Visual Contenting February 2016 | Page 24

SOCIAL MEDIA There are way too many social media sites and you may not be using the best ones or get the maximum exposure. StumbleUpon is often an underutilized source for traffic; it does not boast the same user volume like the big boys – Facebook and Twitter. It certainly has some moves you should check out. This Infographic from Your Escape from 9 to 5 will show you how to use StumbleUpon to drive traffic and market your content. What Is StumbleUpon? • A Social Bookmarking Site – Similar to Delicious. Allows users to save links for future viewing. You can randomly discover a new page using their “STUMBLE” button based on your interests. • A Social Voting Site – Similar to Digg and Reddit. If you like a page UP-VOTE; if you don’t like DOWN-VOTE. • The More UP-VOTES the Better Chances of Being STUMBLED. Why Use StumbleUpon? Over 30 Million Active Monthly Users StumbleUpon does not have the user base like Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest does but it can deliver good steady traffic as opposed to just spikes like Reddit does. Visual Contenting When you hit the 1st page on Reddit you get a big spike in traffic, the next day you get nothing much. Pinterest has a user base of 100 million and provides the 2nd highest referral traffic but the competition is also quite stiff. This does not mean you ignore Pinterest but using Pinterest and StumbleUpon together would definitely give you an advantage. You may have guessed the 1st social media traffic source as Facebook and that is correct. • StumbleUpon provides the 4th Highest Social Media Traffic Referral (behind Twitter & ahead of Reddit) • Can Provide 3 Times More Traffic than Reddit • Can Provide More Traffic than Google+ and LinkedIn Combined • It’s Fun and Interactive Potential to Bring in Viral Traffic StumbleUpon can bring in viral traffic and the best part is it can be ongoing. Check out how many times some of these web pages have been viewed. If you are a blogger or a business, would you say ‘no’ to free traffic and marketing? You can target your audience by age, gender, location and device type. You can then select an interest or search for one. If you are using the paid service start with one campaign with a small budget, for example $10, then let the campaign run for a few days and see the results; take what you have learned to craft your next paid project. The beauty of the paid service – it throws some free stumbles if the audience vote up your content. Unlike, other social media sites StumbleUpon sends direct traffic to your site where as in Facebook, Twitter you buy a small ad space and hope the users see it. How to Use StumbleUpon? • Go to StumbleUpon.com • Sign up for free and select your topics of interest • Download the “STUMBLE” toolbar (optional) • Start stumbling! Tips for Getting Best Results Out of StumbleUpon Add a Profile Image You need your profile to stand out and the quickest way to do that is to add a profile image. This could be your image or an avatar you use. Paid Stumbles Can Be Super Add a Link to Your Website Targeted or Blog in Your Profile