One of the things I really wanted to do in 2014 was work on my social media. I’m on Twitter a LOT but I tend to neglect the other forms of social media on my blog like Facebook and Pinterest, and let’s be honest — I have no idea what I’m doing on Tumblr.
There are SO many forms of social media to use for your blog that I really wanted to explore what other bloggers had to say and see what we think is best for our blogs. I created the “Seriously Social Survey” to check out what other bloggers had to say! I collected all the data, spent lots and lots of time on this infographic and HERE IT IS!
So what do you guys think? Agree with the general results? Twitter seemed to take the cake on almost everything, including most visually appealing which I was actually surprised about!
THE NEGATIVES
- FACEBOOK. Facebook was declared the least popular form of social media. You guys said that Facebook is the social media site that’s on its way out, especially with Facebook users having to pay for ads in order to reach news feeds. This pretty much renders most blog Facebook pages useless, in my personal opinion. I know I’ve noticed that I’m getting FAR less views on my Facebook posts and that really discourages me to use it as a form of social media because it becomes far more work than it’s worth. That seems to be a general consensus with Facebook also being the website that was voted the most work to maintain and a chore to keep updated.
- DRAMA. There seems to be an increase in author/blogger drama this year (which I try my best to avoid!) with the most drama-filled websites being Twitter (61%) and Goodreads following (19%).
- TOO MANY SOCIAL MEDIA SITES. Like blogging, updating social media should be fun, but there’s no denying that sometimes trying to cover all the bases gets overwhelming. If you try to keep up with all of the social media sites you can use to promote your blog, it becomes quite a chore to post to ALL of them. We already mentioned that Facebook was the biggest chore, but Pinterest wasn’t too far behind. Juuuuust behind Pinterest were Goodreads (which I was surprised!) and Twitter (even more surprised).
IMPORTANT THINGS TO TAKE AWAY
- TWITTER IS KING. Twitter is the winner for almost all of the positives and seems to be a crucial way to interact with bloggers, authors, AND publishers. Ever since I joined Twitter, I can clearly see how it’s the most valuable social media site for bloggers! Even with its occasional drama, it’s still the most important blogging tool when it comes to social media, and there are ways to avoid the drama if you don’t want to see it in your feed. It was also a landslide vote that aside from directly emailing an author or publisher, Twitter was the best way to interact with them!
- UP-AND-COMING SOCIAL MEDIA. Twitter was also voted the most up-and-coming social media site, but that may be because it’s just so dang popular. The survey-takers also had their eye on Tumblr and Instagram being used more and more for promoting blog posts and reaching out to followers. What else do we need to keep an eye out for? StumbleUpon, Snapchat, and Vines. StumbleUpon isn’t so much used for social media but is a good place to start posting your blog posts to help get them out there in the blogosphere!
- DONT OVER PROMOTE. It can be a little overwhelming with bloggers promoting their posts all over the internet. I think the most important thing is to make sure you mix it up! I totally think it’s okay to promote your links a few times a day on places like Twitter where information comes and goes within minutes or even seconds before it’s out of sight, but Twitter also really supports our blogging community and it’s also where we talk to each other. If ALL you’re doing on Twitter is promoting yourself, it’ll get tiring fast. I asked if using a large amount of social media and various forms is helpful or hurtful and 27% people agreed HELPFUL — you need to connect with people wherever you can. A whopping 71% of people said it’s a mix of both. It’s helpful to cross-promote, using different sites to reach different groups of people but seeing the same links over and over can get tiresome. Only 2% said that large amounts of social media is absolutely hurtful.
- NEW SITES CREATED BY BLOGGERS. There are some awesome new sites made just for bloggers by bloggers. If you’re not aware of them yet, you should definitely go check out BookBlogging.net and Literally.io! They’re still being developed although BookBlogging.net has been around for longer and is much further developed at this point, definitely keep a lookout for both of these to really start taking off!
