Recently I have been having discussions with my fellow bloggers about Social Media versus Organic Search. Being a preacher for the power of Keywords I am obviously in favour of the latter but there is more to it than that. Marc Krisjanous of Businessblogshub.com put it best when he phrased the following on the comments thread of a previous post:
“I would be interested in your thoughts on using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn to drive traffic to your site. One reason why I think search is still number 1 for sending the right traffic to your blog is that when people search they are looking for something specific. When people come from social media I would guess that the bulk are just clicking on links that their friends posted or are just surfing for the next bit of entertainment.”
Marc Makes a really good point here about the type of traffic that comes from an organic search versus the type of person that finds you through a ‘like’ or a ‘tweet’ and I think this question has multiple layers that need to be explored, because whether one traffic source is a good thing or not depends entirely on the type of page you are sending them to.
There is nothing Targeted about Social Media Traffic.
Now the first thing I need to establish is my take on Facebook as a marketing tool, and it is this: It stinks! I don’t care what you have to say on the subject because I don’t think I will ever see Facebook as a valuable resource. This is partly my fault, and partly Facebook’s fault, but mainly this is the Multi Level Marketers fault!
When I started looking at Facebook as a tool to help perpetuate my brand online I did what anyone would do – I joined many of the groups for internet marketing that had been setup and then ‘friend requested’ the members within those groups. What I didn’t realise was that this was the realm of the Network Marketer. I am sure network marketing has its perks but for me it is perpetuated garbage with no value or substance. And because I am ‘friends’ with so many of them I am constantly bombarded with invites to ‘ the next big thing’ “and if I get in now – on the ground floor” then I can pay $10-$25 a month for the privilege of convincing other poor saps to do the same thing. And the more poor saps I can convince the more money I can make. Where’s the value add?! What on earth is the point? I swear if I get one more invite to ‘how to make money on facebook’ ?!! It seems to me that the only way to make money on facebook if you do not already have a product or service is to send invites to people inviting them to learn how to make money on facebook!!!
OK so we have established the fact that I am not a fan of Facebook (no pun intended) for the reasons that it is saturated with Network Marketers all trying to market to each other, but even if you are not savvy to all this MLM BS, the fact still remains (as Mark stated in his question) that the traffic that comes from Facebook and other forms of social media are not targeted visitors, they are merely looking to either perpetuate their own brand in the same way you are, or they are just looking for random pieces of infotainment.
Buy the product. Spread the Word? Buy the product? Spread the word.
It is important that you have an online presence so that when you try to sell yourself you will have the social proof and brand name recognition that is required – and this is where social media traffic works!
“Those coming through social media may not purchase your products and services but they know how to Stumble Upon, Tweet, Like and Digg your Content, and frankly they think the whole act of sharing is all quite Del.icio.us really”.
So Social Traffic is not Targeted, big deal! These visitors are your peers, fellow bloggers who are also looking to make connections and build their own web presence. It is these guys who will help perpetuate your brand in the long run, and you need this because…
You need to have an online presence before you can have an online income.
I am sure there are plenty of ways to make amazing incomes online simply through the power of social media, but I bet 99 times out of 100 those people that made it big using this platform already had a brand and or a product to promote. (And I bet they used the power of Google to build that brand name first.) Trying to build a brand using social media as an exclusive platform seems like a waste of time to me and to tell the truth I never even venture onto the pages of Facebook anymore. I actually don’t put Facebook and Myspace in the same space as Twitter, Digg etc because the latter are solely used to share content where as Facebook does that and more and as such I don’t think the sharing aspect is utilised properly. I use Twitter a lot, but that’s because it is the way I share great content that I find on blogs, thus perpetuating my efforts to build relationships. Even in this instance I use the social media platform of twitter to support my blog commenting and brand building efforts, I would not expect any positive results if I used Twitter exclusively.
What it comes down to is finding the balance between the two sources of Traffic because although one source will buy, the other will shout about it to others, and you can’t have one without the other.
