Chadrack
In the past couple of weeks I've read different reports from researches by different marketing groups on how small businesses are using social media. As expected, there is a slight difference in the different reports depending on indices used by the groups.
While one thing was common among the reports – that is, more and more small businesses are increasing their budget and use of social media for marketing – two are clearly at variance on the social media platforms these businesses are using.
One of the groups reported that while 90% of small businesses are on Facebook and 70% are on Twitter the report says, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest are being ignored by these businesses.
The other group, on the other hand, reported that this year (2012) has witnessed more and more small businesses turning to LinkedIn!
Now, that is something I couldn’t reconcile!
However, these reports have made me to once again re-evaluate what impact social media is playing on my blogging career.
I must say my use of social media had been for one purpose, to drive traffic. I rarely do much socializing on the social media sites. Most of my engagements are on my blog. Platforms like twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn are simply used for pulling in traffic from the social media sites while the engagement is on the blog.
Now, from my own statistics, I know that LinkedIn has proved more useful in driving traffic than any other of the social media sites.
I've been on Facebook for over two years now but I must say, for me it is the worst traffic source. May be, it is simply because I spent less time on the platform while the users of Facebook kind of love it more socializing on the site.
When Google+ launched, I jumped at it knowing the SEO value of the site; and I must say it has also proved useful as I have witnessed a good number of traffic flow from the platform.
The worst so far is twitter. I've tried various tactics but all just seem as useless as doing nothing! For over 3 years now that I've been on the platform I cannot really point to any significant stat showing that the site has pulled any traffic to my blogs. For me, the noise on twitter is simply drowning. I've read various blog posts and ebooks on how to drive traffic using twitter and have tried a few of them but the result has remained the same. Though, I've not in any way abandoned the platform but I really spend any time on it other than tweeting every new blog post whenever I publish one.
Now, from my experiences and what these groups are reporting about small businesses using Facebook and Twitter more than the other social media sites for their business marketing, I’ve been wondering. I’m beginning to think that there is something wrong with my strategy.
And so, I'm bringing this issue before the community today for further discussion.
Here's what to focus on:
1. Do you agree with the report that shows small businesses are ignoring Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn?
2. What is your own experience in using social media for your marketing efforts?
3. Which of these platforms is helping you to drive more traffic to your blog?
Feel free to share with us. If you can offer a few tips that are helping you, we will be grateful.
So, let the discussion begin!
For my website most traffic come from Facebook and Linkedin. Twitter is of no use and I think it’s waste of time.
Facebook and Linkedin are more useful because you can join relevant groups and target interested people for your services. However on twitter it’s quite difficult to target specific kind of people unless they use hashtag.
@Aasma,
I agree with you on the group thing. Most of the traffic to my blog are actually from LinkedIn groups. However, I’ve so far joined a few groups on facebook and I rarely use them. Maybe I’ll have to try that also and see which, between facebook and LinkedIn are more powerful in this area. Thanks for the comment.
For me the bulk of my traffic is from Twitter.
That makes it very surprising because I am honestly making no effort whatsoever at this time.
It goes to show that your traffic will come from where your readers are, which may not be necessarily where you are.
@Yeremi Akpan,
Twitter? That beats my imagination. Can you give some more details on what you are doing? Frankly, I’ve tried different strategies but I have seen any worthwhile results. If a comment will not be enough to give details, why don’t you make a post on it! Hey, that’s just an idea for you, yo know 🙂
I like that Chadrack,
I also share the same view with you on this subject man, since I’ve been using those platforms, I’ve equally not noticed much impact from them.
But one thing i learnt new is that we should always try to find out when our audience are engaging on those networks so that we can be sending updates then. This is because if you just update at any time, you might be waisting your time.
I like this post man, lets keep the ball rolling.
@Theodore Nwangene,
Hmm, that’s really interesting. I’ve heard many people talk about how they are receiving droves of traffic from these social networks but it does appear that these results does not come easy!
I definitely know the importance of targeting your social audiences and updating at just the right time. For that, I’ve tried scheduled updates on twitter but the result was just the same. I must say that because of other things that needed attending to, I really don’t want a system that I will need to spend so much time.
The results I’m receiving from LinkedIn so far has not taken much of my time. I simply submit every new post to the site and most time I really visit the site since the submissions are done using the social buttons of the site!
So, you can see why I truly love LinkedIn. With a little work on my part I’m receiving more traffic than any other social network, can you imagine what will happen when I devote my time to it?
Frankly, I think there is something about LinkedIn membership that many of us have not been able to put our fingers to. This post was really an attempt to unravel that. I do hope someone will be able to let me know, or I’ll definitely look for it!
Thanks for the comment.
Facebook because it is on top of google page rank and alexa rank , so it divert more traffic to website ..
@Peter,
I’m not here talking about the theories. I’m concerned about the practicals. What is really working for you? Are you recieving traffic from facebook more than the other social networks or are you just re-stating what others are already saying?
If you can offer some practical examples here we all will be happy for it, or don’t you think so?
This all depends on which kind of website or blog you have, for business related, i think Linkedin is good.
