Last week I published a Blogging Priorities Funnel and asked my readers whether they would be interested in additional funnels. Many expressed an interest in traffic driving priorities funnels so this is the first of many where I share my priorities for driving traffic.
SOCIAL MEDIA PRIORITIES FUNNEL
Note that the most important priority on any funnel is at the bottom so start there and work your way up.
SOCIAL MEDIA PRIORITIES:
TWITTER:
I rank Twitter first because:
- A Twitter username is a shorthand way for others to share how to reach you, more information about you, and your most important link. If I want to mention you in a comment and don’t know if a link is acceptable on that site (or maybe I KNOW they won’t approve a link) I can simply use @YourUserName to recommend you.
- Twitter is where influencers connect with each other and how we can send visibility for a specific link or topic between influencers. It is usually how I will ask someone to meet me on Skype or IM or call me and others who, like me, have overflowing email inboxes are far easier to connect with live on Twitter than anywhere else (except Skype or IM – and we use Twitter to make that direct connection).
Whether you have never even seen Twitter or are an experienced user you can use my Twitter Best Practices post to make your time spent their more effective.
TWELLOW:
Use Twellow to quickly identify and follow the specific audience you want to reach. See How to Use Twellow (linked from the Twitter Best Practices post mentioned above) and Geo-targeting Twitter. Also do this: Strategy for getting more Twitter followers interested in YOUR niche.
TWITTERFEED:
Feeding top content related to your niche directly into your Twitter account is the best way to grow your influence and maintain a consistent presence on Twitter which is essential to growing your influence there. You’ll never have to worry about being unfollowed because you’ve been too busy for any reason to sign into Twitter.
No that does NOT mean I recommend you not actually USE Twitter regularly – only that during times when you can’t be online (when you have a family emergency, are working on a major project, or are traveling) that your Twitter account will not be dormant.
See How to Use Twitterfeed for a consistent Twitter presence.
STUMBLEUPON:
StumbleUpon can drive a lot of traffic IF you know how to use it effectively. That includes first thumbing up what you want to share and then taking the time to write a short review. Adding an image can attract more clicks. Like any other social media site the more you use it the more powerful it becomes.
I use an unusual strategy to make the most of my time online. When I want to share your post and send you more visitors than Twitter alone can, I write a Twitter length review on StumbleUpon that includes your Twitter username. That review is automatically fed to Twitter and Facebook and pulled in via RSS to FriendFeed.
If I want to really maximize who sees your post I will also manually add it to Facebook and Friendfeed and include an image – something that as of the past few days is no longer as simple as using the Share on Facebook or Share on FriendFeed tools. I noticed this over the weekend:
The option to share images has disappeared from both
Share on Facebook and Share on FriendFeed.
The workaround is to download the image to your hard drive and upload it manually! Facebook and FriendFeed are acting to make it harder to use their sites to share images that call attention to what you wish to promote – whether that is a blog, a good cause, or a small business.
If a cause, event or post is exceptional I will take the time to schedule additional tweets using StumbleUpon’s shortener su.pr. See how to use su.pr.
While StumbleUpon is not as powerful for driving traffic today as it was back in 2007 when I sent 25,000 Visitors from StumbleUpon to one blog post, it is still one of the larger sources of traffic available and it is easy to consistently send 50-200 visitors (depending on your Twitter reach) using su.pr.
SOCIAL MEDIA TIP: Include Twitter length sound bites
in your posts and you will get tweeted more often.
Posts with multiple key points that fit on Twitter = more scheduled tweets!Excellent quotes are also quoted more often in posts and the media.
FACEBOOK:
We all know Facebook is used by the masses so we have to be there, but that site has so many usability problems it drives people like me to distraction to use it. I force myself to go there and I feed some content there and share some manually, but I am definitely no expert on Facebook. However, I do know some Facebook experts: I can strongly recommend:
- Kimberly Canterbury ~ @AskKim on Twitter ~ Kim has an extensive Optimizing Facebook category and offers a Facebook for Business Made Easy ebook
- Ron Cripps ~ @AffiliateXFiles ~ Ron has an extensive Facebook Optimization category and offers Facebook How-to Videos
- Ching Ya ~ @?wchinya on Facebook Customization
FRIENDFEED:
When I first started this blog I was extremely active on FriendFeed – until they sold out. Like any social network, if you are not active there regularly and personally you will get less attention and traffic from that source. I pop into FriendFeed off and on but not consistently these days and as I mentioned in the StumbleUpon (SU) section I pull my SU feed into my FriendFeed account.
Because I am not physically there very much any more it is not nearly as effective as it once was; however, I did share a link for these very unusual stone candles yesterday and almost immediately got four likes on that share so FriendFeed is still a viable option. We all must decide where to focus our time and unfortunately right now FriendFeed is not highest on my priority list.