It’s no good having the best French Fries in the world if no one knows about them.
- What are your thoughts?
- Do you use social media as an avenue to sell or to perpetuate your brand?
- Am I the only one who is bombarded with MLM crap through Facebook?
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
I consider myself lucky that I’m not getting too much of the IM stuff on facebook, but most of my friends aren’t into IM. Many do have products (writing classes, coaching programs, etc.), but they’re pretty low key and just put up a link to their blog posts and do the selling on their blogs.
Twitter is a great source of quality traffic for me, and facebook has been holding it’s own there too. The Twitter visitors are on the site an average of over six minutes and I think facebook is around five. I can live with that
My search engine traffic is mixed in terms of quality, but anyone with ‘virgin’ in their domain name should expect this!
One person who does a fabulous job on facebook is Pat Flynn. He engages with his fans and really brings value to the page. That’s how I want to conduct myself on facebook, but I need to improve many things to get there.
LOL! I never thought about the ‘Virgin’ aspect in that sense! Ha ha, you poor thing. but that is hilarious.
Thanks for the reference to Pat Flynn, never heard of him so it is good to have a name to base my search on when looking to do it right – if I ever do.
Actually, tell Karen, she was looking for a good reference.
Pat Flynn at smartpassiveincome puts the H in hero for online integrity. And now thanks to your posting on infopreneur, I have made your site one of my top 3 daily visits.
Are you a current member of Chris Farrell’s? I am looking to subscribe based on your recommendation.
That’s awesome! Thanks for the feedback and comments Leon, Great to get another opinion on this Pat Flynn character.
I am no longer a member of Chris Farrell site but I do highly recommend it as a really great way to get your feet wet.
Honestly, it is really not expensive at all, and with the free hosting it almost pays for itself!
I really enjoyed beginning my internet marketing journey there because it is a really open and honest community of like minded individuals. And Chris is always active on the site and he even came and commented on this blog when I was first starting so he is definitely a great leader.
Here is my affiliate link Here if you are interested in joining, obviously you don’t need to go through this link, but if you do let me know and I will throw in a few bonuses for you.
Thanks again for commenting and taking the time to provide that feedback. Take care Leon
Hey Alex! This is the Pat Flynn that everyone is talking about. (Thanks guys!)
Just wanted to drop by and say hello, and if you ever have any questions or just want to chat, please let me know. Also, I’m a HUGE fan of Facebook. For me, it IS targeted traffic, and actually the most engaged traffic that I have (least bounce rate, most page views and time spent on site).
Thanks again Jean and Leon for the mention. Cheers!
Hi Alex & Jean,
Jean brings up an interesting point about her use of the word virgin. People are probably spending the 5 or 6 minutes on her site looking for the virgin & some stories about school girls.
So far I find the best use of Facebook traffic is for Farmville. That is serious, don’t mess with a farmer, they are a loyal bunch!
Honestly, internet marketing to internet marketers is the same as trying to out fox the fox.
Hey Scott,
I know what you mean about Farmville. Did you know there are over 80 million registered players!! Holy crapsticks that’s a lot!
I have a friend that is so obsessed with Farmville that it’s become her life. On job interviews she actually uses her Farmville experiences to answer some of the questions they ask! And people have no idea she’s not talking about a “real” farm.
In an interview, they always ask, “What is the most difficult situation you have had to face and how did you tackle it?”
She tells them about the trouble she’s had with Coop Farming! HAHA.
LOL! That is quite sad really, but oh so clever too!
Well, there is a new interviewing tactic. I hope there is a way to make money in Farmville…
They have an affiliate program – or fifty. I tried my hand at selling because….gulp….I used to play it..OMG!! I know I know. Shocking
Hey Alex,
You make a good point with this social media thing. You do have to find a balance because like you said you want an online presence and for that social media is the way to go because word of mouth can turn into world of mouth really quickly thus bringing more people to your site to at least check out what you have to offer.
