How I Rank The Top Social Media Sites For Business Purposes

Facebook was (and is) huge.

Then, Twitter was supposed to be a potential “facebook killer”. People flocked to it. Social media gurus and marketers all went into hyperdrive to add as many followers as possible.

Then, Google+. A new “facebook killer”. People flocked to it. The social media gurus and marketers all went into hyperdrive to…. yeah, you guessed it.

As a blogger, we sit here, heads shaking, wondering where to dedicate our energy.

ByDavid Risley Posted on
19 Comments

Facebook was (and is) huge.

Then, Twitter was supposed to be a potential “facebook killer”. People flocked to it. Social media gurus and marketers all went into hyperdrive to add as many followers as possible.

Then, Google+. A new “facebook killer”. People flocked to it. The social media gurus and marketers all went into hyperdrive to…. yeah, you guessed it.

As a blogger, we sit here, heads shaking, wondering where to dedicate our energy.

I mean, we don’t have TIME to be active in all these of these networks. At least if you want to accomplish anything else, too. Honestly, some of these folks who are posting things all day… I don’t know how the HELL they do that and manage to get anything else done. Perhaps they don’t. 😉

I’ll tell you how I see these networks today.

Facebook > Google+ > Twitter

And, depending on your market, I’d probably even throw LinkedIn in there… but BEFORE Twitter.

Twitter

In other words, I now look at Twitter as the least effective social network, in terms of time spent. Today, I primarily use Twitter to share cool blog posts (including my own) and keep in touch with people I already know in my niche. I am not actively trying to expand my network there. If people want to connect with me – cool! I’ll get into conversations and reply to anybody.

But, I don’t really look at Twitter as an effective BROADCAST tool. And I say that because I know many bloggers take to Twitter as if it is going to be their ticket to fame. The truth is… the noise level is so high over there now that it is really only effective for communicating to core groups (aka lists).

Today, your best use of Twitter is to connect with individual people. Broadcasting on Twitter still has its place, but the noise level has made it much less effective (and a bit of an echo chamber).

Google+

Google+ has been, for me, like that weird todo list item that I know I need to do, but I keep forwarding it to the next day.

Like many, my first reaction was… “You mean I have ANOTHER place I’m supposed to be?”

And, so, I haven’t been that active (at least until recently).

But, I believe Google+ is a very effective social network in terms of ROI on time. The level of interaction is much better. There’s none of that stupid Edgerank stuff to deal with. And, especially with some of the recent changes to the Google search results, building up your influence on Google+ is likely to help you with your SEO, too.

So, I’m now making a more concerted effort to be active on Google+. I’ll at least check in on it once or twice per day now. If only they would release a freakin’ API! 😉

  • Circle me up on Google+
  • If you wanna learn the ropes, you might want to check out Chris Brogan’s book, Google+ For Business. The guy has been kicking ass on G+, so he knows his stuff. Probably a good Kindle read. Plus, he calls me “handsome Dave”, and that deserves a shout out. 😉

Facebook

Ahhhh…. Facebook. Face it, we’ve all been “zucked”. Quickly approaching the 1 BILLION registered user mark, Facebook is the big kahuna. But, it isn’t just about registered userbase… it is also about engagement.

See, the truth is that most people who have a Twitter account simply tweet a few things, then get bored and never return. With Facebook, most of their userbase is actively engaged. A huge chunk of them go to the site each and every day. Pretty much regardless of what niche you’re in, your readers are on Facebook. The same can’t be said about G+ or Twitter.

For this reason, building your presence on Facebook is also a very effective use of time for any blogger. Building your community on a Facebook page or opening up your personal profile to subscribers is a good idea. You can also experiment with Facebook advertising. The audience is there and they can be targeted quite nicely by Facebook’s system.

