Baiting The Social Media Crowd
The kind of bait an ecommerce site can create
You may recall that Stephan Spencer (I am now taking over his two columns here at Practical Ecommerce) wrote about link baiting some months ago. To sum up his thoughts, inbound links are good. Search engines improve rankings of a given page or website based upon the number and quality of links it receives. As Stephan pointed out, link bait is online content that is useful, funny, or otherwise intriguing to the point webmasters or bloggers can’t resist but to set up links from their pages to your content, and consequently help to improve your search engine rankings.
It’s not often that an ecommerce site is going to have naturally occurring link bait, because baiting isn't just about selling. The best link bait may not try to sell at all, but rather simply tie itself to something of interest with regard to your products. Thus, more than likely, the bait is something you’re going to have to make an effort to create.
One great avenue for link bait is social media – sites like MySpace, YouTube, Digg and Facebook allow users to share and promote content and opinions, almost always for free. Social media sites (sometimes referred to as Web 2.0 sites since most are based on Web 2.0 technologies) are quickly becoming primary promotional vehicles, and the very core of that promotion is link bait.
Creating link bait on social media sites opens the opportunity to reach a large audience of users actively seeking the new, the interesting, and the fun. If these users like your link bait, it will be promoted and your links will proliferate. So, what kind of bait can an ecommerce site create?
MySpace.com — Oscar Mayer isn’t a true ecommerce site, but it has a MySpace profile for their famous Wienermobile. Victoria’s Secret mirrors their “Pink” campaign on a MySpace page and have accrued 197,783 friends. Importantly, a hip MySpace page can drive traffic back to your corporate site. Do you have a mascot? Can you create a contest and give away prizes? Is there an interesting or funny angle to take on your business? A profile here also allows you to create MySpace groups focused on dedicated subjects, like your company or what it sells. Either way, make sure to include links to your native site.
YouTube.com — an interesting or funny video can be made about almost anything! Blendtec.com is a great example. They make videos of their blenders blending anything from golf balls to iPhones. It’s hard not to enjoy these. They make sure to incorporate URLs back to their corporate site both within the video and on the YouTube page. As a result, traffic to the corporate site has increased dramatically.
Facebook — the resurrection of this site is largely due to their open policy on Facebook applications. Anyone is allowed to add their own app, and many ecommerce companies are offering them up. Development is streamlined and made as easy as possible. Facebook wants these applications!
StumbleUpon, Digg, and Del.icio.us — have an odd or interesting story about what you sell? Post it to these news-oriented and bookmarking sites. If the story hits a nerve with the users, links and traffic will increase exponentially as the story is shared.
Keep in mind that these sites are social, and by definition of that, all things “prefab” and corporate will by and large be ignored. A successful social media campaign needs to steer clear of corporate feel and aim at communicating with attitude; apply your street smarts, not your MBA. Also, be careful not to overdo the backlinks you incorporate in any given piece of bait. Users on these sites are looking for the "cool factor," not to be taken in by link bait. Too many links will immediately be viewed as an attempt at link baiting, and your content will be shunned.
There are, of course, many more social media sites than the few, large entities mentioned so far. Other important possibilities include blogs, news sites, and sites that might be focused on some part of your business. If you’re selling shoes, for example, seek out blogs that deal with fashion or shoes specifically (there are many more than you might think!). A pet supplies store might seek out Dogster.com, Catster.com or even the dating site, Datemypet.com. In each of these scenarios, sign up and get to know the culture. Once you understand the general disposition of the site, start formulating link bait that panders to that culture.
Above all, try to have fun with your social media link bait. It’s likely that you have a passion for what you sell. The more the link bait speaks to you, or makes you giggle, or raises the hair on the back of your neck, the more likely it’s going to do the same for others. Always be respectful and good-natured when dealing with these communities, but also look for that which will stand out.
5 Comments
Legacy User says:
I'm My space illiterate. I can design a web site, but myspace had me in the dark. I've looked at the victoria secret/pink myspace. How do they get around the personal profile info? They have a large header at the top, currently advertising their fleece line, but no personal bio that comes standard when you sign up for myspace. Any advice from anyone thats bypassed the bio? thanks
-- Lori Pierce
Legacy User says:
Not only can you set up link bait on a social networking site, they are great for sending quick bulletins with new product or sale information. It's less invasive than sending blanket newsletters via email and you shouldn't get tripped up by a spam filter.
Regards, Michelle Greer Volusion Inc. www.volusion.com
-- Michelle Greer
Legacy User says:
I beleive that producing a Myspace page for your corporate stie is a very clever way to market your products but only from a brand recognition stand point, most retailer want to sell something and my spave or youtube hardly does the jop.
go to www.corporatestandards.net for more ecommerce headlines
-- F. Dappah
Legacy User says:
It's worth noting that larger e-commerce sites sometimes enter into partnerships with MySpace and thus get added layout benefits. This shouldn't deter the smaller e-commerce company, however, from developing a catchy and fun presence on the service.
-- Jeff Muendel
Legacy User says:
A side note about Myspace promotions for your company, products and services....
If you are caught promoting your business on their site your profile can be deleted at their discretion. That being a worse case scenario. However, personally I have had my profile flagged as a spam contributor which Myspace then began to block and/or blacklist my website url. Now when potential customers click a web link to go to my site within my profile they are taken to a warning page prompting them that I am a spammer or attempting to 'phish' their account information. Both of which are bogus! But that's what they do apparently. Just be warned!! This kind of flagging can really deter potential customers from EVER looking at your site or purchasing products!!
-- Shaun B.
