Top Ten Digg Do’s and Dont’s to get your brand Dugg.

10) Do: Join Digg, read Digg, get a profile and start interacting with those that Digg in order to get familiar with the subject matter being discussed. There’s eight topics to choose from (thousands of stories submitted per day) so you might want to use Digg Spy to see real-time story updates or Digg Swarm to feel like you are part of a news culture! Also, be aware of who is on Digg — it could be your paperboy, the cable guy, it could even be your Grandma hooked on People’s Court!

9) Don’t: Join Digg and title your profile “John Smith, CTO Insert Fortune 500 Company Name Here.” Assuming a corporate identity can lump you in with a not so complementary title of the one that keeps bringing us all down, “The Man.”

8) Do: Loosen up, be casual, take off that restricting necktie and let your hair down. When posting, interacting and communicating in general with fellow Diggers, be yourself, but realize that you are on a very hip, Web 2.0-meets-social-everything media site, it’s ok to talk casually, fun, sarcastic and ironic at times (think Seinfeld meets CES).

7) Don’t: Take everything personal and bring your list of agenda’s to the party. When you submit, comment and interact, taking on a “my way or the high way” attitude alienates you from the crowd and lessens your following.

6) Do: Think before you submit or Digg someone’s submission. Find articles, podcasts and videos that matter to you and that truly stand out, then take a step back and ask, “Who cares?” If the answer is

a) Lots of people

b) This is hilarious

c) Holy smokes I didn’t know that!

Then by all means, submit or Digg a submission.

5) Don’t: Submit press releases of “me too” information. That’s a sure fire way to get you buried on Digg. Buried = Bad, fyi.

4) Do: Find out which print, broadcast and blog media are submitting to Digg or getting Dugg the most. Is your favorite gadget reviewer from Crunch Gear always on the front page? Is the “2 On Your Side” investigative reporter from Poughkeepsie always getting her show in the top ten on Digg? If that’s the case, find out if your product, story, service or paradigm shifting widget is a good story or trend for s/he to cover and go pitch the good pitch.

3) Don’t: Tell the top five bloggers in your area of interest that the reason you want them to give you coverage is to get on Digg.

2) Do: Be passionate about what you like and don’t like. Digg is a reflection of society as a whole, if you are animated and excited about a topic you will come across as genuine, a quality that people tend to follow.

1) Don’t: Think that Digg is the only social media site there, it’s more of a barometer of how your communication strategy is working overall. Keep your eyes peeled, new sites and trends pop up every day, might even find out about them on Digg.