There has been a lot of discussion about Google+ taking over Facebook and if Twitter is worth our time or not. Personally, I think the hype has just begun and, truthfully, it means nothing. I like the way Ana Hoffman of Traffic Generation Cafe put it on a Performance Marketing Insider guest post titled Social Media Traffic Exposed. Ana reasons that it doesnât matter what the future holds for G+ or Facebook, or Twitter for that matter, we have an opportunity right now to draw traffic from these social giants.
Any business or blogger waiting to see what’s going to happen is losing out and making a huge mistake. Keep in mind, if you engage your followers and build relationships with them, they will still be website visitors even when the next ‘big thing‘ goes the way of MySpace.
You Should Not Dismiss Twitter As A Waste Of Time
I was reading an article on Social Media Today titled Why Twitter Matters To Marketers Now More Than Ever and Steve Olenski of The Star Group posted some pretty enlightening stats on Twitter’s overall membership traits by Exact Target. Tell me if you think stats like these are the type of traffic you, as a blogger, would like to engage:
- 72% publish blog posts at least once a month
- 70% comment on othersâ blog posts
- 61% write at least one product review a month
- 61% comment on news sites
- 56% write articles for third-party sites
- 53% post videos online
- 50% make contributions to wiki sites
- 48% share deals found through coupon forums
Twitter, right now, is a golden opportunity for bloggers that can see through the static and endless tweets of links and self promotion. You must build your following correctly and don’t worry about the numbers as much as the niche. Building your brand on Twitter, just like any other median, requires a targeted audience. Don’t fall for the crazy offers all over the net that will ‘sell‘ you Twitter followers. It’s a waste of time and money and you will be left with a non-responsive following at best.
So what do you say?
Are you building a quality Twitter following? Are you active on Google+ or are you sitting on your hands waiting for the dust to settle while everyone else gains from the experience? Have you given up on Facebook? Your comments are welcome here.
Twitter Related Posts:
- Repurposing An Old Twitter Account For A Nice Start On Your New Brand
- List Building Technique Using Twitter And ClickToTweet
- How To Effectively Follow The Masses On Twitter
- How Do I Get More Retweets? Twitter Tools We Use To Increase Re-Tweets
- What is Hashtag Hijacking? Using Trending Hashtags For More Exposure
About Brian D. Hawkins
Some of these social sites are better than others depending on what your site is for and/or about.
You have to remember that many people on Facebook have no clue how to use any other part of the internet. So you may be able to reach some possible customers there that you will not find on Twitter & surely will not see on Google +. Our toy site gets more traffic from FB than it does from Twitter. YouTube is closing in on FB as a referrer.
Google + so far has not let business have profiles yet so, I am very limited as to what I think that site may do for companies. What I do know is that “Tech”, IM, and blogging about blogging is doing fine on G+. But, even the animal info people are VERY slow at getting on the wagon and interacting. And the regular Joe Blows that shop…just are NOT there at all. I don’t foresee Grandma on G+ until I am one myself.
Twitter seems to have really slowed in some categories. It could be that people are busy with summer fun and kids home from school. But, Christmas is coming so those of us with commerce site will be ramping up (Buy Damnit Buy)
As for just plain old me (not as a sales site owner) I HATE FB! I have always loved Twitter but am board with tweets about IM. On G+ I need to expand my circles and include some new people but, I have found so many just sending links to IM, Tech, Photos…and that bores me. LOL!
But to answer your question…I am not sitting and waiting on the dust to settle. I like to get in and see who is doing what on sites.
Since this comment is so long…I am counting it as a guest post. LOL
Thanks Sheryl, All great points. I’m glad you brought up YouTube, that should be discussed too. You want to write a guest post on it? I mean, a real one. lol Let me know.
I know there’s a lot of FB traffic that stays on FB all of the time. They think that is the
internet and I’m counting on that to a degree. After all, that’s where my family is. 😉
I just read somewhere that 75% of Google+ users are male in the tech and marketing niches. That could explain your trouble finding new friends but I’m sure that’s a temporary situation.
Congratulations of your Fuzzy Wuzzy Anipals YouTube Channel
, you’re been doing a great job.
Thanks for the link Brian! We always knew you had a soft fuzzy side (we just don’t want to know which side that is). LOL!
I can do some YouTube post for you. If you have questions that you think would be particularly helpful to your readers (or yourself) let me know and I can try to get answers for you.
Oh, is your family on FB? I hope they have at least found Google (it is a free site where you can put in words and it brings up web pages from all over the world that have those words on them). LOL!
Yes, the tech guys are always the 1st to hit sites like G+. Some of them will sing its praises and when their new fame wears off..they will go to bashing it to get more attention. Us Geek Girls will just ignore them.
No problem, that’s how we roll around here 😉
Thanks for the offer, I send you a note with some ideas in a while.
I believe that twitter is only helpful in so far as you have a group of LOYAL followers-quantity does not matter here, even if you have 100 people following you who actually contribute to your business and can make a difference that’s what’s important. Now regarding Google+, what’s the hype all about? To be honest, I have to clue as to how it can be used as a business strategy.