LINKEDIN:
LinkedIn is extremely important for many businesses and would be a much higher priority for them (and me) IF they or I :
- Were seeking employment.
- Was involved in an industry that is highly impressed by higher education credentials or having worked for a specific company.
- Desired connections with CEOs, COOs and other executives or consultants who work with Fortune 100 / 500 /1000 corporations.
The groups and question and answer sections on LinkedIn can be very useful for increasing your visibility and identifying others. If LinkedIn is one of your highest priorities, be sure to connect with Irene Koehler ~ @IreneKoehler ~ and consider LinkedIn Profile Optimization.
Be sure to fill out your profile there and start getting recommendations. (I still need to do that on my own LinkedIn profile so do as I say and not as I’ve done so far!) Do check out what I put in the Honors and Awards section for ideas to populate your own. That is where you can share when you are singled out for recognition so that others who look at your profile will know more about your strengths.
QUORA:
Launched to a ton of buzz and heavily used by many influential social media marketers, Quora is clearly serious about being important. The only reason it is so far down my list of priorities is lack of time. I have used it intermittently and will use it more consistently as time allows.
Several bloggers I can highly recommend have written about Quora so visit their blogs for more details:
- Louis Gray ~ @louisgray ~ on Marketing on Quora – Louis has many posts about Quora so see his Quora Information category for much more.
- Adam Singer ~ @futurebuzz ~ on Using Quora for Long Tail Traffic
iTweetLive:
If you have a business or are interested in marketing anything on Twitter you will want to check out iTweetLive ~ @iTweetLive ~ as a way to respond to keyword triggered alerts. You can manually reply to them or use their system to send pre-written tweets. I haven’t played with this in a while but it had major potential – especially if they would allow you to select from among your canned tweets to send the one most relevant to a particular tweet.
This video explains how it works:
More information in these posts:
- SlapStart on Using iTweetLive to Manage Your Brand on Twitter
- iTweetLive FAQ
These are the social networks I use most in the order of their importance to me. Your priorities may be different as I mentioned in the section about LinkedIn above. The most important takeaways regarding Social Media are these:
Social Media is about building RELATIONSHIPS!
You will always get the strongest results from
the social networks you spend the most time on.
This list does not include blogging communities or additional ways to promote your blog or business. I am creating funnels for more ways of driving traffic and publishing them later this week so be sure to come back. You can subscribe here or sign up for email updates here.
Feel free to share this information and use the images in your own blog posts. I do ask that you link back to the original post either from the image or using the phrase ‘Social Media Priorities’.
Gail Gardner
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Twitter is the place to be as a priority for niche marketing. Some twitter related programs offer great features for one on one communication and it is the reason why most marketers have it as a priority.
LinkedIn is great too for business networking. Facebook ok, but not a priority.
Well this a terrific post. I have a question about SU. It sends crazy amounts of traffic for maybe an hour. Then stops completely. What causes that?
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Hi,
If StumbleUpon decides to feature something you share you get a ton of traffic all at once like that. When they stop featuring you the traffic only trickles in.
If you notice SU is sending you a bunch of traffic THAT is the time to call in favors and ask your collaborating bloggers to first thumb up and then write reviews of whatever it is SU is sharing. That can keep the traffic coming in.
Unfortunately there is no way to control when or if SU decides to feature you other than having others who will support your best content. If you have a really important page or post to share, having many other SU users thumb it up, comment, rate comments and especially write reviews can make a difference. Just don’t do that more than once in a blue moon.
Your Twitter bio indicates you’re a dofollow CommentLuv blog. Touch base with me so I can get more details and add you to some or all of my lists. I already added you to my Twitter CommentLuv list. I’m the only GrowMap on Skype or you can contact me on Twitter or IM. Details on my contact tab.
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I love twitter and facebook. Linkedin is cool as well. I feel these 3 tools are enough to raise ones business and get good revenues. One can publicize the product and get the response then and there. These are fast advertising techniques and have all the possible versatility. Most importantly, it is fun to work with these sites and enjoy the results.
I use twitter, linkedin, and facebook. Because I am not better than Facebook, I have devised ways of marketing at it and that is my main focus. My personal priority would rank Facebook, followed by twitter and linkedin. I hope Google+ does much better and open up new avenues. I have not heard of Quora and Friendfeed. If they are good I may surely try.
Hi! Thanks for this! Very useful! I agree with Twitter definitely being the best, and everyone should start there. I also use Twellow, Linkedin, FB and SU, more or less in the same order as what you said, except for Linkedin which comes second for me. I found your graph very helpful and shared it on Twitter 🙂 Thanks!