@Salman,
Yes, I agree with there. That is what I really refer to in the post when I said the your target niche matters in this issue. I really think if your business is a b2b business, LinkedIn is really a good choice. LinkedIn membership are truly business minded individuals unlike that of facebook that are more focused on friendship.
Thanks for stopping by and adding your voice to the conversation.
In Romania for example, Twitter is 0. Everyone work with Facebook.
Only public persons or stars use Twitter!
@lovely,
That’s really interesting. Do you know why only public persons or stars are using Twitter and not business persons? And what can you say about your personal experience, which of these networks is/are driving traffic for your business?
Facebook is the best for me. But I think it depends on our niche. For blogging niche Facebook is the best place to get traffic. Specially most Indian bloggers addicate to Facebook. We can use it. 🙂
@Raplus,
That is good to know. I can attest to that also that most India bloggers are really addicted to facebook. And for one, they really know how to connect. But have you devoted some time to LinkedIn or Google plus? Or, you have just concentrated on the one that is working for you?
@Chadrack, Yeah. I forget t mention LinkedIn. We can get professional persons from LinkedIn. Specially, if our blog niche is wordpress,programming niche LinkedIn is the best place to get traffic.
@Raplus,
That’s good to know because I can say LinkedIn is really working for me. Thanks for the comment an Happy New Year to you!
Admiring the persistence you put into your blog and detailed information you offer. It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed material. Great read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.
@nikol,
Glad to hear that. Thanks for the interest, truly appreciate.
Hi,
In front of my and my experienced is to getting most traffic come from Facebook and Linkedin. Twitter is of no use and I think it’s waste of time.
@Kend,
Hmm, that is really a hard way to put it! Btw. if many of us feel this bad about twitter why is it that many others have praises for the site?
Absolutely, I agree with this. It is so important to use Social Media in your marketing efforts these days. I do use TWITTER to great effect so it’s worth not throwing it out with the bathwater!
You do have to work at it and you won’t always see immediate results BUT if you stick with it then it’s a brilliant and very cost effective way to generate business/brand awareness and ultimately…Sales.
Facebook and google plus is best for me … They drive me to much traffic but twitter is also good….
Best of tricks
This all depends on which kind of website or blog you have, for business related or for social network. for business related linkedin is best.
A combination of all of them are working pretty nicely for me. I am using simple things that pick up my posts from blogs and tweets and posts to facebook for me so I don’t have to do it manually. I can’t say that I am doing much more than that.
For me, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are useful to drive traffic towards the blog. You just need to make sure you are doing it in proper way.
@bjohn, You are right many people don’t understand how to do it properly.
Billions of internet users use social medias daily. So if you forget social medias, it is a big mistake that you do. At least use Facebook and Twitter to promote your blog. If you don’t have Facebook fan page and Twitter page, create them quickly.
@Raaj,
Does that mean Facebook and twitter are the one working for you? You we want your opinion on which is really driving traffic to your sites.
The amount of traffic you get from different platforms can vary a lot according to what niche you’re in. For example, I’ve got a Twitter account related to politics. That brings me lots of traffic to my blog about that subject.
The one about SEO and social media, however, brings me very little. I think that’s because most people in this niche are bloggers and sellers themselves. They’re on Twitter more to promote their own content than they are to read stuff by others.
@Matt Hayden,
Hi Matt, you have made a valid point there. I have also observed this. If you notice, apart from Facebook, most of the other social media sites are mainly populated by marketers promoting their wares. You may have thousands of these people as followers but the truth is, they are not there because of you or your product, they are in it for their own gains.
Your target niche really have a lot to do with the traffic from social media sites. Thanks for point this out and for the visit.
@Matt Hayden,
Hi Matt, you have made a valid point there. I have also observed this. If you notice, apart from Facebook, most of the other social media sites are mainly populated by marketers promoting their wares. You may have thousands of these people as followers but the truth is, they are not there because of you or your product, they are in it for their own gains.
Your target niche really have a lot to do with the traffic from social media sites. Thanks for point this out and for the visit.
@Dev,
It’s really great to know your take on this. I’m sure that all of us are getting results based on our target audience and also how much we put into it. This is really clear from the various answers to this question.
Thanks for the comment.
after studying so many updates of google panda and penguin one thing which i learn is never rely on one source equally distribute your campaign for achieving goal
@tressa knight,
I agree with you that depending on one source for your traffic needs is wrong. However, what we are really looking at in this post is the question of which of the social media sites drives more traffic? As we have seen from the different answers we know that it depends on different things. So, can you give us some insight into the one that is working best for you?
Facebook is a great way to drive traffic to your blog…you can share posts on groups and pages to drive massive traffic..there are some tools like multi post avaliable which can share posts in multiple groups in a single click..
@Aman,
That’s great to hear. But I must say I’ve been using some facebook groups for sometime now but have not really had any much success with them. Thanks for the comment.
Twitter is doing some magic for me. Ever since I started using justreweet, I’ve getting around 50 visitors each day from Twitter which is absolutely not bad 🙂
Facebook work well in my case. I have get reasonable number of visitors to my blog using Facebook Page.
great post as usual well many use social media to increase their traffic and this post helps them