SOUND BITES FROM THE BLOGGERS
- “FB on its way out is maybe more wishful thinking than anything else. I’ve never used it for blogging, only personal, and I hate how it works. I think if everyone who complained about it would stop using it, instead of sticking with it out of habit, the site would lose a lot of its power to do anything for its advertisers with no regard for its users.” (Maybe we should all stop using it… I actually think I might shut mine down soon seeing the results of this survey!)
- “My only comment is about over promoting. Making sure you space out your tweets, making them interesting without all ME ME ME. It’s difficult and I think it takes time and finesse to get there. Also, people need to turn off their Pinterest updates via Twitter. No one needs to see that.” (See: overpromoting.)
- “I don’t really distinguish between my personal and ‘blog’ social media. I don’t want social media to feel like it’s a chore or a job and I’m not so worried about privacy, so I don’t see the need (plus I do social media for work, so this would be triple rather than double duty for me).” (I totally agree with this! My personal life, although initially completely separate, easily seeps into my blogging social media accounts. I often Tweet about daily life and post personal pictures on Instagram as well!)
- “I try to only post positive things on social media and only @ authors if my review is a 4 or 5. I have no desire to get sucked into the drama.” (Yay, no drama! I still post my negative reviews but I don’t mention the authors or publicists on Twitter if it’s a negative or generally blah review.)
GIVEAWAY
So that’s it for the Seriously Social Survey! I hope you guys got some great insights and I have to thank you again for all of the awesome responses!
Now that we’ve got some fresh ideas and thoughts from other bloggers, let’s get connected! In 2014, I really wanted to work on connecting with people through social media other than Twitter. Let’s get together! If you already follow me through various social media sites, you get bonus entires in the giveaway below! Don’t follow yet? It’s never too late! Let me know what social media sites you use and I can follow you back!
Enter to win this stack of books! One winner will receive them all! It’s a mix of ARCs, hardcovers, and paperbacks (and the one on the top is a spiral-bound copy of The Break-Up Artist). Good luck!!!
Must be 13 or older to enter — Sorry, US and Canada only!
47 thoughts on “Seriously Social! Survey, Infographic, and Giveaway”
I should probably use Twitter more regularly. I am kind of sporadic in my use just cause i’m the least comfortable with it and. But when I do use it I use it to chat. I have automatic tweeting when a new blog post goes up but they always happen at the oddest hours – like 3am EST so I don’t think they do much promoting hah. I get why it is so popular though. It is pretty great.
I am kind of glad that Facebook is on its way out because I rarely if ever go on Facebook so Ash and I haven’t made a page for our blog and I don’t think I follow anyone that way either.
I do love instragram! I love photography and I love staying in touch with everyone this way. I was late in the game making a blog account but I am having so much fun with it now. I am actually logged into my blog account more than I am my personal account!
This survey/infographic was so great, Brittany! Thanks for sharing!!
This is totally awesome. Thank you for putting it together. I just finally joined Pinterest, but now see that it may not be worth the effort, but it’s kinda fun so what the heck. I love Twitter. In fact, i’m kind of addicted. But i’m going on a twitter holiday next week.
I can definitely see why twitter is the most popular and yes FB is getting annoying with needing to pay to show your content. Book blogs just can’t afford to promote posts on a regular basis. Excellent infographic, great work putting it together and doing all the work to do the survey.
Thank you so much for this infographic, it’s so enlightening! I really did expect Twitter to come out on top – it’s so easy to use, especially with Tweetdeck – but I’m quite surprised that our community feels Goodreads is a bit of a chore! I agree about Facebook – I think it’s the most abandoned of my social media outlets, as my posts go directly to Twitter and Tumblr, but I just can’t link it up to Facebook (it will only link to my personal page, not my blog page and I don’t want that). Plus most of my FB likes are people I actually know and don’t mind reading the blog.
I wonder do people mean GR is a chore because they have to manually post links to their own posts on there? I’ve actually never used it for that apart from when I really want to share something with everyone, but I love updating my status on the site and using it for so many things, it doesn’t feel like a chore at all.
