SU and Triberr Tutorial

I've had a request from the blogging world for a tutorial on StumbleUpon. If you're unfamiliar with it, then the first question you may be asking is, What IS StumbleUpon?

In a nutshell....

StumbleUpon is a tool for discovering new and relevant web content. When you let StumbleUpon know what you like by rating (with a thumb up or a thumb down) and optionally reviewing pages, you'll get back recommendations for additional content you might like and might not have discovered otherwise. You can also see what people you follow have Stumbled and liked. Click here to set up an account and start Stumbling! You can also download the StumbleUpon app from Apple for you iPleasure!

StumbleUpon (SU) is also a social media tool for bloggers that can significantly boost traffic to your site and increase your site rankings. Basically, anyone that follows the people that Stumble your posts will see your posts and potentially Stumble them too. This effect is continually compounded as more and more people see and Stumble your posts.

Now I know that I said I'd been asked to write an SU tutorial, but I'm not one to reinvent the wheel, especially when such an exquisitely crafted wheel already exists:

The incredibly talented and helpful Jen, of Misadventures in Motherhood wrote a very thorough StumbleUpon tutorial. 

Check it out. Go ahead. I'll wait.........

Okay, now that you know how to
1. Get Started
2. Network
3. Stumble Effectively
4. Get Others to Stumble You; and
5. Get More Stumble Influence,
I'll cover what's left.

Hmm...

What's left?

<Rats! Jen did such a good job, there's nothing left to talk about.>

Well, this is awkward.

There is one tiny additional tidbit...

SU offers a url shortening service, su.pr, which is similar to bit.ly and TinyURL. Using su.pr allows you to syndicate content to StumbleUpon, Facebook, and Twitter at the same time, assuming that you have connected your Facebook and Twitter accounts to your StumbleUpon account. 

And if you would like the Share This Post toolbar that I have floating off to the right over there---> here is the code.

<style> #sharebar {position:fixed; bottom:15%; margin-left:-71px; float:left; border-radius:5px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px;background-color:#fff;padding:0 0 2px 0;z-index:10;right:0;} #sharebar .sbutton {float:left;clear:both;margin:5px 5px 0 5px;} .fb_share_count_top {width:48px !important;} .fb_share_count_top, .fb_share_count_inner {-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;} .FBConnectButton_Small, .FBConnectButton_RTL_Small {width:49px !important; -moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;} .FBConnectButton_Small .FBConnectButton_Text {padding:2px 2px 3px !important;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;font-size:8px;} </style><br /> <div><br /> <div id="sharebar"><div class="sbutton"><a href="http://123bestfriend.blogspot.com/2011/05/add-floating-social-media-sharing.html">Share this post</a><br /> </div><div class='sbutton' id='gb'><script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like layout="box_count" show_faces="false" font=""></fb:like></div><div class="sbutton" id="fb"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php" name="fb_share" type="box_count">Share</a><script src="http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/connect.php/js/FB.Share" type="text/javascript"></script><br /> </div><div class="sbutton" id="rt"><script src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /> </div><div class="sbutton" id="su"><script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=5"> </script><br /> </div><div class='sbutton' id='gplusone'><script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script><g:plusone size="tall"></g:plusone></div><br /> <br /></div></div>

Copy and paste this code into your Blogger HTML widget (this may work in a Wordpress widget too - if not, just google "share this post widget for Wordpress" and you'll find what you need). 

This toolbar includes the StumbleUpon button to allow readers to easily share any post as they read it, though I also agree with Jen's recommendation that you include a SU button at the bottom of each post.

And now, let's talk Triberr.

StumbleUpon is integrated with another social media tool called Triberr, offering another way to have your posts Stumbled, again increasing traffic to your site and your site's rankings.

So, What's Triberr?

Triberr is an invitation only tool for driving traffic to your site.

