For many, social media marketing is all about Tweeting and working on a Facebook page. Whilst those are two of the bigger players in social media, they are not always the best when it comes to delivering traffic. Other sites such as Stumbleupon, Linkedin, Pinterest and Digg can still generate a lot of traffic. Digg seems to have gone through a slow down in recent times, however, I wouldn’t ignore it totally. What is important is you some of these sites to best effect. Where small business owners have failed in the past is the limited exposure they give to the social side of these websites.
Stumbleupon is a good example. Sure, you can add the toolbar to your browser, and you can ‘stumble’ every piece of content you publish, however, this is not using Stumbleupon to best effect. Rather than ‘stumbling’ every piece of content, you need to be far more selective. More importantly, you need to engage other users. Add them as friends. Over time they will add you. If one of your ‘friends’ stumbles content, restumble it yourself if it interesting and worthy. You should also look for content related to your niche that has been published by others and stumble that as well. What others don’t want to see is your profile full of self stumbles.
Linkedin is another that is often taken for granted, or totally forgotten about. I wonder how many readers set up and Linkedin profiles and have never been back? Keep your profile up-to-date, and to really get the most out of of Linkedin, join and participate in relevant groups. Let people see that you really are an authority in your niche. People will then sit up and take more notice.
Pinterest is the newish kid on the block, and you do need to be careful how you use this site. To be successful, you need to be in a niche that is popular with mothers, since they are amongst the biggest users. Pinterest works by pinning images to your pinboard. Every image that is pinned also appears on the front page where others can view them, and perhaps pin them to their own pinboards. Pin images that others will find interesting and useful. Infographics are enjoying a lot of success at present.
Digg has gone through some changes and it no longer really delivers the massive amounts of traffic it once did. In years gone by, a popular article could receive so much traffic the servers would crash. The key to success on Digg, (and like most social media sites), is befriend the right people. You need to find the movers and shakers in your niche and follow them. If they follow you, and they like the content you are wanting to have promoted, they may just Digg it for you, and that could lead to a significant increase in traffic.
Used effectively, alternate social media sites can deliver more traffic than either Facebook or Twitter. Whether that traffic converts will depend on how you can engage them, and of course your website itself.
