Yahoo Buzz Introduces Social Media to the Masses

But just how effective will this site be in capturing these audiences? A recent article from ReadWriteWeb noted that Yahoo.com has sent approximately 16 million total referrals to just a subset of the publishers in the beta during the first two weeks via Buzzing Now links in the Featured section of the homepage. And yet another Yahoo Buzz review by Muhammad Saleem noted that Salon.com reached over 1 million unique visitors from Yahoo Buzz in just one day.

For the social media marketer, this means there is another site on the horizon that could prove valuable for connecting mass audiences with social media. However, it also means that in this buzz we cannot forget the value of niche sites like Digg, Mixx and StumbleUpon, sites which capture a highly valuable niche of members who are highly involved and highly invested in these communities.

This being said, the real dilemma we have to balance in social media marketing is this: as the emergence of social media sites like Yahoo Buzz garner more participation from mass audiences, clients/marketers are more likely to place more emphasis on participation in social media sites with higher overall traffic than sites that reach smaller niche audiences. Why? Because larger numbers usually suggest a higher ROI, at least in the minds of those who are comfortable with metrics of traditional advertising.

So, for those of you who are reading, Id like to hear your personal views on overall site traffic versus overall site participation and involvement. In your current social media efforts are you involved in social media sites with larger audiences, or do you select niche sites with high levels of involvement? If you use both, which do you derive more value from?

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