5 replies to this topic

[JeremyH]

The website I'm currently working on is a giant interactive business map. One page of evergreen content.

I'd like to make the website easy for users to share with others, so I'm creating buttons where people can share the page with their friends on Facebook, and Tweet about it on Twitter. I'd like to create large icons for some of the different social websites while at the same time only focus on the most beneficial sites.

I absolutely do not want to use one of those manager codes with roll-over scripts that allow the users to select from one of 10,000 different social sites. I also don't want to fall into the mantra of more is better and if it helps just one person than its worth it. Instead I'd like to focus and optimize for only the most meaningful and appropriate social networks.

I'm definitely going to include Facebook and Twitter, but what other ones should I include?

Would a site like mine be appropriate for Digg, Delicious, Reddit. Are people still using these sites? Digg and Reddit seem like it would be appropriate for things like news articles; things that are new and have a set life spans.

Is there a chart somewhere of the different sites and who goes there for what?

[Jill]

Facebook, twitter and google+

[torka]

You might also consider StumbleUpon.

--Torka

[Mikl]

By coincidence, I was faced with the same decision this morning.

On a previous site, I went with a farily large number of bookmarking sites (Stumbedupon, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and a couple more). The buttons look cluttered, and I don't believe many people used them (but I have no way of measuring that).

On this new site, I decided to do with the "big three": Facebook, Twitter and Google +.

We'll see what happens.

[JeremyH]

Great, thank you!

So Facebook, Twitter are shoe-ins.

Google+ because it's an up and coming social network?

Would Digg, Delicious, and Reddit be out because they don't have the market share or the type of content I have isn't appropriate?

And I'll look into StumbleUpon.

[Cwtguy87]

Use what you have a competitive strength in but also use what you are comfortable with and can continue to provide for.

For example, I hate Facebook. I don't like using it, I am not comfortable with it and it shows. i cannot provide useful information or keep readers interested. My page would look desolate and boring. Therefore I do not use Facebook. I may be missing out on some valuable traffic but I consider the unprofessional look and a lack of consistency on my part to be more damaging.

I prefer to use Twitter the most. It is the simplest platfom and requires the least investment than otherwise engaging in conversation with others in your niche. Share what they have to say, share your links, follow trends and comment on them. It's actually a lot of fun too.

I would also suggest Google+ for two reasons. Google+ is one of the quickest ways to get your links indexed and because it is relatively new it seems somewhat untapped by a lot of users so getting in early could be benificial.

StumbleUpon and Digg are great for occassional use but these users tend to be very quick in and out users, hardly visting very long. Never the less a few careful submissions could net some nice traffic.

Reddit I feel is an untapped resource. The spam filters are incredible from this site. This is not just the site itself but the moderators and users. If they sense the slightest bit of spam they will not only ban you but could easily turn on your and make a mockery of your brand, name or image. I have seen this happen before. People on Reddit are very passionate and tend to be very affluent of internet marketing. They can easily see through a lot of crap. Rarely, share your best content on there and prepare it ever so well and you could see some massive viral activity.