I don’t use Pinterest or Instagram so don’t have much to say about those!
These infographs are frickin’ awesome! I’m not surprised Twitter is the popular social media site. I used to not understood how people had conversations, but once I got into it, I realize I didn’t have the right people to talk to; that’s why it was hard for me a year ago. Now that I’m obsessed with Twitter, I feel like it has essentially replaced text messaging for me. Lol. I don’t use my phone as often anymore. (Probably because my phone is old and drains the battery so fast.) Twitter is such an easy way to talk to people.
I really can’t be bothered to check on my Facebook. A few years ago, I check it like seven times a day (probably because I used to play those Facebook games, lol), but now, I have to force myself to check it once a day, in case my sister or friends message me.
I totally think Snapchat and Vines will be the popular social media sites. I guess it’s fun for people to snap a six second video of random things, but it’s not for me.
About the whole “social media replacing feed readers” thing… I will say I follow way more bloggers on Twitter than I do on my reader, and often I’ll click links and read posts that way… but I still view it more as a supplement than a replacement.
I’ll always have my blogs that I don’t want to miss anything, and those have to go in a reader. Maybe the people who’ve replaced their reader visit their must-read blogs individually? Or subscribe by email? I just can’t see ONLY relying on Twitter… there’s too much chance of missing it completely.
I give you mad props for your inforgraphics! They are my favorite. I loved being able to see what other blogers use for social media besides just their blog. I know I only use my blog, goodreads, and twitter. That’s it, but that is all I have time for to keep updated anyway, so I don’t think I would add anymore. I also fully agree that twitter isn’t just to promote your own blog but to get the opportunity to talk to other bloggers, authors, and more! Great post!
This is so interesting, Brittany! I’v been wondering about Tumblr, especially. It seems like there are a LOT of new Tumblr blogs popping up, and I keep wondering if it’s because they’ve been proven to be useful or more relevant to readers … And Facebook. Le sigh. I created a Facebook page for my blog. I’m glad I did because my family and friends don’t use Twitter (my favorite form of social media) and it’s the only way to give them updates without sending out an email every time I have a new post. BUT I don’t like Facebook. In fact, it drives me crazy. 🙂 I’m thinking that an email newsletter might be a better choice, but we’ll see.
Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together! Although I’d love to win all of those beautiful books, just the information is a HUGE gift.
Ooh, also: Have you heard about the book JAB, JAB, JAB, RIGHT HOOK? I haven’t read it yet, but the author, a social media guru, talks about how to use the various social media sites … As in, instead of posting the same link in the same way on Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter, using the tone of each social media site to guide what your posts look like. Example: On Tumblr you’d post a gif with your link, on Facebook a longer story with the link (and an image), on Twitter more of a conversational Tweet with a link, etc. Anyhow, you might want to check it out if you’re interested in this kind of thing. 🙂
OOH that is an awesome tip! Thank you! I will definitely check that out. I really need to look into that and figure out how to best use each site to promote 😀
It’s so interesting to me that so many people only check Goodreads! I feel like I’m on there all the time and that my friends update all the time. All these new social media sites scare me. I feel maxed out already and all I use is pretty much Twitter and Goodreads!
Facebook blocked my blog a few years ago. I tried to contact them.. but nothing. I have no idea why. It was when my blog was new too.. so I didn’t have a page set up for it or anything. Every now and then I shared a link to it on my personal wall. Sigh… at least twitter doesn’t have me blocked.
First of all your infographic making skills are through the roof, girl!!! I applaud you on that!