  • Connect with me on Facebook.
  • To learn some really effective ways to build your community, I highly encourage you to register for this webinar with Lewis Howes and Amy Porterfield. It has been making the rounds online (due to their launch), but I attended it and it is indeed info-packed. Definitely worth an hour of your time if you’re AT ALL serious about building your biz on Facebook. Which, considering almost 1 BILLION people on there… you can do it. 🙂

Your Own Approach

So for me, I focus on Facebook, then G+, then Twitter. Honestly, I’m probably dropping the ball on LinkedIn… I know it is valuable, but I guess I just don’t have the throughput. But, I check in on it every week or two.

So, what’s the priority for you?

How do you find yourself dealing with all these social networks now? Are you getting in on G+?

Post your comment below and let me and the community know. 🙂 See ya down there.

19 Comments

  1. I have been refining and expanding my social media use in the past year or so, and I have been most impressed with how much traffic (and subscribers!) Pinterest has brought me. I would say it’s second only to Facebook for me. G+ is obvious given the SEO benefits at very least. LinkedIn….yeah, I can invest some more time into that platform, most likely.

    All that said, I like Twitter for a place to hold and participate in real-time, super-engaging live convo events – aka Twitter Parties. You set a time and date a few days prior, choose a specific topic to discuss and a unique hashtag that people can use to find and join the convo, and post about it on your other networks. This has been very fun, incredibly engaging, and has also resulted in a lot of follows, retweets, and email subs as well. Just a thought for those who are thinking Twitter’s on its way out.. 😉

  2. I have found that, although Google+ may not have the MOST users in terms of numbers, but the users that are on there are the most PASSIONATE. I like how Google+ takes the best of Facebook (the ability to post more than 140 characters) and allows us to create special groups (circles). Joining (or creating) specific niche circle on Google+ creates a community of passionate, active, and engaged members.

    Oddly, I have received a TON of business via LinkedIn. But, to get value, you have to invest time in responding to questions in your niche area. Post-for-post, I get more return on LinkedIn than any other network, with Google+ coming in a very close second. Twitter? Nah… Like you, Twitter is on the bottom of my list right now.

    The key is to choose the social networks where your AUDIENCE hangs out, then devote your time there. As you said: who has time to be on all these networks?

  3. Different medias effect differently on business. It is not possible that you take similar result from different medias like facebook, twitter, google+ etc. Every media has its own effect on business. You have to measure the result for checking that which media is working more effectively for your business.

  4. Google+ is the least I use and twitter the most I use.

    I know FB has the greatest potential so far but man, with so many freaking LOLcats, quotes, villages over water pics, nobody… NOBODY is paying attention to blog posts.Or… maybe they are but from my timeline, they are just publishing stupid shit 99.9% of the time.

    I keep getting added to groups, to like pages, to see somebody I can save if I like the page, honestly, FB is nothing but a freaking attention span sucker for me.

    I do agree that twitter sucks today.

    1 out of 15 tweets I get on my timeline, is an actual broadcast of someone saying something, not just somebody sending links left and right (and I’m VERY picky to choose who I follow)

    Might have to re-do my broadcast strategy because honestly, people are not picking those broadcasts like they used to do before.

  5. Could these pitiful numbers be the result of poorly managed pages, not providing value or listening to the Audience.
    Several; of our pages continue to grow in fan numbers, mostly through fan referral, and of course sales continue to grow weekly directly form Facebook.
    We have implemented to 10-4-1 rule with success and also ASK a lot of questions

  6. The tail is wagging the dog now!
    As more of these social media sites come on line we feel we need to post to them in order to keep up with the competition. In the future more are going to come on line and we will busier than ever perhaps to the detriment of our business. I would like to see an article on software out there that allows you to post as quickly and efficiently to all these media sites

    1. Software as you mention is available in many forms, but I am seeing a danger of misuse. Some Marketers are losing the “identity” and “credibility” by having the SAME information spread across the Social Scene.
      People belong  to many groups and when the SAME message instantly showws up across the board it seems to lose its PUNCH.
      We are not numbers oriented rather on selected,  quality Clients; so Focusing more narrowly and with relevance works better for our Strategy, so we do not Automate

