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Posts Tagged ‘StumbleUpon’
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012
StumbleUpon has been around for a long time. Recently, the social media service announced it is rolling out a new look in beta. This is a little bit exciting.
If you look at the beta, you’ll notice that it resembles another very popular social media website – Pinterest. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
What StumbleUpon is trying to do is stay current, and relevant. That is, they are following the current trend in online web design to appeal to its audience in hopes that it will maintain that audience and keep them coming back for more. This is really what every online web property should be doing. Even you.
Web design is not an exact science. To succeed in your online marketing you need to use the best practices of today, and those best practices change as new web technology is introduced and as people change their tastes. I think StumbleUpon is aware of that.
When you build your website, don’t get stuck on one idea. You may want to change your site’s design from time to time to keep up with current web development standards and practices. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, in many ways, I’d encourage it.
Tags: Social Media, StumbleUpon, web design
Posted in website development | 3 Comments »
Monday, May 14th, 2012
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.
Tags: digg, facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Twitter
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 12 Comments »
Sunday, October 16th, 2011
Is StumbleUpon going to be the next powerhouse social media website? Some people might say it is already is. They’ve hit 20 million users.
The fascinating thing about that number is that last May – May 2010 – they had only 10 million users. They’ve doubled in size in one year! That’s phenomenal growth.
Even better than that, there have been 2. billion Stumbles as of July 2011.
This makes me wonder what we can expect from StumbleUpon going into the future? Will it be one of those social media powerhouses that cannot be left out of your social media marketing plan? Is it destined to be on everyone’s recommended site’s list?
Many other social media websites have gone on to great stuff only to fall into oblivion (remember MySpace?). Which way will StumbleUpon fall?
At this point, it’s anyone’s guess, but upwardly moving trends are a good sign. I wouldn’t worry too much about StumbleUpon’s future as long as the numbers are going up. In fact, if you haven’t tried StumbleUpon, this may be the perfect time for you to give it a go. Discover new websites and help other Stumblers around the world discover yours.
One thing’s for sure, StumbleUpon has reached a status that is difficult to ignore. Congratulations!
Tags: Social Media, StumbleUpon
Posted in Social Media | 4 Comments »
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
Until Bing called itself a “decision engine,” not many people had heard that term. And I’d wager to say the same thing about “discovery engine,” though I like that term. It’s what Erica DeWolf calls StumbleUpon.
Social bookmarking has become a very popular way for many people to find new websites. Because of that, it’s become a popular way for many marketers to present their websites for discovery. But StumbleUpon offers some unique ways of being found.
First, it’s a real simple “Like” or “Not Like” vote. Yes, StumbleUpon came upon this concept long before Facebook. It has worked for SU for about nine years now.
If you download the StumbleUpon toolbar, you can “Like” or “Not Like” in one click. But other things you can do is to search for new websites, and you can search in a number of ways. You can search by friends – that is, Stumble through the sites Liked by each friend on your friends list. Or, you can Stumble by interest. By that method, StumbleUpon will take you to new sites randomly based on interests you have already noted by the sites that you have liked in the past. It’s a whole new way of discovery.
Now, what is the best way to use StumbleUpon for your small business? Here are a few tips:
- Write a new blog post
- Stumble your post and Like it
- Using the StumbleUpon toolbar, send your post to a few friends and ask them for a Stumble
You have to be careful with Step #3. Make sure your friends are open to you asking for their help. Not all Stumblers enjoy getting those requests. It is most helpful if you pick a handful of your friends who are willing to help you with Stumbles and that you are also willing to help out in return. You can exchange Stumbles and help each other promote your content.
Tags: discovery, Like, social search, StumbleUpon, website promotion
Posted in Social Media | 8 Comments »
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
There is still some discussion in social media marketing arenas as to whether or not StumbleUpon is a useful marketing tool. The pros are that it delivers a lot of traffic. The cons are that traffic typically does not convert well and it bounces at a high rate.
So what’s the conclusion? Is StumbleUpon useful as a marketing tool or not?
Let’s discuss those negatives. If the traffic doesn’t convert well and bounces at a high rate does that mean StumbleUpon is not a very good marketing tool? Shouldn’t you spend your time doing something more productive? Not necessarily. You can benefit from these negatives in other ways.
For instance, the fact that you are getting traffic to your site in the first place means that you have eyeballs in front of your brand. Those eyeballs frequenting your blog and website over and over eventually may find something that catches their eye. It’s a type of top-of-mind awareness. The next time someone who saw your Stumble finds you in a search engine or through another channel they will remember who you were and what you do.
Let’s take that argument deeper with an example. Let’s say you’ve Stumbled every blog post you’ve written for the past year and shared it with your friends. You have a hundred friends or so who have seen at least a third of those Stumbles and may have even thumbed some of them up. Then one day a Stumbler searches for something through Google and finds your website. They recognize your site based on your Stumble relationship and you have instant credibility. Isn’t that a benefit?
