I thought Tamar’s post at Techipedia on The Great Social Media Traffic Debate: Niche or General Networks? was pretty good and Tamar Weinberg, when I meet her here in NYC, always strikes me as pretty smart and connected woman - she’s aware of pretty much everything that’s happening in the Tech World, in Social Media and in the Search World.  I don’t think of her so much as an Analyst, yet her Traffic Debate piece was good reading - even if it confirms what we already know.

In fact, if you read her post and then download the Military/Buzzlogic presentation we presented last week (see Social Media Analysis Presentations from Search Engine Strategies San Jose) (see below) ….

sessanjose08_social-media-analysis_tparsons When I brought Military.com and Buzzlogic together I wasn’t really sure what the outcome would be - wisely, Breanna Wigle, living in the Bay Area, was able to meet directly with Buzzlogic, and to her credit, come up with a 5K insertion order to test the concept of Social Media here.  I feel we broke new ground - really new ground - and I give Breanna Wigle a lot of credit for being able to even get Military.com to take a chance.

… you’ll see that Social Media traffic is not only a superior way to get new visitors to a site - but … Social Media traffic, I found, acts in a more directed way than Search Traffic - (darn! I just uttered blasphemy in the Search World).

Yes, depending on the context - Social Media Traffic from Niche Social Networks - traffic from Social Media will typically be more directed and focused than Search Traffic, and paradoxically, often have a lower pages per visit and higher bounce rate while having a higher “engagement” level and more of a “trust” factor.

You may ask me how that can be?

Easy - you know those TinyURLs in a Twitter feed?  How about a Facebook link or a FriendFeed link?  How long do you think a visit to your site from one of those sources is going to last? Not long, because they are looking directly at the content they want - they don’t have to search for it - they found it!

Just saw that my head shot is being included in next month's Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose - the email has been sent out, and I was grinning when I saw it - and wrote about at The Analytics Guru - Search Engine Strategies - I’m grinning - and there's also an interview I taped when I spoke at the first Semphonic XChange Conference in Napa Valley last year.

If anyone is going to either conference, and reads my blogs, please say hello - I'll even buy you a drink.

And if your not going to SES San Jose but want to - here's a post in Search Engine Watch Blog on how to build a case to get your boss/company to send you - Building the business case for going to SES San Jose:

"…A quick look at the conference at a glance will tell you why. There are a total of 77 conference sessions, strategic development workshops, Orion panels, and keynote presentations crammed into the four-day Search Engine Strategies conference. And on the fifth day, there are an additional six SEM training workshops.

Since there are five concurrent tracks during the SEM conference and three concurrent workshops during the SEM training, no one can attend everything – unless, of course, you bring a team of five or more people to SES San Jose.

And deciding which sessions to attend isn’t just daunting for the first-time attendee. It’s also a challenge to SES Alumni.

If you compare last year’s conference at a glance with this year’s conference at a glance, you see that only 12 of the sessions and two of the workshops are repeats. And four of the “repeat sessions” are Site Clinics or the Organic Listings Forum, which examine new web sites or issues every year. This means almost 88% of the content at Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2008 will be brand new!"

The new content (my sessions are "new content", btw) is making it much more worthwhile to attend now - and the stuff I'm talking about is targeted to be useful, to go beyond informational - hopefully it will take someone to the next level - that's what I'm aiming for.

And, if that doesn't convince your boss - read about 15 Things Not to Miss at SES San Jose 2008 on Online Marketing Blog

1. Your flight there. Ha!

2. Universal and Blended Search Session, Day 1 - Dana is anxious to hear what is new in universal and blended search since last years’ session.

3. Igniting Viral Campaigns session, Day 1 - This session promises to unveil the secrets of Web 2.0 techniques and technologies to help small and mid-size businesses stand out amongst the crowd.

4. Expo Hall Opening, Day 2 - Discover the latest products and technologies relevant to online marketing and see what the big names in search are up to by stopping at the many booths for your complimentary branded goods.

5. Landing Page Utopia, Day 2 - A good landing page is key to the success of any paid online advertising campaign. Ensure your pages convert clicks to conversions by attending this session led by a panel of top online marketing experts.

6. Ashley and Dana “getting their groove on” at Google Dance - Don’t miss the social event of the search marketing industry. Bring your dancing shoes and get ready to network!

7. Q & A with Google - See what happens behind the curtain at Google in this exclusive opportunity to ask the insiders how the search giant deals with a variety of issues, from spam to paid links and beyond.

8. Starbucks on the way to the Wednesday morning keynote - Trust us, you’ll need it. And you’ll definitely want to be awake for “Why does search get the credit for everything?”

9. Successful Tactics for Social Media Session, Day 3 - This session covers some popular social media services to leverage for marketing as well as best practices to penetrate them.

10. Black Hat, White Hat: Play Dirty with SEO - Where do you stand on the Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO ethics issue? Learn both sides of the argument by attending this session.

11. Ashley and Dana “getting their groove on” at Webmaster Radio Search Bash - Let loose after a long day of stimulating sessions at this fun bash put on by Webmaster Radio. There is usually plenty to see and do to keep you busy late into the night.

12. Thursday Keynote: Chip Heath, Author of “Made to Stick” - Learn how to produce marketing ideas that translate into results from idea guru Chip Heath.

13. The 3G iPhone Local Search Demos Session, Day 4 - See how companies are using mobile technology like the iPhone to revolutionize local search on the mobile device. What are the odds that Lee will have bought the team iPhones by this time?

14. Best Kept Secrets to Search Session, Day 4 - Top search engine marketers share their go-to tricks and shortcuts for online marketing success in this interactive session.

15. TopRank Blog’s Coverage of SES San Jose - Check out TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog throughout the conference for regularly-updated reports in the form of session summaries, photos and insights from the TopRank team in attendance. You’ll feel like you’re there!

 But they left out two more things - my two sessions at SES:

 Tuesday, August 19th, 11:00AM:

Track: Measuring Success
Measuring Success in a 2.0 World
How do you know if you've been successful with search engines and your website in general? You can check your "rank" at search engines for particular keywords, analyze log files to see the actual terms people used to reach your web site or make the ultimate jump and "close the loop" by measuring sales conversions and return-on-investment (ROI). This panel explores both classical and newer "cutting edge" techniques to measure success, what statistics you should really care about, ways to be more strategically focused, and how to drive increased revenue f
or your business.