Taking a completely random survey of the Internet over the past year or so, by throwing a rock in any given direction, you’re bound to find more than one article about this hip new thing called Social Media Marketing. It’s different from search engine marketing in the sense that you’re optimizing your content through making it genuinely interesting rather than making it easier for search engines to read. A common up-hill battle many people face is doing these both at the same time, but that’s an article for another day.
What I’m here to talk to you about today, specifically, is StumbleUpon, and the arguments I typically hear for and against it.
StumbleUpon accounts for X% of the traffic my blog receives
You’ll often hear some success stories from people preaching this ubiquitous service, quoting parts of their analytics application, revealing insane traffic spikes. Some people even accomplish upwards of tripling their traffic just by getting a few people to hit the thumbs up.
Unfortunately, what they’ve forgotten to tell you is that traffic from StumbleUpon tends to be that of very fickle people. These are the people who are looking for pretty pictures, list posts, and some form of political argument. If you have a gorgeous, yet politically charged, photo next to the catchiest title in the world, you’ll probably get some decent traffic. Unfortunately, if your blog post is focused on fixing your finances (or web development…) and isn’t in the form of “Best Tools for X,” don’t expect a bounce rate lower than 75% and definitely don’t expect the average time on-site to be higher than 30 seconds.
StumbleUpon is the worst source for conversion rates ever
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the other kind of person obsessed with numbers, just in a negative way. These are the ones who put tracking numbers on every letter they send just to make sure they can obsessively check which marketing material has done its job.
These people are the ones who will complain about anything they don’t feel is worth their time and StumbleUpon is definitely one of the opportunities in their firing lines.
They feel that the two or three new readers from a successful StumbleUpon campaign are not worth the time it took to submit a review. While I can see the point here, and the frustration, any new reader, to me, is worth much more than that.
StumbleUpon… Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of that
This is what you’ll typically hear from bloggers who aren’t concerned with traffic, an audience, making money online, visibility, or even making it through the month. You’ll recognize them by their long, in-depth content with no particular purpose other than to express how they feel.
They don’t know what StumbleUpon is, what it does, or how it works. They just write away until their little hearts’ content and move along at a later date.
Unfortunately, this is the boat Butch and I fall into.
I use that to find cool pictures!
Another kind of blogger who might be considered out-of-the-know, these people might not even be bloggers at all. In fact, they account for the high bounce rates and low time-on-page metrics, because all they want is a pretty picture, a funny joke, or a junk e-mail to pass along. Don’t worry too much about pleasing these people if you have any actual content, because you won’t. Don’t sell out and put up some pictures just for them. Granted, it’s a good idea either way. I just don’t like pictures.
Yeah, I love it! By the way, plz like and review!
Oh, the world of the SU spammer. These are the people who start following you at 3:32 AM. They seem nice enough, but when you add them, suddenly you’re flooded with bizarre pages which have no relevance to your interests whatsoever.
Most spammers find SU very beneficial, as most don’t have the heart to Just Say No. Unfortunately, this won’t change any time soon, so it’s best to just remove them and move along.
While I’m positive I’ve missed many schools of thought on StumbleUpon, I think most people fit into one of the above. Whether they brag or complain about metrics, chances are they are incapable of seeing the other side.
If you find people to be completely clueless as to the advantages (Me, for example), you should enlighten them, as they’ll quickly succumb to the logic and jump on the bandwagon.
If you find people to be spammers, however, ignore them immediately.
No, I will not like and review. Not even if you say, “Please.”
