We all dream of having our servers crash because one of our articles made the front page of Digg (AKA the Digg Effect). Or launching the latest Facebook app that yields widespread acclaim and countless new friends for your profile. Unfortunately, not all businesses are in a field that Digg users care about or that would benefit from Facebook's user base. The truth is that most businesses probably fall into this category. Not to fear though, there are other options that may not be as well known, but that can be effective.

Propeller.com, Netscape's social content sharing service, offers a platform that is similar to Digg. Users can submit, vote and comment on articles. Propeller offers a wide range of categories and the users tend to be a bit more constructive than are the often harsh critics that populate the ranks of Digg. Most importantly, Propeller gets a significant amount of traffic and good content can reach the front page with less then 50-60 votes, as opposed to the hundreds and even thousands of votes required to reach the front page of Digg.

StumbleUpon also allows users to submit and comment on web content. Users can give the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" for content that they come across using browser toolbar buttons. By voting for content, Stumble gets a sense of the type of content you like and dislike and will serve up popular pages that fit your profile. In addition, Stumble will suggest other users that appreciate similar content. Again, reaching the front page of StumbleUpon will not likely take down your webserver, but it will bring qualified customers to your site.

The two keys for an effective social media strategy are to provide good, unique content and to distribute it to people that will be interested by targeting the correct channels. These are just two, semi-mainstream options to consider. As new social media site continue to emerge, businesses must focus their efforts on their proven options while continuously testing new sites becasue you never know when you might just uncover the next Digg.

Labels: digg, facebook, propeller, smo, social media optimization, stumbleupon