Does social media really make a difference to blogging?

[Kelly (Diva Booknerd)]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the group, but have been blogging for a little while, and been on Goodreads a while longer. I've noticed that a fair percentage of bloggers also use social media sites to raise the profile of their blog.

I'm curious to whether this makes a big difference in readership. I'm not a tweeter or facebooker, and really have no idea what 'pinning' something even means. Would love to hear members thoughts on how they get themselves out there.

Thanks peoples
Ramblings of a Diva Booknerd

[Leigh]

Ever since I joined Twitter, I've been getting a lot of visitors in my blog. But being active (leaving comments on other blogs) is the biggest factor I think.

[Thomas]

Hi Kelly...

I've had my blog about 13 months, and I can tell you, it wouldn't amount to squat without facebook and goodreads. Think of the blog as the hub of a wheel, and all the media sites as the spokes. I have my blog connected so all my posts to go facebook, digg, tumbler, stumbleupon, linkedin, google+, and twitter. Folks who I've befriended on those various sites talk to me directly on them, but anything I want to broadcast goes up on my blog. Hope that helps :)

Thomas

[Stephanie]

I've had a blog with and without social media. Social media makes all the difference.

[Steven]

I'm with them. GR, FB, and G+ gets people to my website then to the blog there then even to the stuff about my book.

[Sadie]

I'd have to say yes. When I look at my analytics I see Twitter and Goodreads as fairly frequent referrals. Not so much FB or G+ though, but to be fair I'm not particularly active on them.

[Jill]

Here are some of my facts. Just FYI..

Goodreads accounts for 40% traffic
Direct traffic 31% (this could be from anywhere)
Facebook 13%
Twitter 5%
All other direct links are under 5%

Goodreads is my #1 place for people clicking my links into my site. It would be interesting if I could see stats like this on my book sales hu???

Thanks & hope this helps.

[Sandy S]

I have a book review website-The Reading Cafe

28,000+ hits daily
900,000+ hits per month
1,200+ visits per day
2,924 members to date
1,513 Twitter followers
1,242 Facebook followers


but, when an author or publisher looks at the website they tend to look at the 'comments' under the posts. I have heard from ONE author who refused an ARC saying there were not enough comments on previous reviews and interviews to make it worth the effort.

I explained that the majority of the visitors are reading the reviews and interviews. Very few people stop to comment unless there is a giveaway or something controversial to say.

I sent the stats and the publisher/promoter immediately send me an e-arc. Sometimes what isn't seen is the most important

We post at The Reading Cafe, Goodreads, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.uk, Barnes and Noble, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn as well as several other media sites.

[J.]

That's a great point, Sandy. I have thousands of visits to my blog each month, but I only get scattered comments. I'm guilty of the same thing myself--I read a lot of blog posts, but I don't always stop to say so. And hey, sometimes that's because I clicked on a link to find out more about their book or product. I can only hope people don't comment much because they're busy jumping off to buy my latest book. :)