The 5 Different Forms of Social Media News Momentum
Oct 14, 2008 by Greg Finn | Social Media Marketing
Social media success is built around momentum. This driving force can come in many different formats and can be harnessed (or created) in a variety of fashions. In my experience participating in social media, the momentum behind the stories is much more important than the “hook†or actual content of the story. But how can this “momentum†work for you? Here is a breakdown of the different types of momentum in social media today:
Uncontrollable Momentum
These types of momentum cannot be artificially created, only harnessed to make a story popular on social bookmarking sites.
1) Hot Topic Stories
Fresh stories that are relevant to a current hot topic naturally gain momentum by adding more information or knowledge on that topic. Since users are actively looking for information on this fresh topic, the subject itself will build momentum with no additional work required. This is the most natural form of momentum that a story can accrue as it will attract a variety of different users who are genuinely interested in the topic at hand. For even more on this topic, see our current events and social media post.
Real Life Example:
Apple releases a new iPod nano, so a story about the sizes and sales numbers of the nanos throughout history could be created to feed off of the momentum that the hype of the news has created.
2) Trafficked Website
Popular websites with traffic that consists of a high percentage of social media users build large volumes of momentum naturally. If the website has loyal users that are active on social media sites they will be inclined to give a vote to stories that they like. For sites like Digg.com a perfectly targeted site might be gizmodo.com as it has large volumes of techie users; for Reddit this may be the thinkprogress.org as they have traffic that is of a more political nature.
Real Life Example:
Cracked.com has built a business strategy based around social media. They have a high ratio of active diggers that frequent their site. If I submit a story from Cracked.com when released, then I will use the momentum of the visitors to push my submission popular on social sites.
3) Supported Website
Many websites today have a “social backing” that help promote stories from the site. These sites have either hired a Social Media Marketing firm, have a SMM in-house or simply have large voting networks that back the site. This momentum is effective for the submitter as they don’t have to do the hard work in building the momentum, the supported website does it all for them.
Real Life Example:
ExampleSiteHere.com is a relatively new site, but you see that it is getting popular on social media networks. By submitting new posts from ExampleSiteHere.com, you can try to harness the promotional methods used by the members that are backing up the site.
Controllable Momentum
Potentially the most dangerous (and powerful) momentum that can be used is the type that you create yourself. While this can be incredibly effective, this type usually looks the most artificial and if used incorrectly could get you on the fast track to becoming banned across social media sites.
4) Create Your Own
Creating momentum is intrinsic to many small webmasters or newbies to social media. The majority of networks allow for users to share stories with each other, Digg with “shouts,†StumbleUpon with “send to a friend,†Mixx with “share a link.†These, along with other public message outlets like Twitter and Plurk, are highly effective ways to get a story noticed, but also leave a rather large footprint as to your promotion methods. In addition, instant messages, voting groups and other direct messaging can help boost a story’s votes more privately, but are very spammy and should be done very carefully if at all. Obviously, the more users that see the story, vote on it or comment/tag give the story more visibility and momentum to become popular, but many of the sites are discounting votes that do not look organic, so moderation and differentiation is crucial.
Real Life Example:
You submit a story on digg.com and “shout” it to your Digg friends and IM to your industry friends.
5) Buy Momentum
The absolute worst type of momentum that one can use for social media marketing is to purchase momentum. Many sites exist that allow users to pay for votes on different social media sites. This is terrible for a variety of reasons, with the biggest concern being that you are legally cheating, breaking all TOS and can have your site banned. It is extremely easy to track who pays for votes and this form of momentum should be avoided at all costs if you are trying to achieve long term goals for a site.
Real Life Example:
You purchase votes for a story you submitted to Digg.com from a broker (and end up getting your site and account banned).
While each of these different tactics can be effective, parlaying different forms of momentum can yield astronomical results. It is also essential to utilize different forms of momentum as it will leave you and your profile with a much cleaner footprint!
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29 Responses to “The 5 Different Forms of Social Media News Momentum”
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#4 (creating your own) this is why we go to conferences, make friends, participate in social circles… being the first to market w/ the freshest story is hard for the typical webmaster IMO. Well written Greg
“legally cheating”???
Sorry, but digg, google, stumble etc are not quite powerful enough to make laws yet.