Secondly, I am totally unsurprised that Twitter was the King of all social media here, and I’m not surprised that Facebook is on its way out. I only recently started my blog’s facebook page, but I do think that I am going to try and keep it going a bit longer because I do find that it brings me some traffic, mostly from my IRL friends who like my blog page and like to see a post every once in a while! In fact, 80% of the people who like my blog’s FB page are my IRL friends! Anywho, I think that tumblr is great. I don’t use it to promote my blog so much (my posts just automatically sync) but I love wasting time on there are reblogging and posting things that are bookish as well as things that aren’t! It’s great fun 🙂
Great post, Brittany. A++++ graphics! 😀
THANKS, Natalie! 😀
I agree, the results about Twitter and Facebook weren’t TOO surprising but I was curious to see what people thought were up-and-coming and it also really makes me wonder if I should even keep up with my FB page anymore because it’s none of my IRL friends, ya know? I feel like I’m reaching no one. Hmmm. maybe I’ll wait a little while longer before ditching it haha!
Twitter is always my favorite! I love talking to people on there (especially discussions about books and authors and book boys) (also real life), and it really feels like a conversation. Out of all the social media, I’d have to agree about Facebook. I’m not overly fond of it, and am considering just doing away with my Facebook page altogether! Great post, B, and I LOVE the graphics!
Thanks, Alexa! Twitter is definitely a favorite of mine too. I love how easy it is to chat with everyone!
I’m not a huge fan of FB either… Toying with getting rid of it but I think I’ll hold onto it for a little while longer!
This was really interesting. I am glad to know that Twitter is the social media format of choice, because it is the one I spend most of my time on!
Me too!! It’s just such an easy way to communicate with really everyone! 🙂
I totally agree with the results. Twitter is the main social media I use and that I see others using as well. I do believe Facebook is on its way out. They purposely hide our content from our fans to make us buy ads. I’m not going to buy ads on Facebook so people can see my posts. Not going to happen. Which, like you said, makes my Facebook page useless. I have 2K fans yet less than 100 of them actually see my posts.
Thanks for sharing the results!
Yeah, I’m definitely not buying FB ads. I don’t have TOO many fans so I feel like my posts are really reaching almost no one. I think I’ll hold onto it for a bit longer, but if I’m still not reaching anyone, I may ditch it!
Thanks for checking out the post! 😀
I like Twitter a lot, but I am trying to be more consistent with my use of it. I feel like I go through phases with it, and that’s probably keeping me from making real connections (book blogger friends!!) on there. I’m trying to be better. I initially had a separate personal twitter but forget that! Too much to maintain, too hard to decide what to post where, and too annoying toggling between accounts.
Haaaaaaaaate facebook. Hate. I feel like I barely see anything in my newsfeed these days. I have a personal facebook, and a blog facebook. My main issues with facebook are thus: I get almost no traffic from it, so it feels like a waste of time (although I’ve gained a few followers lately); I usually post new blog posts to both facebook pages but then I feel like people who follow both pages see it twice and that’s annoying; I don’t take the time to do much on facebook except link to new posts, which is blah.
I admit, I don’t think I really understand how people use Pinterest and Instagram in conjunction with their blogs. Do those sites somehow drive traffic to your blog? How? I like both sites so I’m intrigued!
I’m REALLY not a fan of FB either. I don’t even use my personal one much less keeping up with a blog FB page. I really get almost no traffic from it either so I may get rid of it but for some reason I still have that hope that I’m reaching SOMEONE haha.
As far as Pinterest goes, I usually pin my blog posts there and I don’t get a TON of traffic from it but it’s actually brought in a few people. People who are pinning book covers or when I have fancy graphics for a post or two. Everything else I pin is just sharing fun bookish things 🙂
For Instagram, I don’t really use it to promote my blog, really, but I know some people do! They’ll do giveaways by having people comment or repost or use it for their posts and include a link. I usually just share pictures of books and other things but I do use it really for my blog and not my personal life (although they blend on there!)
Yeah, I definitely think that twitter is the no. 1 place for book bloggers. The community is really strongest there and I wasn’t surprised by the results. I think it’s funny though at the responses you got for tumblr. Unfortunately I don’t use tumblr for my book blog so I couldn’t list it but if I could, it would have been hourly for me! And I’m kind of questioning snapchat for book blogging social media use. Like I use it for personal life but I’m not really sure how it can apply to book blogging? Interesting though…
Haha I have no idea! I’ve never used Snapchat so I don’t really even know how it works but I was curious to see it mentioned! Twitter is definitely the best blogger social media tool! So many people are on it and it’s just so easy to stay connected 😀
Thanks so much for checking out the post & commenting!!
