How effective are those "Social Media" buttons?

37 replies
How effective are those like, or tweet, buttons on the side of a website?

Does adding a reward for using them get folks to use them?
#buttons #effective #social media
  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    I've seen people add rewards for sharing, but good content will be shared with our without a bribe.

    So many sites make the mistake of adding dozens of social site links. Stick to just the biggies, i.e. FaceBook, Twitter, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      I have had folks ask me on occasion if they could share my content from my site and even ask if they could republish it, translated to boot. My sites with the social buttons get a few clicks but not too many.

      If I had to work hard at it to get the buttons to appear, I would probably not add them.

      I think in terms of positioning on the page, that the best spot for the buttons is probably at the bottom underneath your own content, so that the visitors get the largest amount of time on your page before they go running off to tweet or post on FB.

      Both those sites are good for keeping people engaged on the page and once your visitors leave your site for another location, especially ones that are done as well as Twitter or Facebook, the odds that they will come back to your site to click or buy something are a lot smaller.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
      Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

      I've seen people add rewards for sharing, but good content will be shared with our without a bribe.

      So many sites make the mistake of adding dozens of social site links. Stick to just the biggies, i.e. FaceBook, Twitter, etc.
      I'm experimenting with one of the "reward" plugins that let's me hide a download, or some content, until the visitor gives me a like, a tweet, or a +1.

      Wondering how it works and whether to offer the "rewards" for the social plug or signing up to my list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
    Originally Posted by NRC1983 View Post

    My experience with social media in general is that has a minimal effect, but then again that has just been with my industry.
    I've been wondering about that, as I am in a non-IM industry. I'm going to set a bit of it up, but I don't know if it's good for a lot, so I've been wondering how much time to spend on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author BenFromSoMo
    I do not think they drive a great amount of clicks to my social media, but if I have an established social media presence associated with the site, I always include them simply because I think they add a bit of credibility to the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    It only takes about 5 min to add the Facebook code for a 'likes' button.

    I just checked my stats for hard numbers. One site has a page with '164 people like this.' It got 3 visitors from FB in the last 30 days.

    That's not really impressive at all now that I look at it. (sigh)
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    • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
      Originally Posted by Lloyd Buchinski View Post

      It only takes about 5 min to add the Facebook code for a 'likes' button.

      I just checked my stats for hard numbers. One site has a page with '164 people like this.' It got 3 visitors from FB in the last 30 days.

      That's not really impressive at all now that I look at it. (sigh)
      I am thinking it's three visitor's you may not have had, and if they like what they see, they may send more.

      Plus, with 164 'likes,' then you must be doing a little something right.

      Originally Posted by Fazal Mayar View Post

      They are valuable but not as much as you think. You wont get zillions of traffic because you got 30 tweets but it definitely helps for linking.
      Like Lloyd said, he only got three visitors out of 164 'likes." But, he also only put five minutes effort into something that will have a long useful life.

      Originally Posted by brunom View Post

      Not too valuable for me. In fact, I've had some website I didn't even bother to add them.
      If it only takes five minutes to set up once and be there forever, seems like a missed opportunity to not put them up.
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        I use Flexsqueeze for the most part, but Sexy Bookmarks works pretty well as far as choosing which buttons to display. I think it is a good thing to do, especially if it is an easy thing to accomplish.

        I suspect that any exposure done with good intent is good for your site and even if you just get a trickle of visitors, those are folks who might not have otherwise dropped by.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fazal Mayar
    They are valuable but not as much as you think. You wont get zillions of traffic because you got 30 tweets but it definitely helps for linking.
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  • Profile picture of the author brunom
    Not too valuable for me. In fact, I've had some website I didn't even bother to add them.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    has anyone seen this +1 google button.

    There is alot of talk about it, but do no really seen it used all that much. hmmmm.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Barker
    Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

    How effective are those like, or tweet, buttons on the side of a website?

    Does adding a reward for using them get folks to use them?
    I have not had many social media buttons hit when on my blog. But then again my blog has only been running for a little while and I am still building.

    I say it is minimal but necessary!
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    • Profile picture of the author BrandenNaka
      Originally Posted by Jeremy Barker View Post

      I have not had many social media buttons hit when on my blog. But then again my blog has only been running for a little while and I am still building.

      I say it is minimal but necessary!

      I couldn't agree more with that last part. It really might have minimal effects but if it helps just that little bit, why not?
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    • Profile picture of the author mauricedstyles
      I think that they help more than they hurt because its just an extra way to cross promote your website. You will not get to many hits but they are effective in showing that your information is available to go viral. If you are giving some useful information then your visitors can spread it a lot easier. If you are using wordpress then I recommend using sexy bookmarks.
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  • Profile picture of the author dadamson
    It's helpful, but not too much.

    They are better for news sites and regularly updating blogs.

    They work better when your traffic is sourced from social media in the first place like Facebook and Digg, etc.

    But if you are mainly concentrating on Google traffic the clicks will be lower.

    Still valuable to have them, don't get me wrong.

    I add no-follow tags to them though, keep the juice in
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    • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
      Originally Posted by dadamson View Post

      I add no-follow tags to them though, keep the juice in
      How you do that?
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

        How you do that?

        It depends on how you are gtting the buttons onto your site. They are really just images that are linked to the site they represent and you should be able to edit the attributes of the link to make it nofollow.

        Kind of like when you decide if its going to open in a new window or the same window and what the title of the link is going to be.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy22
    The problem with Facebook shares is that my friends arent interested in the same **** i am.

    If i "like" an SEO article and all my friends are into Justin Beiber and don't know what SEO is. What good is that traffic gonna do?

    Untargetted traffic sucks balls.

