According to a new Nielsen report Social Networkings New Global Footprint, two-thirds of Internet users spend 10% of their time online on Social Networking sites. Steven Hodson of WinExtra raised some interesting questions in his recent post Having a Problem with all this Social Media crap which generated much discussion.
I wanted to share my comments on the benefits of Social Media in this post. I also added an update to the bottom of an older post about how Social Media sites could be far more valuable.
Using Social Media provides these benefits:
1) Driving more traffic to my blogs and the sites of others I share.
2) Exchanging strategies, knowledge, and resources with those who have exceptional talents in specific areas.
3) Finding the best blogs, joining their communities, and recommending them to others.
4) Using search at Twitter and FriendFeed for research and to replace what I might have once used a search engine to find.
5) Twitter CAN be very effective at times. Remember the Mommy bloggers versus Motrin and the numerous times that Tweets have nearly instantly raised money for a good cause?
What is somewhat disppointing about Social Networking:
1) The number of answers (even though according to Twinfluence our Twitter account @GrowMap is at 99% and in the top 400 users at Twitter)
2) Obtaining any kind of response to anything I sincerely recommend
3) The number of bloggers who reciprocate by retweeting, sharing, or commenting – especially when it is obvious who invest much time and effort in repeatedly sharing THEIR work across Social Media sites.
It is not always obvious whether what we do is effective. Often responses are few and far between which is why I make it a point to encourage people and wish others would too. It doesn’t take that much time to RT at Twitter, add a Like at FriendFeed or leave a comment in a blog post.
All of those things benefit the person who does them too. If you don’t know how check out my latest post and another one you can find by searching on “pay it forward” using the search function at the top of the right sidebar in my blog (which EVERY blog should have).
I really wish the public would differentiate between sharing information about quality products and services we use, small businesses trying to reach us, and corporations advertising AT us when they don’t care what we think and usually don’t even pretend to respond.
Social Networks would benefit us more if we would actively use them to change our everyday actions. We could use them to learn how to grow gardens and find quality small, local and online businesses to support. If everyone bought from their neighbors and the best ecommerce stores online instead of corporations the world would quickly be a very different place.
What do YOU think? Are their ways Social Networking benefits you that I didn’t mention? Do you find your time a good investment or ? We would love to hear from you. Just leave a comment.
Gail Gardner
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Yes, you are absolutely right social networking sites generate more traffic to our site and are good source for exchanging strategies, knowledge, and resources with those who have exceptional talents in specific areas.
Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you offer!keep all your points in my mind so that i can use them easily.well explained post well done.
If think they can be good to get news of special offers and new products out there. Of course it has to be targetted in the right way.
If your followers are genuinly interested in what you sell, and are potential customers, then it can work very well. In the majority of cases though, I don’t think it is a good investment of your time.
@Josch The thing is they won’t pay RIGHT NOW even if they click out of curiosity. They MIGHT be in the market and buy if they find your Tweets or other Social Networking messages using search just as they would using search engines.
It is key to remember that content clicks should not be expected to convert as well as search UNLESS they are extremely well targeted on pages related to making a purchase.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..What IS a Social Media Expert?
It’s a waste of time. That’s what I think. People who use it won’t pay for most products.
@Eric Any type of curiosity click (any click that is not a direct result of a search) is unlikely to convert (result in the action you’re interested in).
Yes, being successful in Social Media is very time-consuming and challenging. I would say ESPECIALLY if it is ads because of how most people feel about them.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Blog Traffic Up 54.87% in the Last 30 Days: Our Proven Traffic Improvement Strategy
You are right about the traffic one gets from social media(if one does things right), but after getting a lot of traffic from different kinds of social media sites I have felt that they are not interested in what you are selling, even if it is ads. I feel that successful social media campaign need a lot of your time.
Eric’s last blog post..Dirfferent Categories of directories
@Zeffy To each their own I guess. I share the best content I find while researching and get breaking news too in the process. I’m not much for who ate what either. 🙂
@John Thank you so much for sharing that it is working for you. Even what can supposedly be measured by analytics is so misleading that is makes more sense to pay attention to how your business is affected by what you’ve done most recently.
@Sire LOL That is EXACTLY how I feel about it – especially when I’ve been out commenting and my inbox is filling up with blog posts with new comments.
There is no way to truly catch up – I just do what I am guided to do when I am moved to do it and know that as long as I’m being productive it is bound to be sowing seeds that will produce eventually.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Who Are My Readers? Are You Getting Benefits From What You Read Here?