You’re right it may not be targeted traffic so the best way to go is through Google. But YouTube is the 2nd second largest search engine in the world right now so social media is a force to be reckoned with. In the end it is all about balancing the two and spending more time on what is bringing results for you.
By the way, I really liked your title as well as the picture of the “friends fries”.
Anna
Hey Anna,
You make a really good point about YouTube and I never even considered it in the realm of social media, but you are right, it is!
Thanks for that insight Anna, see this is why I love blog commenting and communities!
Glad you liked the title and the image (I thought it was uber clever but my Wife didn’t think so!)
Interesting that you are not a ‘fan’ of facebook for social media. I think I’m the only holdout for not creating a Facebook Fan page for my site (even though it’s on my list of things to do soon). I’ve been reading about how Facebook is the #1 site for traffic and feel like I’ve been missing out there. Hmmm, now I wonder if it’s worth it to create a page or not?
If I should create one, do you have a good resource for me to check out?
This was an interesting discussion to me because I never really thought about these things before. That’s why I like coming here, Alex, I learn so much from you!
Thanks,
Karen
I guess I am not a fan because my main source of online income is my niche sites and adsense revenue so I am only interested in Organic Traffic. Once I get this blog going a bit stronger and have my first products launched then I may change my tune about facebook (since I will have a product or service) but for now I’ll just stick with Twitter.
)
I think the link to businessblogshub had some good things to watch out for when setting up a facebook page for business, so a good what Not to do guide maybe.
My friend Sam (@socialsammy) over at ithnk.com specialises in social media so he probably knows a thing or two about that, I’d recommend checking him out anyway actually (well maybe not checking him out per say, but you can if you want to
Thanks for stopping by Karen and for saying such nice things! Now I have a big head and my wife is telling me to shut up.
Interesting points you mention there Alex.
I have not used Social Media much, except for Twitter. And even when I use Twitter, I occasionally use it. I am using other methods to drive traffic.
I do agree with your thoughts. As the most important point that you raise regarding targeted traffic is true. But some people really do not care about getting targeted traffic(I am NOT one of those), they want to get any traffic they can get lol.
I have no clue about MLM, so can’t comment on that.
Nabeel
I am one of those who does not care about targeted traffic (I’ll take anything I can get LOL) but still think Facebook is a joke for generating traffic.
MLM is basically pyramid marketing. The more ‘downline’ you can get the more you make because you make money off them too. The focus is all about sucking people in, not providing value – so I hate it!
Thanks for stopping by you Blog Commenting freak you!
Get a blog! You clearly have the right business values and know what you need to do to succeed, so build a blog and use it to drive traffic to your CFM offer
Hi Alex,
As far as “social” media is concerned, Twitter is really the only wide scale “live” platform that I know of. I can and do socialize with a number of Bloggers on a daily basis. The rest of the social media platforms are just areas to store information until someone comes up on it or is linkedin to it. That’s why it is considered infotainment. However, the true power of such platforms comes not from others surfing your profile and information. It comes from the search engines indexing the information, providing one more thread to follow for those searching for specific information.
Oh, Hey Alex………. you’re getting better with your Blog images!!!
Hey Jeffrey,
Man that is an awesome comment. You have summed up the entire post and more so succinctly, love it! You hit the nail right on the head with how socail platforms work, you just said it better than me (you suck)
Thanks for that awesome insight and for stopping by, glad my image adding is improving, should I worry that you didn’t mention the actual content? (nah, cause I’ve always written brilliant like)
Hey Alex, I mainly use social media for spreading my brand.
Most people who come and stay on my blog are either from referrals or Twitter/Facebook, and only a tiny (and forgettable) portion comes from traffic. I believe there’s no rule: If you are heavy into keywords, then that’s the way to go. But for people who have a very personal style (and very customized headlines), social media is the way to go !
Hey Mars,
because you have more personal style than any blogger I have come across so clearly social media IS the way to go then. Thanks for the awesome insight and for commenting. Good to see you here again Mars.
I like that you said “But for people who have a very personal style (and very customized headlines), social media is the way to go !”