Great infographic! I’ve had Twitter accounts for years but rarely go on there…my blog is set up to automatically post to Twitter and Facebook. I really need to become more active on them and try harder to connect with other book bloggers…it’s just so hard to balance everything!
Thanks, Bree! It’s definitely hard to balance everything — there’s no doubt about that! I probably spread myself too thin on the social media front, but I think this survey and seeing the results may help me choose a couple to weed out or at least trim down.
Hope you found something helpful too! 🙂
Awesome survey! The results are pretty much what I was expecting – Twitter is almost a must if you’re a book blogger. Facebook doesn’t seem to pay off enough for book blogging, since we already spend so much time on the blogging itself that you don’t want to spend hours every day making your Facebook page run properly.
Thank you! I agree, Twitter and FB weren’t really a surprise, but I was surprised at how many people said that they were reading blog posts via social media (I put a note in there in place of a feed reader so that wasn’t what I was expecting!)
It was just really interesting to see the different answers. A lot of them weren’t what I was expecting, actually.
Now I think about it, I barely open my feed reader either any more. It’s just so much less overwhelming to pick a few posts on social media. Really interesting
I’m not ready to give up on Facebook quite yet, because I do have 50 followers there–which, yes, is small for social media, but it’s not insignificant. Also, WordPress can auto-add links to my posts to Facebook, so it isn’t particularly a burden for me to keep it, even if I do use it much less than Twitter.
I have a Pinterest, as well, but I have very few followers and very few people come to my blog though it. I started using it for a Bloggiesta challenge, but I’ve found it more useful as a personal tool (I make greeting cards, for instance, and there are a lot of great ideas on Pinterest) than as a blogging tool.
I know, as much as I say I want to give up Facebook…. I still can’t let it go! Mine doesn’t auto updated because my blog’s page is linked to a personal page and I’m always worried it’ll post to my personal page haha.
I think the Pinterest posts that lead people to my blog are usually the ones where I’ve pinned graphics. Normal book reviews don’t really seem to draw much attention for me!
Twitter is definitely the best! I only use Twitter and Goodreads for my blog and then I have my own personal Facebook and my own personal Twitter as well. I try to incorporate some personal stuff in my book twitter but not all the time. Working on being social on Twitter is something that a lot of people seem to want to work on but it’s really hard (especially when you have to work all day and then miss out on all of the fun conversations!).
It’s true! Work definitely does hinder that. I’m able to sneak some in but it’s hard for people who can’t get on the internet during the day for blogging purposes!
Love the infographic! It makes my sort-of-hidden love-of-data side smile. No surprise that twitter seems to be the social media site most book bloggers use–it’s my favorite too. I feel like it’s the most *convenient*. It’s so easy to post, and with Tweetdeck you can even schedule post in advanced(which Facebook also now allows you to do, but eh. . . facebook).
It surprises me how many people *read* blogs through social media. I’ve heard from some people they just click on twitter links instead of using an RSS reader now, but it looks like a good percentage of the people who responded do read blogs that way(though it may not be their only way, I still find that amount higher than what I would have predicted).
I’m surprised so many people get Tumblr as a driver of traffic! Then again, I seem to be horrific at Tumblr, though, so. . . . perhaps others know how to utilize it more.
I know that I thought Facebook was on it’s way out, but hearing others say it has really sort of confirmed it with me. Their new method of only letting like what is it–10%?–of people who “like” your posts see your post is really discouraging. At the end of 2013, when I sat down to do some 2014 blog planning, I really wanted to amp up my Facebook page. But now that FB has changed to that ridiculous algorithm, I’ve toyed with the idea of deleting the FB page. But it’s such a toss-up. I *want* to be able to utilize it better, but FB makes it so difficult.
