Social Media is definitely a field that a lot of people are interested in, but few really understand how to use.
The problem isn't that social media is useless or impossible to leverage, it's just that "social media" is an extremely broad term that defines an increasingly complex set of activities.
One of the statements (note: not questions, but statements) that clients say to me occasionally at my work is "we're working on adding a 'digg this' button to the pages on our site. We're hoping that will work."
While the effort to engage people is always admirable, this might not be the most effective course of action.
Adding a "digg this" button to your "About Us" page on your B2B management website probably isn't going to generate much in the way of meaningful results. The odds that content like this would reach the front page of digg is probably something close to the odds that you'll win the lottery at the exact moment the earth is destroyed by little green men.
The issue here is a basic misunderstanding of what social media, and specifically digg, is. Digg is supposed to be a service where people share content that is interesting, and the most interesting content rises to the top. In reality - dare I say it - digg is a highly politicized group of cliques where the loudest voice wins. Even so, you still need interesting content to become meaningfully visible on the site.
If your site is about something that the statistical majority of active digg users are interested in (you know, Macs, linux, gaming, digg, US politics, the environment, or things bizarre), then maybe a "digg this" button might be appropriate to add to interesting content on your website.
Otherwise, it might be a wiser choice to find a community that is interested in what you are doing, and start interacting with that community. Statistically speaking, your efforts are more likely to pay off in the long run.
Image by John Pastor
