Social Media and Traffic

[Twiggy]

Do you think that you would miss out on traffic to your blog if you didn't do certain social media?

I have read many times that it is better to do one or two forms of social media very well, than have accounts that aren't engaged or interesting. I follow some bloggers on Instagram for example, and I don't feel I miss out on anything by not seeing their postings on Facebook. Some people I follow on Twitter have the same content posted on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. I am just wondering what you experiences and thoughts are?

I am going to link my Pinterest and Instagram accounts to my new website, because I enjoy these and interact on these. I am not keen to do other social media as I don't think I would keep it up (I have tried facebook and twitter before and didn't connect with it). But then maybe I am missing potential work??

 

[Jon]

You NEED to do Twitter

 

[Pbrail]

I disagree about Twitter, I think it depends on your blog.

I have my biggest Following on Twitter which I worked incredibly hard on to gain a genuine following (1200+ Followers and making 690 Tweets in 3 months). And yet in GA, it performs considerably lower than Pinterest (which I probably spend less than half the amount of time on) it even performs more poorly than FB, which I barely touch (most of my hits come from Group activity, not my Blog's FB page).

So actually, yeah, I'm not abandoning Twitter or anything, but from focussing almost exclusively on it and Pinterest at my Blog's launch, I'm now switching more time to SM that gives better results. More FB and a bit more love to Instagram and G+ which both existed but were all but abandoned.

I've put a lot of effort in to Twitter and yet it doesn't produce results vs the amount of time and effort I put into it - Tweets appear for such a short time in the feed, vs Pinterest that has an incredibly long shelf life.

I think it's better to focus on one or two forms of SM that you're happy on, than trying to spread yourself thin on all of them, especially if it includes SM you don't actually like using.

 

[rebeccajlsk]

I would definitely miss out if it wasn't for social media.

Twitter is fab for me, Facebook not so much, Instagram can be ok.

Pinterest is where there is most traffic potential and personal finance/ money making images do really well!

I read a great post about using Pinterest to its full potential the other day: http://autumnleavesblog.co/blog/increase-pinterest-viewers

 

[Twiggy]

Thanks for that link Rebecca!

I have quite a good Pinterest account and so I am happy to hear that it is good as I really love Pinterest.
I have started Instagram recently and enjoy this too, finding it natural to me. I like images!

I am going to try harder with Twitter then.

 

[Topaz]

I opened an account on Instagram, but I just can't work out how to use it! Maybe it's my age and I need an idiot's guide.

I'm trying to use it from my ipad, but can't even work out how to make a post, let alone how to use it to promote my blog.

I seem to get most traffic from Twitter and Google+, but not much at all from Pinterest and Facebook.

 

[sparkleandshine]

I can't figure out Instagram either, I keep meaning to ask my daughter to show me how it works, she is never off it!

Is it only for photos you have taken yourself - in which case, probably not that useful for me - or can you use it for images you have downloaded from the internet - in which case, could be very useful?

 

[Chammy]

I can't figure out Instagram either, I keep meaning to ask my daughter to show me how it works, she is never off it!

Is it only for photos you have taken yourself - in which case, probably not that useful for me - or can you use it for images you have downloaded from the internet - in which case, could be very useful?

You can upload any image on the app that is on your device. I often download pictures from the internet or my Facebook page to upload to Instagram. The key is getting the right hash tags in there but luckily you don't have a character limitation like Twitter so you can cram as many as you want in. I need to use it more but I just forget about it.

 

[rachel.healy]

My blog would definitely miss out if I didn't do Twitter. Now, you do need to add an image to your Twitter posts to get the traffic I find, not always though.

I don't get any hits from Pinterest but thinks like "How to X" and lists with good portrait images do well. Cooking and crafts also do well on Pinterest.

G+ I just still cannot get my head around unfortunately.

I use Instagram but I don't tend to promote my blog on there.

 

[Pbrail]

My blog would definitely miss out if I didn't do Twitter. Now, you do need to add an image to your Twitter posts to get the traffic I find, not always though.

I don't get any hits from Pinterest but thinks like "How to X" and lists with good portrait images do well. Cooking and crafts also do well on Pinterest.

G+ I just still cannot get my head around unfortunately.

I use Instagram but I don't tend to promote my blog on there.

[member=1397]Rachel Healy[/member] - it's true that Portrait images are best, but aside from that I rarely post any of the other kinds of image you mentioned.

I'm a travel blog - while my '7 must eat snacks at WDW' is my best performing pin overall, it's because yes, it got picked up by the #foodporn crowd in addition to the Disney crowd. I don't think in and of itself it did well because it was food, I just think it did well because caught the interest of 2 demographics of pinners. Which was great and all, until my Bounce rate rocketed due to half of those visitors not being interested in travel so just bugger off again.

I'm not keen on portrait photo's in my posts very much as they take up so much space, and don't really like them having text on them either, so I now actually create a special pinnable image that I upload straight to Pinterest rather than pin something from my blog article. Best of both worlds that way.

 

[mbmetro100]

You should insist on having social media as part of your online journey. I haven't has a lot of joy with twitter even using # to highlight keywords and re-tweeting, but with the likes of having a FB fanpage, a Google +1 and Pinterest, it's been quite productive.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

On the subject of images, this page is really useful: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-image-sizes-guide/

Gives you the recommended image sizes for each social media channel.

 

[dania]

I get the majority of my social media clicks to my blog via twitter followed by facebook. I get engagement from instagram but not many clicks to my blog. When I had my second child I was just managing to update my blog but not social media and I noticed a massive drop in views.