Social Sharing Skyrockets For San Diego Site
A simple social redesign on the San Diego Union-Tribune's website brought an overnight surge in visits coming from social networks â a 1,000% increase in referral traffic, with Facebook passing Google as the top referrer to SignOnSanDiego.com in February.
The site now has more than 20,000 Twitter followers, said Mike Hodges, Interactive VP for the paper. His comments came in a lineup of several companies talking about new strategies involving social media and ad networks during the BIA / Kelsey Marketplaces 2010 conference in San Diego Monday.
"This isn't rocket science, folks," said Hodges. The overnight change in referrals came after a redesign that places "share this" and "follow us" buttons on every news story on the site. Buttons to share via Facebook and Twitter were placed both at the top and bottom of stories.
In addition, users can use Facebook or Twitter logins to leave comments on the stories. The hidden promotional strategy: Those comments are then included on the users' Facebook or Twitter page, serving as a wave of promotion to their network of friends.

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