Collaborations are definitely a great idea. It is a win-win situation for all the bloggers because of a new platform that is created for them. There is more scope of reaching the prospective readers and a variety of data could be created. Also, there is risk minimization and opportunities to learn from each other while beating the competitors and generating good revenue!
I never heard Quora before but I want to try it.
Hi Gail,
Fantastic post on social media. I like how you take the different platforms and demonstrate your own strategy. Anyone can take the social media blocks you lay and select the social media platforms that make sense for their business and niche and build a strategy of their own. You have some great resource links in each section.
I agree with your assessment of Facebook being difficult to use but I have seen it work really well for one of my clients and other companies.
I think LinkedIn Groups holds tremendous promise for learning, answering questions related to your areas of expertise, and getting tremendous response to your answers. I answered one question on LinkedIn and received many direct responses including two job offers. It does depend on how active your topic is on LinkedIn and how much expertise you can bring to the discussion but I believe LinkedIn is worth testing for anyone who sells B2B.
Quora is also interesting and I have joined but haven’t had time to test it out. I would be interested in hearing the pros and cons by niche.
Zach
Utilizing social networking sites has proved beneficial for every user but we stick to some sites because of the type of service they provide. I have not used StumbleUpon but it sounds great. Twitter in spite of all the spams is still very influential and I find it better than facebook when it comes to business. I’ve also just joined Quora and so far its looking good with the quality content it offers.
This is a lovely graph. I was confused what to target first. Whether Facebook, twitter or Linkedin. Now I am sure about targeting twitter first. I have not heard much about Quora, Tfellow and Stumbleupon though. Matt has written that Quora is good too. I would target it after I am done with twitter first. Thank you so much guys!
Fortunately I have many of these functions automated with the click of one button. Whether it be:
su.pr: SU, Twitter and FB
Ping: plurk, Twitter, FB, friendfeed, linkedin, delicious, google buzz
mysocialblend: twitter, FB, linkedin
or
Hootsuite: FB page, twitter, linkedin <<liking because it schedules my stuff in advance.
Buffer: to schedule my tweets
Tweetdeck: to submit to all my Twitter handles at once
and select linkedin posts with the #in hashtag in Twitter
as you can tell…i haven't found one source I like the most.
But least they are all automated to be set at the click of one button. 😉
we kinda have the same organization of social media accounts…it’s great that we can do it with a click of a button
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Hi Gail, what you’re created and written here is fabulous information but I look at it all and start to feel a bit overwhelmed. I love Twitter but there’s only so much I can do in one day and at the end of it I have to remember my first job and love is writing:)
Interesting chart and these are all good points, but it’s important to remember that different businesses will perform differently according to the rules of the social space they’re in.
Facebook, for example, requires “likes” which can be seen by friends and family, people will be more careful of who / what they “like” on Facebook than, say, follow on Twitter. Luxury & pleasure products / services such as food, fashion & entertainment are much easier to earn “likes” for than an IT consultancy, for example.
Quora is excellent for showing off specific knowledge as a way of promoting your brand. Twitter does a bit of both, and is arguably the most visible due to the public nature.
It’s important to keep track of the ROI you’re getting from your social media activities, focusing on those that are improving your bottom line and improving or ditching those that aren’t.
There are different social networks ….but i prefer to face book just because of the higher traffic … There is round about 600 million peoples are going through this netwrok..
Have never heard of half of these.
I’m a little embarrassed to say I’ve never heard of the #2 site in your funnel (Twellow). Others, like StumbleUpon, are ones I’ve been meaning to try out for a while. If it’s higher on your list of social media priorities than Facebook, I should probably get on that as soon as possible.
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I didn’t recognize that stumbleupon was utilized or that well liked anymore. I understand it utilized to be, but considered perhaps it had been dropping.
You speak with impressive clarity on this issue. Finally there’s a post that lays it all out. Like Petra, I was unaware of Twellow in addition to iTweetLive. I am definitely saving this post and will refer back to it. Thank you for writing this!
My attention is on Twitter which is not what it used to be in microblogging and Internet marketing. I think it’s more of awareness and expecting clicks from it is akin to dragging a meet from a lion’s mouth.
StumbleUpon is where I will turn my radar to as I have heard a lot about it but have not experimented with it.
[Hi Francis. I rescued this one of your comments from spam where they go because we do not allow gambling related links. They are considered bad neighborhoods and as we have gotten older and wiser we are no longer willing to appear to be encouraging vices such as gambling. Gambling sites are also considered bad neighborhoods by search engines.]
