Social Media Optimization: Submit it, But Don’t Forget It

When putting together a social media campaign, you should consider many different things before you actually submit your content. You need to think about creating good social media accounts, quality content, and which social media site to submit to.

Finally you get to the point where you can submit your content and take a breather… but not for long. The days of “submit and forget” are over. After you submit your content is when the social media campaign really begins and you have, on average, only about 24 hours to help get your content to the popular page of the site you have submitted to.

Here are a few things you should do to help your submission through this very important part of your social media campaign.

Participate in the conversation
There is always more to your story. It may be an opinion or comment that opens a line of debate or conversation, a comparison to another similar story, or more information about the same story you are telling.

Research and find additional information or articles related to your topic and use the comment system to add more value to the campaign you are pushing. Remember that the only thing you should focus on during the 24 hour push is getting more votes.

If someone else leads with a comment or discussion, then embrace it. Reach out to your network and ask friends to comment as well. If someone comments positively on your submission, then vote on that comment to help it stand out. If someone comments negatively on your submission, then vote that comment down and have your network do the same. Some systems can sort comments based on their rating and also remove them if they get enough negative votes.

Ask your network for help
Reach out to people in your network and ask them to vote on your submissions. Be wary not to overuse or abuse your friends, and be considerate in how you ask your friends for their support. Try to rotate and only send requests to a few people each time so you don’t become an annoyance.

Use the communities’ networking features
Many sites have features that allow you to share your submission with friends and users of that community. Use these systems responsibly and you can find some great support from the community.

Remember, your job is not finished just because you have submitted your content to a social community. You need to remain involved and support your campaign. Every vote matters and you need to do everything you can to get your submission the popular page.

Social Media campaigns can be long and tiring, but if you want the links, branding, and traffic that social media can bring, then you have to work for it.

Brent Csutoras is an internet marketing consultant, who specializes in social media, viral and search engine marketing. The Let’s Get Social column appears Tuesdays at Search Engine Land.