Social news & bookmarking can be frightening. With so many rules, regulations, and time commitments, many marketers turn away from this channel as they are stricken with fear. The reality is that all companies can use this marketing method if they set themselves up correctly and pick and choose their locations to attack.

It’s been beaten into our brains that the absolute most important thing is to have quality content. So instead  talking about how to make a good content, check out these great resources. Once you have compelling, quality, too-good-not-to-read content, the real question is, where will you seed it? This is the area where most marketers go awry.

Promoting in the proper places is as important as creating great content.

The key is not just to generally submit to a social site, but to pick sites that will give your content the best shot at success. Here are a few places (that you might not think of) where content would fit.  Not every site is perfect for each business type, but you will be able to find an opening in some of the following areas:

Reddit

Reddit is so much more than just the general front page. Thousands of subreddits exist that provide users with plenty of opportunities to hit niche markets. A subreddit can be subscribed to, and will then show up on logged-in users’ news stream. The site RedditDirectory or RedditList helps people navigate through subreddits by content type:

Are you a cyberlaw lawyer? Check out /r/cyberlaws (13,404 readers). Are you telling users how to create something? Try /r/somethingimade (30,813 readers) or /r/DIY (114,872 readers). Dishing out parenting information? Shoot over to /r/Parenting (19,301 readers). The possibilities are endless.

Reddit is a beautiful place because of the separate, individualized communities that exist. Take your time, find the communities that work for you, and you’ll see success in-front of a laser-targeted audience.

StumbleUpon

One of the most diverse communities is the leader in social bookmarking, StumbleUpon.  A slew of topics, tags and interests become popular on StumbleUpon and the traffic can last far longer than other more traditional social news sites. The main way to discover niche areas is to view StumbleUpon interests:

Using this method you can find areas where your content might flourish. You’ll be surprised to see the variety of interests and audience numbers associated with each: 81,000 people follow Telecom, 404,000 stumblers follow Photo Gear, and 630,000 follow conservative politics. A quick search can help you find other interests that might not be shown on the main page like pools or sobriety.

LinkedIn Today

If you are a B2B company, LinkedIn Today could become your best friend. LinkedIn Today helps to match up great content with like-minded professionals. LinkedIn today articles are shown to users when logged in via the web or mobile in prime real estate.   A web presence also exists:

Articles are displayed based on user interests. If you’re in the medical industry, the top medical stories will show; if in the engineering industry, stories about engineering will show. Users can also follow specific industries as well. For example, over 40,000 users following construction, and there are 9,842 users following bio-technology. B2B marketers shouldn’t miss LinkedIn Today and an Ultimate Guide To LinkedIn Today will help you gather more success on the site.

Pinterest

While this typically works for visual content, sites like repinly.com can help you find popular categories, boards and pinners:

Target specific boards related to your content instead of pinning soley to personal boards.  Also follow some of the tips that Vince Blackham shared at SMX Advanced to maximize your reach.

Other Sites

Another faux pas when circulating content is to forget the smaller niche sites. There are a variety of specialized social sites that can hit specialized communities. If you’re pushing internet marketing, check out Inbound.org; if you have comical or “phunny” news, try Fark. Pushing real news? Try NewsVine. Search around to find targeted sites that are suited to your content and submit.

Overall, as important as your content actually is, the seeding and promotion process is equally important. Do your research, make a plan, and hit the targeted places that will help to cultivate your content so it doesn’t get lost in the fray.