Hi Pam, I appreciate you taking the time to read my post and commenting on it. I completely agree with your statement about Twitter, “Even if you have 100 people following you who actually contribute to your business and can make a difference.” That’s exactly the way I feel and itâs well said.
As far as Google+, I’ve setup my profile and I am enjoying interaction with fresh faces that I otherwise may have never met. G+ also allows me to focus on different content, rather than just sending Twitter and Facebook content through, and I believe (and hope) many other bloggers are doing the same.
Seriously, the SEO benefits of Google Plus alone should have every website owner on the planet jumping in with both feet. Watch the video, if you have a few minutes, that I posted on How And Why To Add Your Google Profile To Your Blog.
Well said Brian. I recently got involved in Twitter, and am taking it slow and building a targeted list of followers in my own Niche. I hear of a lot of people going on Twitter, following hundreds of people per day in hopes of pushing a product to them, but quite frankly, I don’t think this works. I’d rather take the time to build a list of quality followers.
I have a Google+ account, but haven’t gotten around to using it yet. I’ll do so in the next few weeks.
Btw, just followed you on Twitter!
Hi Ben, I appreciate that. I followed back and sent you a tweet. It sounds like you have a pretty good handle already on getting started.
I like your site iBlogPlanet. Did you notice we are using the same theme, just setup different? Thanks again.
Thanks Brian, appreciate it. I tried Tweeting you back; let me know if it worked (I suck at using Twitter).
I did notice that; forgot to mention it in my last post. It’s a great theme, isn’t it? Very clean!
Quick question actually; how did you manage to get rid of the category “Uncategorized” under “All Topics” in the nav menu? I’m having a little trouble doing that.
I did get the tweet Ben and I’ll send another one about the category. Thanks
Actually, I take that back, I need more room than that. Here ya go:
Awesome! That worked. Appreciate it 🙂
well, for me it doesn’t matter what social network you are using. On where you are getting traffic then that the social network that you need to focus and for other social network, you can work on it to be able to work just what you did with the first one.
Thanks Joseph, I totally understand. Focus on our most successful network and take those strengths to the other social sites. I appreciate the comment and thanks for commenting over on BlogEngage too.
As for gaining traffic, we should take advantage of every single one of them (social media), but for me I get highest traffic from Facebook rather than twitter, I guess my followers aren’t that loyal 🙂
Hi Sanjay, You are probably very good at connecting with Facebook fans. That’s a bit harder for me but some really excel at it.
Google+ won’t replace networks you are already active and strong on, but I will say that Google+ was the fastest network where I reached 1,000 followers and this is probably because so many people on other networks who knew me just followed me there. I don’t think it helped me build “new followers” just network with the people I already interface with on other social media sites.
Any one or all of the social networks can work for you, you just have to invest the time into any of them.
Hi Justin, that’s the best way of looking at it. They’re all what we put into it and how we use them.
First of all I want to say that I really liked this post. I use a lot of social media like Google+, Twitter and Facebook because it helped me to get new customers and its an great way to learn new people while sitting at home. Keep on the good posts.
Hi Brian,
Thanks a ton for the nice posts you put up here on Twitter benefits. I found it useful man 🙂
Thanks for sharing this
Thanks Olawale, I’m not sure why CommentLuv didn’t work on your comment. Was the box checked?
I have enjoyed using twitter and found it easy and a very useful tool in communicating with my clients. Google+ is something that I have just started to get involved with and its seems rather more complicated- does not seem to be instantly user friendly and as with most sites or social media this could make it less popular
Hi Grant, when I first signed into Google+ everyone was talking about how user friendly it was. I was having a tough time comprehending some of the features due to the hype. I was expecting more I guess. It’s best to watch the intro video on G+ to get an idea and see it’s simplicity.
This is very true. While Facebook may have a heck-of-a-lot of members and be the most visited site, there are still people who have not joined Facebook (or Googe+), but are on Twitter. As a business, it wouldn’t be wise to ignore that market. I’m currently waiting for Google+ to have business pages before making a presence. I don’t care which company eventually “wins”, as long as I’m taking advantage of the platforms now. Like you said, why wait for the dust to settle when you can be gaining experience now.
Nice way to put it Lionel. Love your site by the way, it looks great.
I’m in there pitching Brian (Google + and Twitter) but it’s awful quiet at the moment on Google +. I don’t expect things to really take off until the brands and businesses get their pages. Then non geeks will have an incentive to sign up, well more of one as at the moment the fun pages are limited to individual celebrities, not bands, and you can’t follow Mashable, or any news media et etc
I was thinking the same thing Roz, the G+ momentum has slowed. I check it out every now and then but the interaction if almost nonexistent.
I agree that it’s not the time to leave Twitter or Facebook for that matter in terms of using those sites to drive traffic to your site. There will come a time when these sites will go the way of MySpace and Friendster but not in the near future. Twitter after all is vastly different compared to Facebook and even Google +
Facebook and Twitter are not a waste of time. They are good sites to use in order to gain traffic and look for potential customers. For me, Google+ is not yet a treat. In fact, these 3 sites should be used in order to maximize your link social media strategy.