Maybe this link will show where I stand on it.

In English … and then French.

:0

- mike vizdos

I would have to say social media has a lower ROI for advertising companies but social media has higher ROI for people monitoring Brand Management and Online Reputation Management. I write a few times a week in my twitter account but not as much as other people. I do monitor what people say about clients and for news stories though. I guess I need to dip more into social media and work on my linked in profile.

As some other people above have mentioned Stumble Upon does offer some spikes in traffic, but I don’t know what the long range pay off that will bring.

All of this is a constant learning experience, and I can appreciate people like you who have to be on the cutting edge. But it seems the cutting edge gets dull very quickly! Not that you aren’t sharp! What I’m trying to say is that there seems to be this ever forward push with trying to stay on top and in front of everything that never truly works for everyone except for a few people. I think you need to think long term and work on it little by little.

My best advice would be to check your Google analytics against all these social media forms.

Twitter is good fun. I wish more people would chat back when I talk to them. That is my biggest beef. I haven’t tried Plurk yet.

PS I hope you had a good holiday in France.
Ellen

You got yourself a backlink (even though they are no-followed, they do help in my opinion), got your name out there with other top internet marketers and showed you know what you are talking about.

http://guydz.com/moneypowerwisdom/dont-waste-time-on-social-networks/

Important to spend time thinking about.

All success
Dr.Mani

I rather agree with Alex … do a good job on
my blog and the rest of my site, throw in some
SEO and PPC, if necessary … and shazaam!

Meaning, if anyone wants to share me, my blog
or my site — they can take it to the social
media groupies.

In my limited experience, and for what I do
(copywriting), I only need real business owners,
with real needs that I can provide.

OK, that’s my 2 cents!

Ciao,

Carolyn

The only consistent exception is SU, but that’s only really true when somebody else has Stumbled your site.

The best traffic is and always will be organic – direct links and direct searches.

In terms of using social media, it has its pros and cons. I still regularly submit and upmod things on Reddit, but I avoid the comments area totally now, as it’s littered with trolls and the powers-that-be at Reddit do absolutely nothing about it. It’s getting ridiculous now. Reddit becomes more and more like Digg with each passing week.

Like you Chris, I closed my Facebook account a few months back as I was fed up with all the spam and trivial nonsense. I haven’t missed it at all.

I use Twitter from time to time, and Plurk even less, but I’m certainly not a major convert to those mediums. I’ve seen some bloggers move almost completely over to them, even to the point of ignoring their own blog. I think clearly for some the reason they got into blogging was to meet and chat with other people, and once you’ve nailed that on Twitter (or wherever), their previous goals shift a little.

Hand on heart, for most people – 90 per cent of all bloggers – I think social media is a waste of time, both in terms of using it to promote your blog/website and actually being social on there. For the ‘A-listers’, it’s great, as they can very easily build a massive following and pretty much anything they do at this stage is going to be a winner in terms of ROI.

For everybody else – bar the occasional burst of traffic that has a moderate impact on your ad impressions – I don’t think it’s of much benefit, and it’s certainly, IMO, a lot less useful than actually getting involved in the blogging community of your niche, and ensuring your take care of the people who are kind enough to grace and involve themselves in your own site.

Between your e-book and other information that I have collected from sites like yours, Darren’s, Jai’s and others, I started working on the social networking thing. So far I have signed up on StumbleUpon and MyBlogLog. I still can’t quite figure out MyBlogLog. I had already come to the conclusion that I need to find two or three and focus on them when I have the time. My short term goals are two-fold: drive traffic to my site, and branding.

Thanks for the info, I need all the help I can get.

I think like anything, it should be done with specific goals in mind. Even if you don’t have specific goals, at least start with a specific amount of time…then work into setting specific goals.

I primarily use social media not for traffic, but to find ideas and inspiration. As Tony mentioned above, if you focus your time improving your site and content, you’ll be a lot further ahead. People will find your site and share it on the social networks anyways (if it’s good).

Following people in other areas I think has only expanded my ability to see a larger picture and has helped me make unexpected connections (not with people, in my mind) where I wouldn’t have otherwise really thought about it.

Just my take, not that there’s anything wrong with the way you do it.

Great conversation.

Facebook – Support Analytics Insights Group (not just my profile, but another why to spread the word about data analysis and how it can help further your career in any industry)

LinkedIn – I keep it updated, but am still figuring out how to best utilize it.

Twitter – I have learned a TON from others in the same industry. The key is to focus on your market/industry. Don’t just have it open and send junk messages all day about eating ice cream or I just went potty, etc.

Blog – Definitely the most import tool yet.

Thanks Chris for an excellent post!