Do You Know Which Social Networking Site Sends You the Most Traffic?

A few years ago I started noticing a trend in my traffic stats...after organic traffic, Twitter was driving about 50% of the traffic to my blog. But things have changed.

A poll on SmartBrief on Social Media asked: Which social network has generated the most viral traffic for your content? The results are congruent with what I've noticed in the last year...

Facebook is dominating as a referral source, no doubt due to the phenomenal number of users (I recently heard they number nearly 700 million users now!). What's interesting to note about this poll (not scientific) is how little traffic is generated by the "traditional" bookmarking/share sites like Digg and Stumbleupon. Again, this could be skewed by the audience who subscribes to SmartBrief and participate in social media. This audience may not use or care about Digg or Stumbleupon.

Reviewing posts on DeniseWakeman.com, which I only recently started blogging on, I see the same trends:

and checking my Google Analytics for the last few weeks reveals a similar pattern:

So, if your audience is on Facebook (a good bet!), then you've got to get your blog posts in front of them so they can share and like your content and send it to their friends.

Therein lies the trick. I've addressed this a couple of times: What's Your Facebook Visibility Plan? and in a post where I reveal why I no longer use automation to publish my blog on Facebook.

Are you tracking where your social traffic comes from? If you have social sharing buttons on your blog, like the ones you see in the screenshot above, and you use Google Analytics, you'll get a decent idea of what's happening (remember this refers only to traffic from social sites, not search engines).

A caveat: If your ideal client does not spend time on Facebook, then traffic from Facebook doesn't matter much. If, for example, your ideal client is on LinkedIn, then make sure they can find you on LinkedIn and that you have a share button for LinkedIn on your blog.

When I review blogs, I still find sites with no social sharing buttons and no syndication to social sites. Before you move on to something else today, do a quick check of your stats...

Where do your ideal clients hang out?

Where is your social traffic coming from?

If there's a disconnect with your answers, set up the systems to get your content on the right sites and make sure your readers have an easy way to share your content on the sites YOU choose.

 Get 7 free tips to boost your visibility on the Web so you attract more clients and opportunities -- click here.

 

 

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Comments

[Clint Cora Personal Development]

Now an interesting question would be whether you are getting more traffic from your Facebook business page(s) or your Facebook personal page?

Out of the above social media sites, I seem to get most traffic still from YouTube since I'm video intensive. Then Facebook but it's a distant second with Twitter and Stumbleupon contributing a sprinkling. In my case for some reason, Twitter does not outperform Stumbleupon.

[Kristi Hines]

I've noticed a spike from Facebook since the Like button has been posting fuller updates on people's profiles - I bet each like generates much more traffic than it used to.

[Suereynolds]

I manage my own blog, Carmine Media along with several others and multiple websites, and by far Facebook provides the most clickthroughs and drives the most traffic. Anecdotally I believe it is the way links are shared in Facebook vs. Twitter. With Twitter the tweet has to be especially clever or interesting, and with Facebook it's the link itself that creates the interest. My experience, but it seems to be echoed here in your blog. Good post.
Sue

[Harsh Agrawal]

For me it's always Facebook and Stumble Upon... Specially facebook has been sending me some quality traffic and best part is bounce rate is always low.

[IT outsourcing]

Face book is really providing maximum traffic rather then other social medias. After Face book it is the Twitter, which is providing maximum traffic. Thanks for sharing such a nice chart with the comparison for the most traffic gathering social media.

[Extreme Niche Empires Scam]

Nice post I thought the point about the huge growth of Facebook was particularly apt and fits in with my own experience. After seeing my business increase similar to yours I started to do a bit of research and everything became clear. In 2008 facebook had 100 million active users.

By July 2010 it had risen to 500 million active users. Guess what? by end of 2011 the figures are expected to rise to 600 million active users. Facebook is not a giant it is some kind of monster!

[Cathy Miller]

I just completed a guest post about LinkedIn and what I found very interesting was that while LI doesn't generate the most traffic, it averages a longer time on my site. I receive quite a bit of work from LinkedIn so I consider that quality time vs quantity.

Thanks for sharing your insight, Denise.

[Tombrownjr]

After reading your article, I can see that I will definitely need to tweak my Blog layout. It is much too mundane and needs a couple of widgets. Thanks for a good, short, to the point, article.

[Gabriel]

For me, it would be Facebook and twitter too! Thank you to these Social Networking site for helping me on my online business!