots of "if's" here. As always, there are things you should do and things you shouldn't.

Do's

1. Join Digg first and create a profile that reflects who you are and what you're interests are. Include a good photo and links to your website and other social media accounts.
2. As in all things social, be a giver first. As part of your daily social media activity, read your Google Reader and Google Alerts posts for your area of interest. When you find especially good blogs, submit them to Digg via their Digg or other social media widget. Make this a daily habit and do this several times a day. Some people recommend promoting blogs in hot topics to enhance your visibility. You could do this, but it's probably a better idea to stick to what you know, and become a recognized thought leader in your area. What you are doing here is building up your reputation and visibility among people who are likely to read and recommend your posts.
3. Make friends - lots of them. Do a search within Digg on your topic of choice, for example "inbound marketing strategy". Then click on the "submitted by" link and you will be viewing the profile of the person who submitted the post to Digg. You will also see other posts submitted by that person. If there's a common interest for you, click the "Add Friend" link in the upper right hand corner. The more friends you make, the better, because these people are more likely to "Digg" your submitted blog posts.
4. Finally, submit your own blog posts. Your own posts shouldn't be the majority of your submissions. Again, be a giver more than a taker, and you will be rewarded. Your strategy is to contribute to the stream of valuable blogs in your area of interest. Your friends will pick that up and carry you along as you help them. Make enough friends and write great blogs, and you will find yourself on the front page of Digg.

Don'ts

1. Don't submit your own posts too often. Make them the minority of your submissions.
2. Don't just engage on Digg once a month. Try to make this a daily activity.
3. Don't stray off topic just to be popular. If you're not an expert on Tiger Woods, stick to inbound marketing or whatever floats your boat. Yes, some of the power users do this, but you're wearing a white hat, remember?
4. Don't forget to measure! Check out your visits and  inbound links from Digg to see how you're doing. If you're actively engaging and using other sources such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, and Stumbleupon, you should start to see positive results right away.