Two Overlooked Social Media Sites That Hate Marketers BUT Can Drive

Insane Traffic

How Popular Are These Sites?

• Stumbleupon claims to have 20 million+ registered users (actives not mentioned)

• Reddit’s traffic stats…

For December, 2011

So Just How Much Traffic Is Insane?

Wait?!? What Happened?

• Example of traffic spike at Rapidtask.com from Reddit.

• Went from 600-700 daily visitor average to over 10,000 in one day from just one comment thread.

• Posts in popular sub-reddits can get even more traffic….

After 1 day being on the front page of r/pics this photo had 478,819 views! Insane? You bet!!!

Ok, so Reddit can send me traffic, but what about StumbleUpon?

Those numbers are OK but not insane.• This is from an auto insurance site I own. • I’d occasionally ‘thumbs upped’ my own content

but it never got traction• Started using SocialADR • Went from 0-3 visits per day prior to March 4th to

60 visitors on March 6th

• Then 20-30 for the rest of the month• Stopped using SocialADR on March 28th but biggest

day was April 24th with 71 visits • Insurance is tough niche to promote in social

media. So over 1,700 visits in 2 months is pretty good IMHO.

Conclusion: Both Reddit and StumbleUpon Can Send Insane Traffic

• However they send it in very different ways• Reddit is like a sprint. Quick short burst of extreme

activity.• Whereas StumbleUpon is like a marathon. Much

longer and slower intensity.• Reddit can send up to 500,00 visits to your website

in a 48 hour period – but then drops back to previous norm

• StumbleUpon rarely sends more than 10,000 in any burst but can keep sending 100s per day for months.

That’s All Great But What About SEO?• Reddit offers dofollow links from a PR8 domain,

BUT only if your article has a positive vote count.• Stumbleupon also offers dofollow links from a

PR7 domain, BUT only for really popular content.• Popular content on both Reddit and

Stumbleupon tends to get shared on other social media sites AND can also result in links from blogs and sites covering a topic.

How does it work?

Sub-Reddits

What are popular sub-reddits?

• r/pics – 1.7 million subscribers• r/funny – 1.7 million subscribers• r/gaming – 1.4 million subscribers• r/WTF – 1.3 million subscribers• r/Technology - 1.1 million subscribers

Who are Redditors?

• Predominantly young males under 35.• Most are from the US.• Varies widely by sub-reddit

What do they like?• Bacon, Narwhals and Cats• Memes

What do they like?• Bacon, Narwhals and Cats• Memes• Technology and gaming• HOWEVER…• You can find a sub-reddit for just about any topic• The important thing to remember is: what you

submit has to fit the sub-reddit• Then you get the upvotes and the sweet, sweet

karma! (Plus a dofollow link from a PR8 site)

What don’t they like

• Republicans• Christians• reposts• Any obvious attempt at marketing!

If you submit content that is obviously marketing material you will get down voted and no one will see your post .

How Does Work?

• To discover new sites hit stumble• Thumbs up sites you like • Thumbs down sites you don’t

Differences And Similarities To Reddit• Stumbleupon has a more diverse user base – more

women and a bigger age range• Stumbleupon is more of a discovery engine than

social news/information site – ‘looking for the next new thing’

• Results from Stumbleupon tend to be more diverse• Stumble based on interests similar to subscribing

to sub-reddits• Stumbleupon users also dislike marketing, but if

you get a ‘power user’ to thumbs up your content many people will still see it

How Can We Successfully Market On Reddit And/Or Stumbleupon

• Write really in-depth informative content on a topic of interest to the users we want to target

• Create eye-catching infographics that contain real, useful information

• Create an amusing meme • Make sure our landing pages don’t look like

we are selling something!

If That Fails We Can Always Pay• Both Stumbleupon and Reddit have paid adverting

opportunities. • Stumbleupon paid discovery starts at $0.05 per

stumble• Reddit’s system is a bit more complex. Basically

you pay as little as $20 per day and get a portion of ad displays, which depends in part how much other advertisers are spending.

Does it work?

Conclusions• Reddit and Stumbleupon can send insane

amounts of traffic!• BUT we can’t seem like we are marketing to

people• Successful content needs to be targeted to the

right users and tends to be either informative or funny

• If we don’t get enough initial success we can pay to be featured and possibly gain traction

Thank You! Any Questions?