Of all the Web 2.0 driven websites that have opened up the internet for marketers, StumbleUpon is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best, free marketing opportunities on the internet.
StumbleUpon was founded by three Canadians: Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, and Justin LaFrance. With almost two million users, the marketing potential on StumbleUpon is excellent. Its basic premise is that people join and, when they find a website that interests them (they "stumble upon" it), they bookmark and rate it for others to see.
What makes StumbleUpon unique is that content (i.e. websites) are categorized according to topic. Instead of using automated software, the site allows humans to determine what's important, or not. Most search engines use complex algorithms to determine importance.
So how exactly does StumbleUpon work? Users install a toolbar on their browser that lets them stumble upon random websites, giving them a positive or negative rating. The more positive ratings a site gets, the more traffic is driven to it.
The more friends you have on StumbleUpon, the more successful you will be. You will stake your reputation on your ability to supply expertise without overly promoting yourself. This is what makes Web 2.0 marketing, with its inherently social structure, so hard to penetrate with marketing messages.
With StumbleUpon users rate your website and its content. The better it is, the more likely you are to be successful. What should go without saying is that you need good content.
As you might imagine, simply providing content, audio or video, that blatantly promotes your product or service won't get you very far. Like any other social media, patience is the key to getting your word out.
You need to entertain people to get high rankings. Try to be original, funny, or both. One of the chief advantages of StumbleUpon is that visitors have a stated an interest in your particular niche. This creates an opportunity to design your content to match your market's likes, and get rid of what they don't like.
You can also join communities that are related to your business. These communities, or groups, fall under many categories, including Commerce, Computers, Health, Hobbies and more.
StumbleUpon is one of many socially organized sites that give you an opportunity to engage your market. You must think like a marketer but you must also be aware that social marketing is innately anti-marketing. Before you can market, you have to prove yourself. If you can stay committed to the social framework, you stand a better chance of beating out your competition simply because you didn't give up.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?David Skul
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