I love Pinterest(as I’ve informed most people several times, haha), but I agree that it’s more of a chore to update. It’s just not really update-friendly. I can schedule tweets in advance, but I can’t do that with Pins. Plus, I have twitter & Tumblr automatically linked up when ever I publish a new post, which is nice.
I was one of those two people that use Stumbleupon, and I have to say it drives much more traffic than I was expecting! I don’t even bother submitting reviews there, but graphic-heavy post or interesting discussions can sometimes be good. My post about theories of time travel did fairly well, and whenever I make a flowchart it gets stumbled a good amount of times–it tends to be a very visual site.
I never thought of Instagram as being an up-and-coming social media, but I APPROVE. Instagram, to me, is definitely the most “fun” form of social media after twitter(and sometimes before, honestly, though that tends to depend on the day).
So I totally wrote a post in this comment box, but I just find the results so fascinating, and they’ve definitely made me think! To summarize, it seems like we’re all YAY for twitter & instagram, and BOO for Facebook. Also, the results have really convinced me that I probably need to learn how to navigate my way around Tumblr(other than having my post sent to Tumblr automatically & then forgetting I have it half the time, which is what I do now), because obviously it’s sort of rising in popularity too & is a handy social media tool.
STORMYYYYY. I love your blog post in a comment <3
Twitter is totally king here and Tweetdeck is totally awesome. That's the best thing to keep me organized.
I was really surprised about the whole reading blog posts thing too! I hope the question was clear because I'm just so shocked that that many people used social media in place of a feed reader!
I really wanted to use my FB page better too but now I feel like what's the point! I'm so torn. I half want to throw it out the window and half want to keep trying but it really brings BARELY any traffic to my blog so it seems like more hassle than its worth!
Thanks for sharing this info, Brittany! I’ve been resisting Twitter for a while because I don’t want to overwhelm myself with social media, but perhaps I’ll give in to this one.
Ohhh Twitter is totally the best! Haha. I really think it’s the most important social media tool for bloggers! I’ll be curious to hear what you think if you do join! 🙂
Very cool, Brittany! Your results confirm what I’ve seen: the book community prefers connecting on Twitter.
I’d second the Instagram as being up and coming — that’s the general consensus in the business community too.
Thanks, Amanda! I agree. Twitter is just so key for bloggers. I’m really amping up my usage on Instagram too! I love being able to share photos and I liked one person’s comment when they said that it’s a really good way to connect personally as well.
Such a brilliant post! It’s so interesting seeing what everybody is doing in social, I have huge respect for anyone using YouTube for their blogs. I could never imagine having time to fit that into my schedule, but maybe I should try! I definitely agree Instagram might be a good way to promote blog posts and connect with other bloggers. I absolutely love it!
Thanks, Emma!! I can’t imagine using YouTube for my blog either! It seems like a lot of work and I can’t stand being on camera haha!! It would be a nice way to “interact” with people though so maybe I’ll have to try it sometime!
I did notice the Twitter thing.
About FB? I had an account but since I wasn’t really using it all that much I deleted it (after cleaning up all the information). Then there was some link or article or post (I forget what) and I went in to re-activate it (their 6 month thing). Guess what? Turns out the password I had was wrong =) I prefer to take it as a sign. Hasn’t see the need to sign up again.
And that infographic is awesome!
Thank you!!
I know, I’m SO toying with scrapping my FB page. It’s always work to update it and I feel like practically no one even sees it……. I guess I’ll give it some time and see how I feel! 🙂
Really cool infographic! I never do anything with FB for my blog… just too much work. I love twitter for being able to talk to everyone!! And yes, I agree, I talk about personal life on the blog and twitter – i used to separate it but.. not anymore. It almost seems impossible to, esp because I’ve become friends with all these bloggers!
Thanks, Wendy! FB is a lot of work for me too… I wonder if it’s really worth it…
I love throwing some personal things in there too! I’ve really become good friend with a lot of bloggers and some of them became BEST friends by talking through Twitter & moving to texts! 🙂