There was a time, many, many years ago, when people obtained information by leafing through printed publications, commonly known as books, and marked their place with something called a “bookmark”. ..
No, but seriously, in the age of the internet, it’s hard to keep track of all your social media posts, windows, tabs, and apps, and even harder to remember where you left that article you saved for later. And the readers of your site probably have the same problem. This is where social bookmarking comes in.
Social bookmarking is a way users can search, manage, organize and share web pages. Social bookmarking sites and apps make it easy to share content you find valuable and discover new trends.
Unlike your browser bookmarks, social bookmarks are not limited to one place. Social bookmarking sites are web tools, which means that the content you save is accessible from any device.
Your browser has a built-in bookmarking feature, but it’s limited to your particular browser. As you might guess, the difference between social bookmarking lies in the word “social”. Of course, you can keep your bookmarks to yourself, but it’s just as easy to create bookmarks for the public or specific groups.
In fact, social bookmarking sites function almost like closed, carefully crafted search engines. What’s more, they have (usually constructive) comment sections and voting features, which means users work together to ensure content is relevant, specific, and of the best quality.
You probably already use social bookmarking sites like Pinterest as powerful search engines.
Social bookmarking is a great way for internet users to save and share important information. Knowing how to use these sites is a skill that every social media manager should have in their arsenal.
Here are just a few of the benefits of social bookmarking:
Identify hot topics
While traditional search engines and trend reports are handy in the long run, they are not always the fastest to identify trends as they emerge.
With social bookmarking, you can identify trending topics as they develop based on the behavior and choices of the people you follow. Build enough followers and you can even influence trends.
Hot topics on Digg.
Rank your content
Social bookmarking sites sniff out spam a mile away, but if you use them more organically, you can still participate in backlink best practices that will help boost your content’s search engine rankings overall.
In general, backlinks (the number of links pointing to a particular web address) are the number one factor influencing your search engine rankings. Google interprets every link to your article as a vote of confidence, so the more links you get, the higher your rankings.
If you share links to your content when appropriate, you can use social bookmarking sites to get more organic backlinks to your content. But be careful! If you behave like a spammer, you will be treated the same way. As long as you’re calm, link building is a great tool to complete your SEO strategy.
Create team cohesion
Because you can bookmark links and then share them with others, you can use social bookmarking to develop robust packages for your team.
Whether it’s a series of social media guides, a set of examples for copywriting projects, a list of inspiring ad campaigns, or really any other set of content, you can curate and share it within your brand. A tool like Hootsuite Amplify is perfect for this purpose as it allows you to distribute valuable content to your number one supporters – your employees.
Network with like-minded people
It’s not just about building your brand with SEO. Social bookmarking also provides invaluable access to other users from around the world who have the same interest in your particular niche.
This is because the network is built right into the platform – without being obnoxious, you can comment, discuss, or even argue with other users in your particular niche. The most obvious example would be using a cycling subreddit to promote your bike shop by simply showing up, offering valuable information, and listing your shop name on your profile. Use the tool correctly and you can easily expand your community.
There are literally hundreds of social bookmarking sites to choose from, and some of them you may already be using.
Here is a list of some of our favorite popular social bookmarking sites.
1. Dig
Free use
Digg launched in its current form in 2012 and is a longtime news aggregator that many credit as the inspiration for Reddit. The site is primarily used to share articles about science, technology, and current events.
In addition to curating the most popular stories, Digg also allows users to post their own articles on the platform.
2. Mix
Free use
Mix, owned by eBay and formerly known as StumbleUpon, is a powerful social bookmarking tool (available on desktop or as an app) that allows users to save content based on their interests, thereby creating highly tailored content.
It’s not just private: Friends or co-workers can follow your Mix profile and see the articles you’ve curated. This is a great way to build influence and showcase relevant links from within your organization.
3. Hootsuite streams
Available with Hootsuite plan
We’d let you down if we didn’t let you know about our own easy-to-use aggregation tool. Hootsuite Streams allows you to track up to 10 sources at the same time. It’s a simple platform for tracking multiple sources of information, curating content, and sharing it with your team.
4. Scoop.it
Free to use, paid upgrade available
Scoop.it has been around since 2007 and is one of the veterans in the social bookmarking industry. The company allows users to create “magazines”where they bookmark articles on various topics, which are then combined into blogs.
There is also a private sharing of bookmarks or the option to share them on social networks. Free accounts can use up to two themes, and for professionals, there’s a solid business platform to upgrade.
5. Pinterest
Free use
If Pinterest isn’t already part of your social media marketing plan, it’s an absolute must. And the main reason for this is its power as a social bookmarking site.
The app encourages social bookmarking by allowing users to pin items to boards. Actually, this is its main feature.
Also, if you’re a retailer, you can go even further and sell directly through pins, making it even easier to sell online.
6. Slashdot
Free use
Slashdot, one of the oldest sites on the list, first launched in 1997 and billed as the place to find “nerd news”. It has evolved since then, although the site is still primarily focused on science, technology, and politics.
Articles are sorted by tags and posted on the site. They have been a major player in the social bookmarking industry for decades.
7. Reddit
Free use
Of course, there wouldn’t be a social bookmarking article without mentioning big dogs in the aggregation space. Reddit is a bit of everything and is also one of the most visited websites in the world.
But if you are using Reddit for your social marketing plan, be very careful. A self-moderated site looks down on too much self-promotion and you can get shadowbanned if you’re not careful.
Make sure you’re actually using Reddit like a Redditor: Comment on posts and threads that you’re good at, and only point to your product when it’s relevant.