With the additions to Google+ and Pinterest to the world of social media, there are now officially too many things to worry about. Maybe if you are a company with a staff of people who can monitor everything everyday you can handle it, but for one person it has reached a point where it is impossible.
We are also now at a point where it is becoming obvious that not every site is going to attract the same audience. I’m seeing this more and more as sites in different niches are getting an overwhelming amount of engagement on some networks but not others.
For the purposes of illustration I’ll look at several posts from popular blogs in different niches. The goal here isn’t to look at the absolute number of likes, tweets or shares, but rather the relative number between the various services.
The selection of the posts I”m using is pretty arbitrary, but I think it illustrates the point I’m trying to make.
Here are some examples:
Brian Solis: Engagement ain’t nothing but a number – why 1% isn’t good enough
Facebook Likes: 129
Facebook Shares: NA
Tweets: 586
LinkedIn Shares: 202
Google +1’s: 55
Comments: 15
Brian’s site is business marketing site that focuses on social media. Twitter is popular as is LinkedIn. Facebook comes in third even though Facebook is the largest social network.
Gary Arndt: The Top 10 Reasons to Travel Condensed Down Into 1
Facebook Likes: 918
Facebook Shares: 2,891
Tweets: 363
LinkedIn Shares: 25
Google +1’s: 20
Comments: 53
This was a recent post on my site. I’m getting far more engagement on Facebook than Brian, but much less on Twitter or Google+. My LinkedIn engagement is so abysmally low I don’t even track it anymore.
Chris Brogan: Earning Attention
Facebook Likes: 80
Facebook Shares: NA
Tweets: 705
LinkedIn Shares: 415
Google +1’s: 77
Comments: 162
An even larger percentage of engagement is coming from Twitter and LinkedIn with a very high number from Google+. The is one of the few places I’ve seen where Google+ numbers almost equal Facebook numbers.
Wired: What your Klout score really means
Facebook Likes: 901
Facebook Shares: NA
Tweets: 956
LinkedIn Shares: 219
Google +1’s: 165
Comments: 15
A consumer orientated publication with a very tech/business orientated article. Still a lot of Facebook but high numbers in Twitter and LinkedIn.
The point of this is that sites, or even individual articles, will have very different social media profiles depending on what type of site you run.
To make some very broad sweeping generalizations, the more consumer orientated the site, the better you will do on Facebook. The more business orientated the site, the better you will do on LinkedIn. The more technical orientated the audience, the better you will do on Google+.
There isn’t a one size fits all for social media. I think if you are a consumer site, worrying about LinkedIn is a waste of time. Likewise, if you are a B2B site, I wouldn’t worry so much about your Facebook interactions.
Put your efforts where you will get the biggest bang for your buck.
3 replies on “Your Site’s Social Media Profile”
Provide translate plugin please!
Another one: I get a massive amount of traffic from Stumble Upon. I have had days of over 1000 stumbles, and this from a very new travel blog.
However, for further evidence, I run another, established, non-travel blog, and notice that even there – when the Stumble Upon effect kicks in, it kicks harder than FB, Twitter, or G+.
Yes, StumbleUpon can drive traffic, but it isn’t something you can control and it doesn’t convert very well. It isn’t something I really worry about and it isn’t really a social network in the same way that these other things are.