  7. It seems as time goes on we are faced with ever-growing complexity when it comes to technology. Wasn’t the promise of technology to make our lives easier?? I want to sell some books and do some public speaking and yet as you say there is this new thing I need to be involved in to grow my business. Yikes!  I read your Blogger Blueprint book and got alot out of it. Set up an email responder thingy and a great PayPal order page. Then I found out I need to spend time getting back links…Oh god! That’s when I scaled everything back and went back to using the telephone…call me Amish Boy. I put less time into twitter, facebook etc and use my web site as an online brochure and blog as further education for future client.

    Unless there is something that can take care of the complexity of it all…especially the headache of trolling for backlinks (and not a $30,000 Ad account) I guess I’ll stick with the real world.

    1. I like your style William. My situation is somewhat parallel. I agree with David in his “ranking”.
      But the Social media venues have been very rewarding in developing Inbound marketing Leads that have developed into solid client relationships through Traditional Methods…
      Telephone and Face-toFace

  9. I think its a waste of time to focus so much energy on having a “presence” inside of each of these social media “clubs”. 

    The most popular in my opinion is twitter and will remain because people like anonymous use.  Facebook will fall off as most people I talk to are creeped out by the privacy issues. 

    Notice you have more tweets than anything else. 

  10. I think it all depends on your business and your goals, the way I see it Twitter is a place to shoot links out all day, Facebook is a place to market to the general public, ideal for local businesses, and G+ is ideal for tech people and industries.

    That being said big brands need to be on all 3, others not so much. Myself I’m on all 3 but use them to different degrees. I personally prefer G+ to the other 2, but Twitter and FB make me more money, so for now I’m more active there.

  11. First, I don’t do as much social anymore because the conversion rate and return on effort compared to link building or putting out more content.  A lot of auto Facebook/twitter posts now.

    Second, relative traffic numbers LinkedIn sent 5,200, Twitter 208, Facebook 158.Third, if you are a B2C LinkedIn might not be relevant.  If you are a B2B user – promoting articles, answering questions, and being active on LinkedIn is the highest return on social available.  LinkedIn provided 13 leads in that time period.  Twitter 2.  Both sub 1% conversion rate.  While not social, in the traditional sense slideshare offered us a 3.6% conversion rate.  Each niche/site needs to identify and utilize the sites that work well for it.

  12. I think if you already mess up with all those things before Google+ is the right place and right time to start it fresh. But please don’t make a same mistake. Also plan your approach, segregate yourself in the right circles-if not it will end the same old story.

  13. I actually completely deleted my Facebook account on January 2nd. I have a profile I created ONLY to admin business pages of my own, and that I am paid to operate. 

    I know there is way too many people on FB to throw it completely away, so I still use it for promotional purposes, but for personal…. I found it a huge TIMESUCK (one of your words).  

    Twitter is still up and down for me, when I use it, I find some value.

    Google Plus on the other hand is a nice, refreshing, network. I find a ton of info and various topics. I find it easy to use. And you can’t ignore the search benefits….

    I don’t think anything is a FB killer, I just think different types of people can benefit from different networks….

  14. Certainly agree with your thoughts on Google+, seems like there is a never ending list of new social places we are “expected” to be. With networks such as Pinterest growing fairly quickly it appears as though that list is not going to get any shorter lol.

    My primary focus is also Facebook – with its total user base expected to hit a billion people in august I don’t expect my approach to change any time soon.

    I also find myself spending the least amount of time on twitter, however I do feel that it provides a powerful platform for personal branding and connecting with your market.

    Great post 🙂

    1. I think Pinterest is just a fad. A short-term fad, kinda like Quora. Early adopters flock to it for a bit, but once they realize nobody else is, it won’t be a big deal anymore.

      1. Actually, for me, it is all about whether you promote a sport or something that can provide great images, Pinterest might be worth considering if they do. I’d be interested to hear your views on that…

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