Hey Alex,
You have another fan here in terms of social media. I personally use Twitter to build relationships. As for Facebook, I only have a personal profile.
You’re not wrong that you need to have an online presence first to start making money. How I know this is when I started many many years ago, I was going after the money and not branding myself at all. I did this for 4 to 5 yrs not getting anywhere, from 1999. I mean who would want to invest money in my web applications when all they see is a website selling a product and don’t know who that person is.
Now since I’ve started a blog, thanks to Alex Jeffreys , I can at least see a good pathway in terms of branding myself.
Keep up such informative posts.
Louis
Hey Louis, good to see you again mate.
Yeah I think Twitter is great but that’s because it integrates so well with wordpress and it is blog friendly.
Facebook is not, and its inundated with MLM crap so it is hard to be heard through the noise. Twitter is noisy too but people are listening out for relevant info, on facebook they are not.
Glad you are now on the right path my friend.
Take care and thanks for your comments
You make a great point that I think many people are overlooking. Sure, many strong brands has used social media for their success but because their brand already has a presence, it doesn’t take much.
The example of targeted traffic, I believe, is correct. Whenever I’m on Twitter, I mostly click links because I’m interested to see what the link is about unlike when I’m doing research using search engines.
For example:
I’m not going to care much about a tweet that promotes a new product. I may be interested in looking at it and click the link but I’m not in the “mode”.
However, when I know something I want, I’ll use search engines to do research, find places that sell it and then make my decision – I’m not a highly targeted visitor.
This is just my usage of social media, yours could be different but it’s much more to be active in the real-time vs long-term using search engines.
Hey Murray,
You summed up the two basic thought process nicely there, and it’s this reason that I chose niche marketing to begin my online business journey. I don’t want to harrass people, why do that when there are millions looking for something every minute of every day?!
Thanks for stopping by and providing that awesome comment bro.
Alex:
I am still trying to determine if the social media thing is working for me or not. Most of my visitors from social bookmarking sites come from Reddit. I conducted a survey a week ago asking my readers to vote for their favorite social bookmarking site. There were 14 votes. Of those 14, 6 were for Reddit, 4 for StumbleUpon, 2 for Digg, 1 for Delicious and 1 for Does not use social bookmarking.
I would say for me social bookmarking is not very effective. The bounce rate is around 58% but the average time on site is 32 seconds. So I conclude that not much reading is going on from the bookmarking sites.
I was checking for backlinks from these bookmarking sites and I only see a couple of them listed.
I may use them a little while longer to do some more testing but it looks like I might not be using social bookmarking in the future.
I have not checked into how other social media sites like Squidoo are working for me. I may start to working on building links through various web 2.0 sites and see how much traffic I can generate.
- Rick
Wow Rick, thanks for such an insightful reply. Thanks for doing the survey, it was interesting to see those results, I have never used Reddit and I would have voted for Digg but I forgot (sorry) I think it still boils down to doing two things: providing value, and doing it a lot, all the time, a lot.
Thanks for your awesome comments Rick!
Hey Alex,
I suppose that I am not really a fan of Facebook. For one thing, the common uses appear to be sharing pictures and playing games. I like both of those things, and I have heard of some people having success in spreading their brand there. But, it does seem that it is not a very focused as so many people use it for so many things. Plus, as you say, there is so much MLM there that I just don’t know how people can look at it without become desensitized, and therefore really not likely to click. Then again, maybe I am just cranky from lack of sleep…
Have a great day!
I completely agree, that’s all my wife does if and when she uses Facebook.
No I don’t think you are being cranky, in fact I am glad I am not the only one who 1: sees the MLM crap everywhere, and 2: realises it’s absolute crap that they all spout!
Thanks for jumping on the bandwagon, or letting me jump on yours, or whatever.
RRAAAAH yeah! (maybe I need some sleep too though)
Thanks for stopping by Mark, good to see you again mate.