Through Triberr, tribe mates tweet your posts to their followers, thus increasing your reach by the total number of followers in your tribe, AND if you or someone else Stumbles your posts first to give them the appropriate tags, your tribe mates will Stumble them too (tribe mates often won't want to take the time to create appropriate tags for your posts - a requirement the first time something is Stumbled)! Just be sure to Stumble their posts as well. As Jen mentioned in her SU tutorial, you don't want to only be Stumbling your own posts or SU might consider you a spammer and start ignoring your Stumbles. Plus, it's good blogger etiquette and just plain smart to return the favour!

Here's an example of how Triberr works:

I currently have about 2,200 Twitter followers. If I alone tweet my post, that number - 2,200 followers - is my maximum potential reach. Yes, some of my followers may retweet my post extending that reach, but check out what happens when you join a tribe and your tribe starts sharing your tweets!  

I belong to two tribes with have a total of 63 tribe mates who together have a total of 237,569 Twitter followers. If each of my tribe mates tweets my post to their followers, that means that I have extended my reach by more than 100%! 

Bloggers, if you're not already a member of Triberr, you may want to think about locating an appropriate tribe to connect with. Ask around. See if any of your fellow bloggers are happy members of a tribe and are willing to recommend you. Finding a match - that is, locating a tribe with tribe members whose content is relevant to your readers - is an important step, since you'll be tweeting their posts to your Twitter followers.

You may be thinking, But I don't want to bombard my followers and automatically tweet things without my approval! Don't worry. Triberr doesn't work like that. You still have control over what you tweet and how frequently you send out tweets. You will approve the tweets you want to go out on your stream. If you don't want to tweet promotional blog posts, just don't approve that type of post. If there are other types of posts appearing in your Tribal stream that you'd rather not tweet, you can ignore them. Just know that those tribe mates are not likely to tweet your posts either. That's okay, as long as it's not happening too frequently. If you are often finding that you would rather not tweet content in your Tribal stream, you may want to think about whether or not the Tribe is a match for you.

Once you've been invited to join and have accepted the invitation (you'll receive an invitation code and a link to the signup page), you need to setup your account. You can edit these settings at any time:

Account Overview: You'll need to supply an email address and the url of your blog or web page. You can also upload a profile image. There's a space for a brief bio here as well. 

Twitter Overview: Be sure to link to your Twitter account here, otherwise, nothing that you approve will be tweeted (and your tribe mates will not be overly impressed). 

Blog Settings: The next step is to enter the RSS feed address for your blog. For Blogger blogs, it will look like this: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=Ross

Once your account is set up, click HOME and view your Tribal Stream. You can start approving posts right away. You will also have the option to Load Social Buttons so that you can manually tweet, like, +1, Stumble and share each post. Start by approving your tribe mates posts - get used to that process - and once you are comfortable doing that, go the extra mile by sharing the post in other ways. Your tribe mates will thank you and return the favour.

Be sure to check your Sent Stream, as well as your Twitter profile, to be sure you are sending out tweets.

Click on My Posts to see that your posts are being imported properly. 

Visit My Tribes to see what people are saying, and get involved in the discussions. You can ask some questions here, but technical questions about the application should be posted in the Bonfires section. Be sure to check out the FAQ and other bonfires before posting your question, as it may have already been asked and answered.

I need to return to our StumbleUpon discussion with a quick word about Stumbling your own posts. I know some people say not to Stumble your own posts, but if you don't and someone else Stumbles it for you (for example, someone in your tribe), they may choose tags for your post that are inappropriate or not as effective as the tags you might choose. It's okay to Stumble your own posts and to decide the tags that will be associated with it, just remember what Jen said. Follow the ratio of 15:1 - meaning that you Stumble 15 other people's posts for every post of your own that you Stumble.

The combination of belonging to a Tribe and being active on StumbleUpon can have a huge impact on traffic, site rankings and followers. If you've been putting great content out there but feel as if you are struggling to have it seen by others, this is definitely the way to go.

Okay all set? Ready to start Stumbling and Approving posts? Great! Have fun. If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them.

P.S. Here's where you can go to like and follow me, and even Stumble my likes if you so choose: Cookie's Chronicles on StumbleUpon. I am a follow-back girl. <-- Why am I now imagining Weird Al Yancovic singing a parody of a Gwen Stafani song?