Big Pond... small fish

With so many Web 2.0 resources, tools and blogs sprouting up, how do you get noticed and more importantly, what can you do to bring traffic to your content? It seems that outside of your traditional name droppers - Google, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and the like, it's hard to being a small fish in a big pond.

As I have begun to dabble into the online social network realm over the past two years, most of what I have learned about Web 2.0 marketing and community initiatives have come by way of following blog posts, Twitter microblogs, and shared community links on through my Google Reader. In other words, traditional marketing and direct campaigns are still effective, but I have learned that word of mouth and leveraging community engagement activities have really spawned a vibrant way of "getting noticed" and a very real way to enhance your online presence.

Working for a startup, WeAreTeachers, it's important for me to embrace this approach and leverage the big fish in the pond. I recently stumbled upon a great post that shares fantastic tips for a small organization to really make a BIG impact by simply "kicking it up a notch" in your blog activity. Check out the list. See how many of these ideas you are implementing in your organization.

Here are a few activities. View complete list.

Find video – Search for a video related to your industry and embed it as your post with a bit of analysis as to why it’s relevant.
Industry news – Share your opinion about a recent story affecting your industry/audience.
Plan a meet-up – Use your post to organize an informal meet-up with readers around one of your blog’s topics.
Current event - Leverage a current event in the news to discuss how your company handles adversity or crisis.
Holiday party – Take pictures at fun company events to show you don’t take yourselves too seriously.
Blog comment – Review some recent blog comments and choose one to discuss in detail.
Humor – It might be a Dilbert cartoon or a video from FunnyOrDie, but everyone loves a laugh.
Digg – See what stories are popular today and share your opinion about it.
Facebook – Look for a group related to your industry and share some thoughts about it.
Flickr image – If you had to pick one Creative Commons licensed image that reflected your mood/industry/workload, what would it be and why?
Twitter – Posit a question to your Twitter community and use the collected responses for the basis of your post.


Although I am a marketing and community person for a social and business network community, I strongly believe that these strategies apply to any industry and any profession. I'd be curious to know what you have implemented and what worked / what didn't work. I'm still on the learning curve.