While all referral traffic is up 120% year over year, Salon social media traffic is up by a whopping 720%. Experts say referral traffic (from search engines, social media sites, and third-party sites) is the key to overall audience growth, but that it can be tricky to attract because it is directly dependent on site content.
If the content is meaningful and well written, others will link to it.
Press Release: Salon.com Boosts Readership and Revenue in Second Quarter 2010
Readership Climbs 20% and Revenue Jumps 40% as New Projects Attract Readers and Advertisers
That last sentence in the quote is the important part. You know this already because you don’t REBLOG, RETWEET, or FB ‘LIKE’ crap-content. Some do, but most people are like you, and don’t.
Content is not king. Really Good Content Is King.
[DISCLAIMER: I do not read Salon regularly, so I am not endorsing that they have in fact been consistently publishing ‘Really Good Content’ lately. Their press release hits on something many don’t realize: No matter how many social media layers you have on your site, NOBODY is going to associate their online presence with a steaming pile of crap-content.]