Alex: Great post again … very helpful and informative. I am by no means an expert on SEO or social media. I guess I kind of dibble dabble with both. In terms of social media, I am a fan of Twitter and like Louis mentioned, I really use it to just connect with people … not really as a marketing tool or anything. I have to say that the picture of you over the crowd at the end was great. It gave me a smile and really drove home the point that you really do need an online presence before anything else can happen.
Hey Sibyl,
You’re always so nice! You can come back anytime girl. I am like you in that I just use Twitter mainly and that’s more to get noticed and help share good content, but I guess once you get established in your niche then you would look at it in a different light.
Thanks for your comments Sibyl, you rock!
Hey Alex,
I am still on the fence with social media but I know it has huge potential.
Recently attending the Internet Millionaire Summit I was privy to some really top tips regarding both facebook and twitter marketing.
To see the results these guys and gal, were pulling in was truly astounding, so I for one do think there is potential in social media.
I will say they were very targeted in their efforts which probably added to the success they received, however I also believe they had many failed “projects” that they didn’t reveal to us.
You know what it’s like, they only show you what they want to show you.
I certainly don’t want to use facebook or twitter simply as a marketing tool, I want it to blend in nicely with everything I do.
Anyway I love twitter, and loved your @sally comment you sent me the other day, it made me smile!
Sally
Glad I am now making you smile and not cry Sally
I am just reading your latest post now actually and I look forward to the detailed one from Jaycee but you certainly would have some good insight into social media from all perspectives, that being the little and the big fish so I appreciate your comments Sally.
It’s good to see you too, how you been ya wee lass?
I actually do quite a lot on Facebook and Twitter mostly. I do need to get involved in other social media networks and such though.
I find that becoming known for something good works better than just putting something out there in hopes you’ll sell. You have to make sure you’re providing value first.
Good post here!
Hey Eric,
You have it spot on there man, you need to provide value first and foremost. And what I see on FB now is a lot of folks just ‘putting something out there in hopes they’ll sell’
Thanks for stopping by and for your comments man
Hi Alex,
What a post mate! Remind me to never ask you to set up a fan page on Facebook!
Actually I agree with you as despite the fact that Facebook has huge traffic my experiences have been similar to yours. Plus the fact when I set it up it was prior to my creating an online business so it was 100% social/family/mates etc. I don’t want to change that perception in any way and the very last thing I want is to have my friends bombarded with the crap that is commonly referred to as network marketing.
for me sites like Twitter offer me the chance to start relationships with people I would never had the chance to know but I am very careful not to try and sell anything to them – just make them aware of this Thai village guy and his blog.
YouTube with their comment features that can be either written or video responses on a channel you set up provides a much better chance to not only create a brand but also do some effective marketing.
The addition of the email marketing aspect to Youtube means that with it’s huge traffic (that matches Facebook) it is a much more viable and controllable environment for online marketing.
Anyway that’s my 2 bobs worth mate – always enjoy my visits to your blog as there is never a dull moment!
Best wishes mate
Hey Peter,
What an epic response mate, thank you!
No, I’ll set up a facebook page for you – just don’t expect any love from it! LOL I have done the same thing with facebook but I figure my friends won’t mind my posts that come from my blog since it’s pretty much all I do with it nowadays. Better than the constant farmville crap I get as well!
I never realised there was an email marketing side to YouTube!?! Need to look into that but for now I have waaaaay too much on my plate so it will have to wait.
Thanks again for your awesome comments Peter, how is Thailand atm anyway?
Alex;
Hmmm, this is an interesting topic!
I have been a fan of Facebook and using it for business, but I think it might almost be more beneficial for offline businesses, and helping them connect with people in their local area. It definitely doesn’t seem to be very good for generating traffic. 
I’m actually looking at changing the way I do Facebook, myself. I’ll probably do up a fanpage, etc, BUT I think I’m going to go through and severely prune my friend list, taking my personal profile back to being just that: personal. I have so many “friends” on there that I don’t even know! And I see a lot of that on there. I find it really distracts me from connecting with the people I WANT to connect with, like my family who live on the other side of the country, or friends that I haven’t seen in a while…
So that’s my current take on Facebook…
Wow Jess, what an amazingly detailed and insightful reply. Awesome!
