Why Social Media is Not For Everyone

By Daniel Wood

Many Malaysians, especially bloggers, have become more active users of Social Media, using sites such as StumbleUpon, Delicious, and Digg to grow their readership. Because of the huge success of many “celebrity bloggers” using these Social Media tools, many online technopreneurs and budding bloggers are also focussing the majority of their promotion efforts on Social Media.

While it is undeniable that Social Media marketing is extremely useful for personal blogs, and even commercial and corporate web sites, many people should realise that Social Media does have its limits. They tend to forget that Social Media is very useful is getting the word out: results include higher traffic to web sites, better page ranking in search engines, and familiarity. So it is very important to get the best out of Social Media, but web site owners and bloggers should consider longer-term balanced plans for online growth.

As Social Media sites are sources of tremendous exposure, they’ll aid your site in building links, and therefore indirect search engine traffic. However, the visitors that your site will get from Social Media marketing may have some of these limitations which you should understand:

• Sales

Sites that rely on sales of products or services should not rely on Social Media marketing. Research shows that users from sites like Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon spend very little – as their main intention is not to buy online but to simply surf and read. They may visit your site out of interest or curiosity, but hardly anyone who clicks on a link through Facebook ends up spending any money!

Of course, big hits from that source will improve your search engine ranking, and put your site above competitors, so it’s not a complete waste of time.

• Advertising Revenue

It’s most likely that someone who comes to your site came there through an advertisement of sorts (Facebook ad, someone’s signature etc.). Therefore, they are highly unlikely to click on even more ads your site or blog may run. So unless you also earn from ad/banner impressions, this source of traffic is not really going to improve your advertising revenue.

• Long-Term Traffic

The overwhelming majority of people who click on links from social media sites will never return. So, the inbound traffic may be very high during the few days (or even hours) that your site is prominent on these Social Media tools, but once the next trend sets in, you’re unlikely to retain much of the visitors from it.

However, one way to overcome this is to include subscription through Social Media, which at least improves your newsletter or blog membership.

• Does not replace SEO

Because most sites and blogs are jumping on the Social Media Optimization (SMO) bandwagon, many have neglected their search enging optimization (SEO). This is a big mistake for any social site or blog. These two should co-exist. SEO is extremely important because search engines send targetted traffic (that is, people who arrive at your site or blog have come because they’re looking for something specific which you probably have). These sources are more stable and consistent, translating into repeat visitors and sales.

• Social Media is Not Marketing

Don’t forget traditional methods of online marketing, and certainly don’t forget other priorities such as building a website that is friendly to both browsers and search engines, building links, interacting with visitors and so on. Social media should not replace a marketing plan, it should complement it.

• You Still Need Good Content

One aspect of Social Media that determines success is often forgotten: you still need great content! You may have a large friends list or thousands of contacts that are willing to vote/like/promote your submission, but unless your content speaks for itself, they’re not going to stand out above the crowd of posts and submissions.

Great content will attract others to repeat visits, make chain submissions, and generally gain genuinely interested readers. Take the time to create useful, original content, that engages with your audience and you’ll even see Social Media do the work for you.

• Not Everyone Uses Social Media

Quite possibly the most important aspect of  Social Media is that still not everyone is keen on using it. Especially so the people who are most likely to spend on your site or blog, if yours relies on sales. Just concentrating on social media means that you completely ignore a significant section of internet users who do not or will not use any form of Social Media.

And so, don’t just focus on Social Media if you want a successful blog or website. Know what you want, know your audience, and then ask yourself if Social Media has covered all your objectives.