Great post here! I found it interesting that Facebook followed Stumpleupon, that is until I fully read the post. I think I fall into the category of not utilizing that tool properly. Thank you for sharing 🙂
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I would definitely rank facebook quite higher in this list. Bulk of traffic to my website is coming from facebook fan pages. Twitter traffic hardly converts to any sales and bounce rate are quite high. But as you have mentioned priorities and order of importance may differ from person to person… thanks for taking time time to write this informative post.
I agree with you. But these days, it seems as though facebook is taking over the social media, but I still get much results from linkedin. It provides me with helpful answers.
Very much agreed. Twitter with so many users and no limit of followers. A single tweet could drive a lot of traffic to a website. But I also use FB same as much as Twitter. 🙂
Social media is here to stay for good. Given vast variety of the existing channels to choose and stick with, it’s time for such a hot space to enter into a new category.
There is a need for a portal to provide a quick and intelligent decision for both the consumer and the enterprise about their online connections. A Platform to Help us to Distinguish Our Quality vs. Quantity Friends, Fans, Followers, and Companies.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Flickr and others have been doing a decent job of providing additional marketing exposure and even in some cases, additional revenue. However, as more and more social networking sites pop up, the task of picking the right channel getting more challenging.
This reminds me of the early 90’s when WWW was adopted broadly by the general public. Every company rushed to have a presence, to the point it became literally impossible to find the right information on the Web. That’s when yahoo and google where born and helped us find the most relevant information by just typing simple keywords.
Then came Web 1.0 & 2.0 – Youtube, Flickr, myspace, Facebook, Twitter and countless others have turned everyday people into content producers, influencers and experts. We basically tripled down on the information overload How do you know which channels to select for deploying your social media strategy?
That is why I built awesomize.me to accomplish such a mission – the portal to all your existing social media channels.
Elias
CEO & Founder
http://awesomize.me
I did not understand what is the difference between twitter, itweetlive and twitterfeed. Also it is surprising that facebook is up on the list. And orkut seems to have vanished away completely. They must be cursing Mr. Zurich for their downfall in the market.
It’s my first time to see some of the bookmarking sites here like the Twellow and Quora. Nevertheless, each site has it’s function that can really help us bloggers. And I can’t live without opening my Facebook everyday. 🙂
I think Quora have a great potensial. I have been using yahoo answer a little while, but I feel its dead as a socaial network.(I think do to their split between answers and the horrible pulse network) I thik Q and A sites can be great places to find new relationships.
I also have to say I like your unusual strategy. It is fun to give others som boost and publisity. Some actually takes the time to return the favor also.. It is smart to use @ mentions so the reciver can see the share..
iTweetlive looks interesting to me as I have never heard of it before..Yes, Social media and Link building for SEO are predominantly based upon building relationship with your community..Thanks for the post!
Inspite of that Facebook lags too behind the other network I still appreciate the sorting of funnel because Twitter is on the lead. Its difficult to compare all of these networks with each other. They all have their own specialties which are hard to compare.
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All I ever hear about is twitter and facebook. So much that I am actually kind of tired of them a little bit. I didn’t realize that stumbleupon was used or that popular anymore. I know it used to be, but thought maybe it had been dropping.
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Except for a few points, I agree with you on the entire article. I too would have put twitter at the first place since twitter is the best place to interact and is more user friendly when it comes to commercial social networking.
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Interesting ranking. I LOVE StumbleUpon and have been using it since it was in beta years ago. However I must say that I would personally have ranked Facebook higher nowadays… and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Wow. I have never seen a social media strategy as in depth as this one.
In the past, I have had success with Twitter also. At one point I had scripts managing my friends, but that went away whenever they force fed us oAuth.
I have been seeing good traffic from Stumble Upon also. And everyone I know who is big into social media used Reddit…FWIW…
Phoenix
Mark would love you to read ..Need To Find A Niche That Gets Google Love Here’s How To Get It…
Good post but I feel twitterfeed should be priority# 2 . It’s a set and forget step. After setting up twitterfeed, then I would go to twellow and find tweeters in my niche. Just visited Itweetlive and it seems a little complicated. Might give it a try since the first 100 credits are free.
Hi Marcus,
The reason I do Twellow before Twitterfeed is because I use Twellow to find the best blogs for that niche to feed using Twitterfeed. Since you can always add to or edit what you have in Twitterfeed you could set it up first and then add to it as you use Twellow. Either way will work.
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I’m hearing more and more hype about Quora, which I agree, wants to be important and is doing the right things. I’m wondering how it compares to Linkedin’s QA section, which I’ve noticed has a tendency to provide very high quality answers, lots of answers, and quickly.
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Hi Chris,
I haven’t been on Quora nearly as much as I would like; however, the discussions I have participated in there have been extremely high quality.
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