When I first started using social media to reach out to people, one of the things I found difficult was to determine which media were geographically, best for my blog. As my first blog (Ubuntu Linux Help) was in English, I assumed that it might not be of interest to Chinese speaking people, for example. While later I realized this premise was completely false, I did learn that such analytics were very beneficial if I needed to market to a specific geographic area.

Side note: I found that there were a huge number of translation services visiting my Linux blog and translating it into other languages for those who did not speak English. Incidentally, it’s prudent to note that most people visiting your blog who’s native language is not English, will still speak English as their other language. For those interested in online translation or site’s where multilingual content is posted I’d suggest the following:

• Google Translate
• Kontribute
• Humanitas International
• FreeTranslation.com

However, let’s get back to the subject at hand…

For this blog, I’ve tried to appeal to a specific (albeit huge) area. I needed to determine the most popular social media networks globally. One resource is provided by a British web design business that hosts such information here: href=”http://www.oxyweb.co.uk/blog/socialnetworkmapoftheworld.php” target=”_blank”>Social Network Map of the World

Their map is beneficial in that is displays the highest ranking social networks in each country by traffic alone.

This resource is a good tip and I’d recommend you bookmark it as it will help you determine which social media sites may work best for your area; a good quick resource to help save time in researching where best to leverage your blog exposure. I use it to garner a quick snapshot.

Note: It’s important to realize that such tools do not necessarily drive traffic to your blogs, rather they contribute. You must still ensure you build your brand, content, etc. one bit at a time. It’s the “big picture” (your master plan) that yo should always keep in the forefront and build towards.

But what if I have some time to do a bit of research? What if I’m not looking for a quick snapshot? What do I do if I’m also intersted in targeting cities via social networking? Well grasshopper… there’s a super tool which does all that (and more)!

Google’s Insight, is one tool I don’t hear near enough about (I think it’s still in beta). Google Insights for Search, as their site says, provides the ability to “…compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames…”.

Let’s look at a quick example by determining where Facebook is the most popular. The following link will provide the search inputs we used. Namely:

• Facebook
• 2008
• Online Communities and
• Locations

Here’s the search link:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=299&q=facebook&date=1%2F2008%2012m&cmpt=geo

Google Insights Search - Country

The results showed that Turkey appears first in the list for “Regional Interest for Facebook”. Realistically, I found that the map was far more useful that the lists. Clicking on a country map (Canada for example), provides a further breakdown of Facebook within Canada,

Google Insights Search - Province, State, region

and incredibly, if I click on a province within Canada (Ontario), I’ll see which cities have the most interest in facebook.

Google Insights Search - City

Needless to say, Google Insights for Search (google.com/insights/search/) can be a very powerful tool in your web site or blog promotion strategy. Combining the insights Google provides with the powerful exposure that social sites can provide is a very good traffic building tool.

In my next post, I’ll list some of the Wordpress plugins that can best help you garner exposure of your content withing the social networking word. These plugins will be sure to help you automate much of your social media promotions (and that saves you time!)

If you don’t want to miss that post, please subscribe below and you’ll automatically be notified. Easy!