Why Content creators should use Social Bookmarking Sites

Why Content Creators Should Use Social Bookmarking Sites

The relief sets in, and you are finally done with your latest piece of work, now what?

Most blog posts, podcasts, newsletters, and other pieces of online material will have sharing options from social bookmarking sites attached. You have probably seen the share buttons; they appear on countless websites across the world. If you are not using them to spread your content, you are missing out!

What is Social Bookmarking?

Think of Social Bookmarking as regular bookmarking, where you dog-ear a page of your book, or stick a paper bookmark between two pages, but with a digital and social twist. Your social bookmarks can be private, or tagged with keywords and shared with vast communities set up on these sites. Millions of people visit Social Bookmarking sites, sites that rely on user-generated content, meaning they are getting their content from their readers and viewers, you and I, and that is where the traffic comes in. In addition to bookmarks from other sites you would like to refer back to, share your own and watch your traffic climb.

According to statistics obtained from eBizMBA.com, Pinterest is leading the pack with an estimated 85.5 million unique monthly viewers who Pin, or bookmark, pictures that lead back to websites. Following behind Pinterest are popular sites such as Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg, Diigo, and so on. The social communities set up on these sites are great for driving traffic, and if used correctly, will consistently appear in your Top 10 referring sites in Google Analytics.

How Are Social Bookmarking Buttons Installed?

Social bookmarks are installed through widgets, plugins, and extensions that are available for free online, and are easy to install in browsers or inside of a CMS, or Content Management System. To step it up a notch, some bookmarking services offer pro packages with extended options. Once installed they are easy to configure, and work instantly. Their websites have FAQ pages if you get stuck on something, and support is provided through forums and developer pages.

3 Popular Bookmarking Plugins

1. Shareaholic – Powerful browser extensions and website share buttons with analytics.
2. Lockerz addtoany – Share button for websites with over 130 bookmarking and sharing options and Google Analytics integration.
3. Digg Digg – Floating share bar installed on ChatterBuzzMedia.com. Easliy customizable with several bookmarking options, free, and attractive. Give it a try!

Bonus Social Bookmarking Plugins 2022

1. Social Snap Is a popular WordPress plugin that lets you include more than 30 social networks to display in different ways on your site. Among the features include Click to Tweet Boxes, Social Media Auto Poster, and Device targeting.
2. Social Warfare We find Social Warfare a very lightweight option for your site. Some features include Pinterest specific images, customization, and share count recovery.
3. Social Locker This is a content locker social bookmarking plugin. This plugin helps you drive social media traffic as the user needs to share in a tweet or like to view the full content. Definitely, one of our favorite plugins to grow in likes and shares.

Social Bookmarking is free, easy to use, and effective. Your work should not be considered complete until it has been shared socially, and finally, bookmarked. Consider social bookmarking the icing on the content cake. If you haven’t installed social bookmarking plugins already, put it on your to-do list and get to it!

If you need help with your social bookmarking, contact InApps.