WebProNews

The keys to successfully creating content that really grabs social media users – think not just Digg and Del.icio.us but also forums – are commitment and creativity, or so says the Interactive Site Reviews panel at PubCon.

WebProNews is at PubCon 2007 in Las Vegas, bringing you the latest in web marketing.

"Be creative. Really open the box. Show people what you can do," says online marketing specialist Brent Csutoras.

But before that, the panel – consisting also of SEOMoz's Rebecca Kelley, Stuntdubl's Todd Mailcoat, Rusty Brick's Tamar Weinberg, and Atlas Web Services' Michael Gray – agrees that marketers have to take the time to get to the communities they are marketing to.

"If you aren't interested in being a part of the community," says Brent, "hire someone who [is]. Comment. Talk to people. Become part of the community."

Rebecca and Tamar both concur that understanding the community and gradually becoming a part of it is better than submitting your site or doing something promotional early on.

But once you've established that essential rapport with the target community, here are some tips about creating content they'll love to link to and talk about:

1.    Look for lots of different angles
2.    Spoofs are popular
3.    Top 10 lists are favorites
4.    No long articles or face the dreaded "TLDR"
5.    Tamar suggests "eye candy with intriguing titles"
6.    Videos are good; short videos are better
7.    Be funny. Now!
8.    Free products or coupons are big in the virtual world, too
9.    Have a contest
10.    Go "far out" 

Tiffany Doughty contributed to this article.