HOW TO GET A FREE PROMOTION ON TWITTER?

I am pondering promoting my readers on Twitter. It is one of the new social networks. You may call it a viral / social media marketing tool.
Now I have read an article of Jennifer Laycock 'Five Reasons Twitter is an Essential Social Media Tool'. A few of her points I like especially:

Twitter is sort of like a giant dinner party. There are tons of conversations going on and you can easily join one, or you can start a new one. If you start a new one, others can easily join in. You can even carry on multiple conversations at once. It's total conversational freedom.

It's a no-brainer (= simple or easy to understand) that you can send out a tweet with a link to your latest blog post (= actually, Jennifer is talking about linkbaiting).

OK, I have joined Twitter just now. My Twitter name is jacobskir.
Now what do I wish to do?
I would like to make a one time free promotion action on Twitter. My readers can address me by one of the two ways:
1. There is a 'Your Feedback' form on this blog at the right side of the screen.
2. My name on Twitter is jacobskir.

I will see the site/blog suggested and promote it by building a link to it (if it is worth promoting at all).

HOW TO GET A GOOD/HIGH RANKING LINK?

I have read a useful article of Dinesh B. It is about good link building. The main point: stop focusing on 'little weight' links. Instead, start focusing on links that matter a lot.
Which links do matter a lot? Links from an Authority Website. Especially from the same niche. Why the same niche is so good? Because it means the linking site has content that is relevant to your website.
Needless to say that the issue of good link building is relevant to the issue of social media marketing and/or viral marketing.
OK, now I wish to implement this in practice. The readers of my blog can get from me a one-time service: free linking from Authority Websites. I would take care of writing a post to an Authority Site. Inside my post I would bury a link/anchor to the readers site. Which one Authority Site do I mean? It depends on the Readers site and should be discussed specifically case by case.

Contact me on this issue. Do you see the 'Your Feedback' in the right side of the screen? Go there, click and send a mail to me.

WHERE TO GET VIRAL MARKETING CASE STUDIES?

Reading the site of WOMMA (= Word of Mouth Marketing Association), I have found plenty of 'case studies' and viral marketing examples.
However, the WOMMA terminology is a little bit different. They prefer the term 'Word of Mouth Marketing' instead of 'Viral Marketing'. Because they think 'Word of Mouth' is a broader term than 'Viral'. The last is only a part of the first. The 'Word of Mouth Marketing' comprises, in itself, many types of marketing as, for example, 'Buzz Marketing', 'Community Marketing', 'Grassroots Marketing', 'Viral Marketing' of course, and others. As for me, I can add one more term I have found recently: 'peer-to-peer marketing'.

WHAT IS LINKBAITING?

I have read a useful article on 'Linkbaiting'. Though written in 2006, it is still interesting.
Do you know what 'Linkbaiting' means? 'Bait' is a worm placed on a hook for taking fish. And 'Link' is a link that you wish to get from other sites.
So linkbaiting is about hooking. Link bait is a feature within your website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites.
The above mentioned article by Darren Rowse is talking about 20 Linkbaiting Techniques: tools, quizzes, contests, humor, etc.
I personally like the technique named 'Lists'. Organize your info in a form of a list: first..., second..., third... There is something about a list that people latch onto and want to pass on to others (check out digg and delicious to see plenty of examples).

Learn good techniques for linkbaiting. It can be an extremely powerful form of marketing as it is viral in nature.

WHAT IS 'GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT' AND HOW TO BUILD IT?

Do you know what 'grassroots marketing' or 'grassroots movement' is? It is a great tool for PR.
Grassroots movement is one driven by the community itself. The term 'grassroots' implies: the creation of the movement is natural and spontaneous. It is not orchestrated by traditional power structures.
You may call it a brother (or a sister) of a viral marketing.
Grassroots procedures include:
house meetings / parties,
posters,
talking with pedestrians on the street,
gathering signatures for petitions,
raising money from many small donors,
large demonstrations,
reminding people to vote and transporting them to polling places.

However, you need to distinguish between a real grassroots movement and a faked one.
Faking a grassroots movement is known as astroturfing. Astroturfing is named after a brand of artificial grass, AstroTurf. The practice of astroturfing is similar to the practice of grassroots, so it is hard to distinguish. Still, what is the difference? There are lobbyists behind astroturfing which try to hide their agenda and pretend they are just ordinary folks voicing their opinions.

Try (when it is possible) organize your PR / marketing campaign as a grassroots one.