I’m actually quite impressed by how fast mainstream media has picked up things like Twitter. While kind of pointless for “normal” folk (do I really want to tweet what I had for dinner) the usefulness for news outlets is great.
Zeffy’s last blog post..Anti-aging Diet
@Sire LOL You’re too funny. You can see ALL the traffic in Google Analytics – just can’t always see which user sent how much from some sites.
Talking about work now you’ve gone and written another post on increasing conversions from affilate marketing. Ever wish you could push “pause” to stop all new content so you can get caught up?
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Why Affiliate Site Sales Do NOT Match Google Analytics Conversions
@Sire LOL It isn’t as simple as it could be. You may need third party tools to see which users are sending you traffic from Social Networking sites. Some show up in analytics and others don’t.
@Keith Social Networking sites CAN send interested traffic and result in new subscribers and potentially eventually sales. Tweetburner is useful for determining how many actually click on a Tweet to visit a link you’ve shared at Twitter. I’ve seen more than 200 clicks on some links.
@Evan Not sure what you mean by investment. Do you mean time spent is interesting as well as being potentially beneficial?
@Hensus Visitors who arrive out of curiosity instead of ready to buy are going to convert at rates much lower than quality search traffic and more similar to content traffic.
They certainly can bring business. A new blog we’re developing has made several sales already and it was probably only visible at Twitter when those first sales came in.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..REVIEW: Mastering Google Analytics – Easy to Understand FREE eCourse
I agree with Ann. Social Media might bring me traffic, but it won’t bring me business. It’s a waste of time, I think.
Actually IS, I think checking analytics to see if I’m getting any traffic from the few social media sites I am a member of is a brilliant idea. I just need to pull my finger out and actually do it.
Sire’s last blog post..An Aspect Of Affiliate Marketing That May Lead To Higher Conversions
I think social networking sites are great for an investment as they never seem to get old!
I think it is a waste of your time as not much traffic comes to your site through social networking, at least in my experience that is…
Want to see some fast proof that Social Networking works? Click on the home page here and check out the disparity in the number of comments on the various posts.
The primary difference between getting a few comments and getting 35-50+ is how popular a post is with those who share it on Social Networking sites.
@Paul Glad you found me. Thank you for your kind compliments. As for my name, it’s a secret. 😉
Only partially kidding. When I changed blogs I made the decision that it would be unwise to continue using real names and images on the Internet. You can read why in the post and comments that I will link from the main URL field (above) this comment. I seem to be incapable of keeping my opinions to myself and this allows me to leave comments like the ones I left in your post warning us about phone advertising bills.
@Ann Thank you for sharing your perspective. They are also very good at driving traffic to blog posts and not nearly as effective for sending potential buyers to businesses.
@Sire Thanks for your thoughts on this Sire. I find Twitter useful for quickly contacting people you don’t know but might wish to collaborate with and for driving traffic to blog posts.
I find FriendFeed better for longer conversations, for sending traffic to blog posts, and especially for quickly checking out the latest blog posts from my short list of blogs I try to stay on top of (unlike the huge numbers in bloglines, my RSS reader).
If you’re using statistics you might check to see if you get traffic from Twitter, FriendFeed or cliKball. I usually share any post I take the time to comment in across all three. I know from Tweetburner that people do click on these links.
When I shared this Tweet from Twurl:
Having a Problem with all this Social Media Crap – very active and interesting discussion in the comments.
Tweetburner shows 66 clicks on the main page for that URL and 117 clicks on the additional stats page. That Tweet got retweeted by @LizStrauss and two other Twitter users so I know that just sharing that post on Twitter sent probably a couple hundred visitors or more to that blog.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..REVIEW: Mastering Google Analytics – Easy to Understand FREE eCourse
I’ve never really found them to be of much use but then that could be because I am not all that adept at using them efficiently. Nevertheless I do use Twitter to keep track of the few people I want to follow.
Sire’s last blog post..Thesis Theme Is Just Not Flexible Enough
I personally think that overall they are a waste of time because the traffic is not well targeted for making money, but if you want to be famous on the web, then they work real well for that.
Ann’s last blog post..Freelance Work From Home – 16 Freelance Sites
Just a short note to say how pleased I am to have found you. You write useful content beautifully and you were very generous with your expert comment on my blog. You seem to embody what’s good about Twitter. My only question: what’s your name?! Best regards, Paul. 🙂
Paul Hassing’s last blog post..Bleeding Between the Lines