Excellent post. All very true, even if it is still difficult to put into practice. Finding hot topic stories is by far the best way, but finding the right hot topic takes patience, time and luck.
Good info Greg. Thanks.
@David Brown – Thanks! I totally agree that being the first to market a story is a real challenge to webmasters, and actually wrote a post to find alternative ways to use that “Hot Topic Stories” momentum as well. It might be worth checking out as the smaller webmaster can still make this momentum work for them:
http://www.10e20.com/blog/2008/06/25/beyond-breaking-how-to-maximize-current-events-for-social-media/
It’s not always about breaking something, more about adding additional information or taking a unique look at a current topic. Thanks again!
@Rob – That’s just a bad Figure of speech … It’s a good thing that they can’t make laws…
@Kimota & @Brucekicksass – Thanks, glad to help!
Greg,
You make a great point in this article. Writing about hot topics or current events is the key to achieving traffic to your site, but that’s a hard job to do. Journalists have a hard time cracking the “hot topic” without somebody beating them to it. With the digital generation taking over traditional ways, I am very interested to see what will happen next. What’s the next big thing.
Great post. Thanks for the info.
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[...] 60)Â Learn about the different forms of social media news momentum. [...]
This is what I needed, thank you!
Glitch in earlier comment submission.
Great tips social media. Major concern is time spent on social media. It can be a little too much. Any strategy to optimise?
Yes, if you are promoting your own sites do it in a way that doesn’t sound like a sales pitch and also, don’t submit the same type of site over and over and never submit the same site again unless you have waited a while and have submitted at least 6 different stories in between that.
This is a great post, thanks for sharing
[...] encourage users to view additional pages. The more content that they may be interested in, like the 5 different forms of social media news momentum, the better for [...]
I think I’m going to print this article out and carry it around with me as proof of what I’ve been saying to some people near me: that paid momentum is no good and can go very wrong, very fast. Thanks for the article, it helped me understand a little bit more about the social media realm.
[...] But what will happen if next week this feature doesn’t exist any longer? Research other alternatives to gaining notoriety as the “shout†feature may disappear tomorrow when you wake up. Try finding quality content that you can submit to sites that do not need constant promotion to become popular. Relying solely on one method for success is a disaster waiting to happen. Here’s some additional reading about the different forms of Social Media News momentum. [...]
Only the last tips are new to me, the rest of it are familiar already, thanks its very helpful tips!
[...] votes is a bad strategy. Submitting to irrelevant sections just because they have more subscribers is an awful [...]
[...] All of these are helpful aspects in trying to gain momentum in social media. Momentum is very important because it determines how successful you are. Refer to this interesting blog on momentum for more answers regarding social media: http://www.10e20.com/blog/2008/10/14/the-5-different-forms-of-social-media-news-momentum/ [...]
[...] But what will happen if next week this feature doesn’t exist any longer? Research other alternatives to gaining notoriety as the “shout†feature may disappear tomorrow when you wake up. Try finding quality content that you can submit to sites that do not need constant promotion to become popular. Relying solely on one method for success is a disaster waiting to happen. Here’s some additional reading about the different forms of Social Media News momentum. [...]
I think social bookmarking is great to push relevent traffic and also good for a backlink
I'm still learning how to make the best out of social media sites, and this article has been helpful. I think I'm now equipped enough to register at Twitter as a member and try to reach my skies.
Hello Greg,
I am agree that for momentum we have to pay something(buy diiggs etc) but for that we need large money to start up…we can use the other things to boost our traffic in Social media.And digg is not supporting a group of people voting for long time I think….
Hello Greg,
I am agree that for momentum we have to pay something(buy diiggs etc) but for that we need large money to start up…we can use the other things to boost our traffic in Social media.And digg is not supporting to form a group… i think….What u say??
This is informative. While I am extremely comfortable with social media marketing, explaining it to clients is difficult! I agree it is bad to buy.
Great post! I am new to social media marketing.I am still learning.
These different forms put together can really make you and help you be seen in today's fast paced world.
[...] 60) Learn about the different forms of social media news momentum. [...]
I like creating my own momentum out of ordinary and share with my social friends on Digg and StumbleUpon. The result has been great – more traffic and more sales!
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[...] The 5 Different Forms of Social Media News Momentum by Greg Finn [...]