If you've looked around the blogging community lately, you'll have noticed that one of the greatest indicators of popularity is how many Diggs they've acquired. Get your content onto the first page of Digg and you can attract an avalanche of traffic to your website.

Here are some tips for how to use Digg to promote your business and harness some of their popularity to increase your website's page ranking.

What is Digg?
Digg is a social news website where all the content is generated by users. At its core, it is simply an information-sharing tool. Users find content they think is cool or interesting or valuable, and they promote it by clicking a button that says “Digg It!” next to the content. The most popular websites rise to the top and are listed on the front page of Digg daily.

Get Your Message Out
As with most social networking tools, one of the most valuable things you can do when starting on Digg is be sociable. Make new friends and see if any of your current friends are already using Digg. You may want to Digg content, articles, and media from other websites and compliment the people who consistently Digg articles and information that you like.

Once you've built a network of people, and have become acquainted with what kind of articles are most popular, you can begin posting content of your own. Link to articles you've written or blog posts that offer valuable tips and insights, and ask your network to Digg them.

You can also post a Digg button on your blog so that your readers can Digg your posts.

A Few Dos and Don'ts
As with any social media site, Digg is a public space, where users can 'meet' and socialise to share great content. Here are some pointers for participating effectively within the Digg community.

• DO promote other websites and content. If you only promote your own articles and content, you'll lose the trust of your network. When you have a history of Digging great content, they'll be inclined to trust you if you Digg your own.
• DON'T over-sell yourself. If you Digg every little thing your company does, users are going to disregard you as an egoist. Only Digg the articles and content you really think many people will find valuable.
• DO ask for Diggs. Ask your blog readers. Ask your Digg friends. Ask your friends in the real world. They won't know you want it 'Dugg' until you ask.
• DON'T nag. If you ask your network for Diggs and they don't respond, do not ask them over and over again. Assume the content simply wasn't valuable enough and try again.

Other websites that work on a similar principle include Stumbleupon, Reddit, and Del.icio.us. If you make a habit of regularly visiting all of these sites to contribute, you will multiply the effectiveness of this social media strategy. If you would like help in implementing your social media marketing plan, please contact us.