    People are all over this **** now because of the latest stuff about shares and tweet helping rankings. From the evidence i have seen, wall shares dont count at all, since google has no access to that data. Retweets count like normal links.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
      Originally Posted by Andy22 View Post

      The problem with Facebook shares is that my friends arent interested in the same **** i am.

      If i "like" an SEO article and all my friends are into Justin Beiber and don't know what SEO is. What good is that traffic gonna do?

      Untargetted traffic sucks balls.

      People are all over this **** now because of the latest stuff about shares and tweet helping rankings. From the evidence i have seen, wall shares dont count at all, since google has no access to that data. Retweets count like normal links.
      I'm not thinking of getting Google juice. I'm thinking my targets run in small circles, so it may be slightly targeted.
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      • Profile picture of the author LooseChange
        I simply don't understand why anybody would put links to another site on their own site unless they're paid for it? Call me a hold-out or obstructionist but Social Media is a bunch of garbage in my opinion. Those who stalemate that imbroglio from the onset will be better for it in the long run.

        No, I don't put Twitter or Facebook on my sites simply because they didn't pay me to be there. I believe that's what dictates a run-of-the-mill site from a free standing site.
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      • Profile picture of the author Andy22
        Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

        I'm not thinking of getting Google juice. I'm thinking my targets run in small circles, so it may be slightly targeted.
        Do they really? Most people Facebook are friends with there real life friends. What is your niche?
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        • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
          Originally Posted by Andy22 View Post

          Do they really? Most people Facebook are friends with there real life friends. What is your niche?
          Consultants

          I'm thinking lot of their friends will be their clients. Sure family and such in there, but also peers and clients.
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          "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

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          • Profile picture of the author Andy22
            Originally Posted by Kirk Ward View Post

            Consultants

            I'm thinking lot of their friends will be their clients. Sure family and such in there, but also peers and clients.
            Linkedin might work well for you.
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            • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
              Kirk,

              While the social media buttons may not bring in a lot of traffic .. they could easily bring in the one that decides to buy.

              Need to take into consideration that each of these buttons are leaking juice from the site and if you are not hand coding .. a lot of the plug ins and such doesn't allow for a no-follow.

              If I am using SEO as my main traffic source .. I seldom use the buttons.

              Troy
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Walker
    Quite effective in this day and age (for myself it adds approx 30% more traffic)
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  • Profile picture of the author Claire Sharp
    Social Media helps but not too much. Social Media is one way to promote products, to get traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author mediaspree
      Get them to "Like" your facebook fanpage about your site/product/business. Now anything you post to your facebook wall gets posted to their news feed, if they like what you post, theat gets posted to their friends newsfeed... and so on....and so on...
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      • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
        Originally Posted by mediaspree View Post

        Get them to "Like" your facebook fanpage about your site/product/business. Now anything you post to your facebook wall gets posted to their news feed, if they like what you post, theat gets posted to their friends newsfeed... and so on....and so on...
        Okay this may help me understand.

        If I have a Facebook button on my site, and the visitor clicks it, then is it posted to their fanpage and my stuff goes into their newsfeed?

        That could help.
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  • Profile picture of the author whitewave
    Anything except using the facebook like button is a waste of time. They clutter up your blog posts for no return. Google does not care if someone clicks the stumbleupon button. Millions upon millions of people do this daily on millions of web sites. Who cares? I say get rid of them!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
      Originally Posted by whitewave View Post

      Anything except using the facebook like button is a waste of time. They clutter up your blog posts for no return. Google does not care if someone clicks the stumbleupon button. Millions upon millions of people do this daily on millions of web sites. Who cares? I say get rid of them!
      I'm putting the Facebook, the Twitter, and the new Google +1 buttons up.

      You think that's enough? Or, too much?
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      "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

      Dr. Samuel Johnson (Presiding at the sale of Thrales brewery, London, 1781)
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    They're somewhat effective. You want them somewhere that people will see them.
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    • Profile picture of the author saiyan11
      I think it all depends. If you have good content it can be spread really fast with those buttons. Specially if you work with CPA, your content can go viral and get a lot of traffic that way.

      Saludos
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    The buttons are great !!!!!!!!!!! If you are providing excellent content that people want to share with their Social Media following. If you have the buttons on your site and nobody is using them, then I would suggest providing better content. You also need to be driving traffic to your site to get it rolling...viral baby !!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Kirk, have a look here...

    One of the Biggest Mistakes Most Consultants Make When Starting Their SEO Business

    You can see the way in which I use the social media buttons at the top of my pages. I use these with every site I develop now as part of my onsite SEO strategy. (I follow Lisa Parmely's Inline SEO program - not aff)

    Seriously, they take just a few minutes to implement, and have the potential to bring traffic your way, so what have you got to lose?
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  • Profile picture of the author b1833
    I think the effectivness of the buttons depends on the niche of the site as well. They seem to work pretty well with celebrity gossip stories as I see that kind of stuff on FB often.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ricochet
    In my opinion the SE's, specifically google, will slowly start to give more weight to a site that has been shared via social media platforms.
    The google +1 button is basically there equivalent to FB like button, I too believe this will slowly incorporate where a site may be ranked.
    It can do no harm to add social media buttons to your site/s.

    Do you use wordpress?? If so check out a plug in called "sexy bookmarks". It allows you to add these share buttons easily
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  • Profile picture of the author sonicadam123
    on one of my non-im niche sites, I do quite well from share buttons, but i find the ones that do the best for me are the none specific buttons that allow users to select like over 50+ different services, like the share this/add this buttons.

    The twitter/facebook buttons do fairly well, but it's no comparison really.

    Some artists are doing really well with offering incentives for sharing, for example Jack Johnson did with a twitter campaign, offering a free track off his new album for a tweet
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