You bet it is. And that’s why I say StumbleUpon is still a good marketing tool. Traffic or not, conversions or not, you can still make your brand recognizable and identifiable at a glance. That’s good marketing.
Tags: Branding, StumbleUpon
Posted in Branding | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 30th, 2009
Is StumbleUpon trying to compete with Google and Twitter in social search? While they may have been trying to move into that area earlier this month, now they appear to be moving in the opposite direction. Maybe they’re afraid of Google?
Whatever it is StumbleUpon has going on, I still consider it a unique and fun site. I wouldn’t spend all my time there, but it does seem to have a unique social appeal. For business, it has its uses, but social media can be a huge time drain if you don’t have a plan going in and stick to your plan. StumbleUpon is one of those sites that can easily lead to distractions.
Nevertheless, whatever they’re trying to be, it might be a good idea to examine the site and see if you can make it fit into your social media plans.
Tags: google, social search, StumbleUpon
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
A friend of mine told me a story about how he has been an avid user of StumbleUpon for a couple of years and of Twitter for about a year. He has a few friends on StumbleUpon, he says, that frequently send him stuff through the SU toolbar to thumbs up. My friend genuinely likes their blogs and reads them and thumbs them up often. Much less often he’ll send out something for those friends of his to read and review. They reciprocate in kind with their positive reviews and thumbs up.
Recently, on of those StumbleUpon friends joined Twitter and followed my friend. The friend sent a tweet to his SU buddy suggesting that he meet want to follow a second account that my friend also manages. The SU buddy wrote back “Will I get more retweets if I follow that account?” My friend responded, “No, I retweet what I like and that’s that.”
Interestingly, that didn’t go over so well. The SU buddy shot back, “Well, if you don’t retweet my stuff then I’m not going to follow you. The only reason I thumbed up your stumbles is because you thumbed up mine.”
You have to know my friend, but his response was effectively to tell his buddy to go blow. Did he do the right thing?
I think so. There are some new Twitterers who are getting into the habit of requesting reciprocating tweets and retweets. But I think that cheapens the tweet. The goal should be to share with your followers items that you like. Period. When you do that you’ll present yourself as a genuine marketer without a fake face. Keep it real and you’ll be respected.
Tags: marketing, StumbleUpon, Twitter
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
There are so many social media sites out there, Digg, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter . . . few people can focus on all of them, at least not when they have a business to run. But choosing just one or two of these social media websites can be a confusing proposition. Just how do you go about narrowing the list down?
You`ll need to consider several things as you go about making the choice.
Personality. Each type of social media site tends to attract a different type of person. For example, Digg is usually used most often by college students, males in particular. That doesn`t mean you have to be in college to use Digg, but keep in mind that most of what you`ll find there is going to be related to that age group and mindset.
Relevancy. Not all social media sites are going to be good for your particular business. The best thing to do is choose one that has a category for your topics and stay far away from anything that is specific to another area. For example, you wouldn`t want to bookmark your VA service on a parenting social media site.
Ease of use. Not all websites that work for social media are easy to use. Make sure you won`t be avoiding it because it`s too hard or requires too many steps. StumbleUpon is a good example of a great system. When you like a page, you just click on the thumbs up in your toolbar and sending a page to someone on your contact list is literally as simple as clicking on their name in a dropdown menu. There`s no point in joining a social media network that you`ll never come back to.
Choose your social media site carefully and make a point of picking one that fits you and your business. You`ll be far more successful this way.
Tags: business, digg, Social Media, StumbleUpon
Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 24th, 2008
There are so many social networking options out there that it would be a big mistake to sign up for all of them. You would simply be overwhelmed. That`s why it`s important to take your time and decide which networks will best serve your needs.
Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites around. Originally started to help long lost friends and classmates reunite, this website is now used by people of all ages and has turned into a real business medium for some.
While the focus of this social networking site is still on keeping in touch with your friends, you`ll find that many marketers use it to promote their business as well. There are plenty of options available for this. You can set up networks of business contacts, to stay in touch with them and include RSS feeds to your blog right on your profile page.
That being said, Facebook can easily turn into a waste of time. There are frequently newly released applications offered that can do everything from diagnose your love life to full blown RPGs that take up a lot of time. You may start in with the intention of using the social networking site as just a business thing, but if you aren`t careful, it quickly turns into just another time waster.
If you have to choose, I think a site like StumbleUpon is probably more worth your time. Having an account on Facebook is all fine and good, but do try to limit the amount of time you spend doing other things on there, since it can really take away from your promotion time.
Tags: business, facebook, promotion, social networking, StumbleUpon
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
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