TheVanBlog

There are many who want to look at social media in the same way they might look at search. Some want to see the direct value in social media traffic and when the traffic doesn’t lead to any meaningful conversions they want to condemn social media and proclaim it as valueless.

There is value in social media. It may not be as direct and measurable as we’d sometimes like, but the value is still there.

Consider the image below of some recent referral traffic to this site.

Stumblers clearly didn’t spend much time here. Most bounced immediately. Sphinners stayed a little longer if not a long time. The large majority still bounced. Visitors from both Webmaster-Talk and Teaching Sells on the other hand didn’t bounce nearly as much and spent considerable time on the site. Why the difference?

More Engagement There Leads to More Engagement Here

The answer is pretty simple. It’s about my own engagement on those other sites and the familiarity the visitors who came here had with me prior to visiting. It’s about brand.

While I do maintain a presence at StumbleUpon the mass of the people who found their way here did so when this page randomly appeared after stumbling. They didn’t visit because they specifically wanted to see my content. They weren’t planning on spending time here in advance. They just happened to find there way here.

Referral traffic from Sphinn likely had a little more familiarity with me and so stayed a little longer and bounced a little less. The numbers still aren’t to brag about, but that can be explained in part on the post visited, April’s This Month In SEO, which might more likely be bookmarked than consumed right away.

Now consider both Webmaster-Talk and Teaching Sells. Why did people from both sites spend so much more time here? It’s because both are sites where I’ve spent a considerable amount of time engaging with the community. Visitors from both were planning on spending time here before they arrived.

My brand and engagement is stronger in those communities and consequently the communities were predisposed to engaging with me here.

Social Media Extends Brand Reach

The ability to build your brand through social media is perhaps the greatest marketing value you can derive from it.

I’ve never been to any of the Barnes & Nobles in San Francisco. But having become familiar with the store in other cities I wouldn’t hesitate to walk into one in San Francisco. If I was in San Francisco and wanted a book I’d seek out the store. My experience at one store is transferred in my mind to the other stores.

Having become familiar with me and my brand at Webmaster-Talk and Teaching Sells people had no hesitation spending time here. They sought me out based on an experience I provided on those sites. I’ve extended the reach of my brand to those communities.

Not everything needs to happen on your site. Part of the conversion process can take place elsewhere.

The Value Of Social Media

Most of the value in social media is indirect. You may have one popular post bring traffic from StumbleUpon, see similar numbers to those shown above, and come to the conclusion there was little value in it. That’s not the case.

There may not be direct and measurable value in a single submission, but there is value. A series of submissions to the same social site will likely lead to less bounce and more time on your site. Why? Because it takes more than one submission to build your brand.

One submission people don’t know who you are. Five submissions over the course of a month and they begin to.

When developing a social media marketing strategy think long term. Think about how you want others to perceive your brand and act accordingly.

Social media provides an opportunity to extend the reach of your brand without having to spend a fortune. You still need to do the building, but the cost is minimal in comparison to the alternatives. A quick spurt of traffic from a popular submission looks great in your stats, but it’s the longer term where the true benefit of social media is realized.

Popularity: 37% [?]

How does a website evolve from a concept into a finished design? Where does the concept come from? What steps take place along the way to turn a blank piece of paper into a fully functioning website? To answer these questions I thought it might be fun to give you a visual tour of my own design process in creating this site.
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Popularity: 26% [?]

The first This Month In SEO on the new site. Does it feel any different? The post should look familiar, but the title is new. Some constructive criticism from Lyndon Antcliff after last month’s post is responsible for the change.
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Popularity: 100% [?]

In my last post welcoming you to the new site James asked a question in the comments.

Was curious though, as why you chose to redesign the site and move the domain, looking forward to hearing your post about everything.

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Popularity: 50% [?]

Hopefully I’ve done a good job and made a smooth transition and you’ve found your way to the new site safe and sound. As you can see a lot has changed from the old site so feel free to look around and make yourself at home.
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Popularity: 60% [?]

Thought I’d give you all an update on the domain move. I think I’ll have everything done by tomorrow, but I’ll likely hold off on moving till sometime late in the day or evening on Friday. Things should be a little slower over the weekend and moving will probably be a little less disruptive at that time. While I’m doing what I can to ensure a smooth move I assume I’ll break a few things along the way and hopefully the weekend will allow some time to sort out the most major of breaks.
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Popularity: 54% [?]

Some of you know I’ve been planning on moving this entire site to a new domain for a little while. Ok, longer than a little while. I’ve been working on a new site for a few months and I think this will be the week where the move finally happens. Let me emphasize the word think in the previous sentence. It’s possible something will come up (those pesky clients) to keep me from the last few details or I’ll discover something that needs to be done that I haven’t thought about. I’m pretty sure though, that sometime later this week everything you see here now will be sitting somewhere else.
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Popularity: 49% [?]

• Anything worth remarking upon.
• Remarkable is better, different, unique, opposed, original - to the nth degree.
• The further away you get from the standard, from the accepted, from the norm, from the status quo, from the ordinary, the more remarkable you are.
• You can be remarkably good and you can be remarkably bad.
• Remarkable doesn’t mean success. Success doesn’t require remarkable. But both often come hand in hand.
• Remarkable is not easy. Remarkable is not safe.
• Remarkable gathers attention to itself.
• Remarkable stands out, stands in front of, and stands apart from.
• If no one is talking about it, it isn’t remarkable.
• Remarkable is only remarkable in comparison to that which is not remarkable.
• A black and white cow is not remarkable. A purple cow is remarkable. A purple cow in a field of purple cows is not remarkable. A black and white cow in a field of purple cows is remarkable.

Are you remarkable? Is your blog remarkable? Can you become remarkable? What do you find remarkable? What does remarkable mean to you?

Popularity: 49% [?]

Last October I signed up as one of the initial members or Teaching Sells. The course has been a valuable and eye opening experience for me and I’ve learned a lot during the past few months. For awhile now Teaching Sells has been offering a one week trial for $1, which is a great bargain given the usual $97 for three months of access. However, the trial offer is coming to an end tomorrow (April 17th, 2008 at noon eastern time) so if you’ve been wondering what’s inside and thinking about joining there’s no better time than now.
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Popularity: 47% [?]

As some of you know I’m an admin at the Webmaster-Talk forums and have been a member there for over two years. Last week Webmaster-Talk grew significantly as it merged with EarnersForum and to celebrate WT is running a contest with 5 winners each receiving a prize package worth $25,000.
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Popularity: 48% [?]