I feel exactly the same as you but don’t think I will ever get around to actually doing anything about it, my friends will just be annoyed, but the only thing they get is my posts (and they aint spammy ‘buy me’ sort of MLM shit so I think it’s not too bad)
I am like you however in that I have 1000 friends or so but only actually know 50 to 100 people LOL (a lot of them are farmville players and that is actually more annoying than the MLMers)
Thanks for stopping by Jess
Well, as long as you improve on the MLM stuff, it’s all good in my books!
Farmville, now, is another story….
I BLOCK all those games and apps as the invitations come in…. lol It’s too easy to get sucked in and waste time doing NOTHING of value. 
Not to slam the gamers, but that is certainly how I find it for myself! So I just block it all, and waste time talking to people instead…. hehe 
Hey Alex,
Really good post! I’m mostly with you on your disdain for facebook. I am just bombarded with spam on there. Twitter is easier so that has been the only real social media I have used. But I do think there is a lot of potential for building your online presence and brand through these tools. I do plan on fully implementing things like Facebook and Twitter in the future.
“It’s no good having the best French Fries in the world if no one knows about them.” – Great quote by you
Peace,
Darren L Carter
Hey Darren, how are you mate?!
Your comment echoes my thoughts exactly! I also plan on utilisting them in the future, but for now there is too much SPAM and I am not established enough online to take full advantage of it.
Thanks for your awesome feedback and for liking my quote
Awesome Dude!
Most of my traffic comes from search engines: no surprise, since I spend nothing on marketing, and do keep keywords in mind while writing. (That’s not so much SEO, for me, as common-sense writing style: I want folks to read, remember, and come back.)
Right now, my social media presence is mostly on Twitter: which has generated some traffic. And may be resulting in my establishing a sort of brand. If I understand the term in this context. (I’d probably do better if I tried fitting into one of the American-English-language-speaking subcultures’ categories: and I’m going off-topic.)
Thanks for drawing attention to this post, over on Twitter.
Well I’ve only just recently started really trying to utilize facebook to promote my blog… up till now it was just a feed for my twitter account. *lame* (i know)… I get more traffic off social media, but I’m also just now only learning to keyword optimize posts etc… I’m finding that as I do that my organic traffic is increasing A LOT. I’d prefer to have more search engine traffic since as this post puts so well: that’s the people who are really looking for what you’re offering. Still I find that I can get loyal regular readers more easily from social networks than organic searches.
Hi Alex,
I totally agree with you on Facebook for business – for me it just is not worth my time. I do have a fan page but I don’t rely on it for traffic or clients or anything other than just to be able to say I have a fan page.
Twitter is my number one social network to use for my business, but I use it pretty much only to meet and work with other designers and developers and bloggers – not to meet or gain clients. I don’t get a ton of traffic from it, but I do get some and like you said – it is a great way to build your brand. And for me, it is a great way to meet really cool designers and developers who I can learn from and work with and which can lead to client referrals down the road.
Speaking of targeted traffic – one of the things which I have been focusing on lately is making sure that my blog post titles are accurate and specific. For instance: I noticed that I have been getting a lot of traffic from search engines for the keywords “good character traits” and it was because I had a post named something like “Essential Character Traits of Successful Web Designers.” So I changed the name to “Do you have what it takes to be a successful web designer?” and what do you know – I am not getting traffic from people looking for personality advice any more!
So, that is kind of off topic – but I have been focusing on getting targeted traffic lately by re-writing some of my blog post titles.
Anyways, sorry for the super-long comment. Great post, thanks for breaking it down!
Libby!
That was an awesome comment!!
Thanks so much for sharing your insights and experiences – honestly!
Never apologise for talking too much, not here at least
Hey Pat,
Thanks for stopping by mate, really appreciated – and it is something I definitely need to explore and with stats like that – I now know where to come.
Thanks again for coming over Pat.
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