Maximizing Twitter and StumbleUpon

Last month I wrote an article for Webcomic Planet, so to ease back in from my much deserved and needed break, I thought I would repost it here.

Raise your hand if you use Twitter to announce when you have posted a new comic/cartoon.  Raise you hand if you also like to submit your new post to sites such as Reddit, Digg, or StumbleUpon.
 
If you are a user of Twitter and a registered user of StumbleUpon there is a great but little known tool at your disposal that you can submit a link to both sites at the same time.  When posting your comic’s URL to twitter you either have to use a URL shortener like bit.ly or allow Twitter to shorten it for you.  Instead, I recommend using http://su.pr to shorten your URLs. 
 
Make sure you are signed into both Twitter and StumbleUpon.  Once you have posted your latest cartoon, go to su.pr and type in your tweet along with the full URL of the post.   Then hit submit.  Your post will be submitted to both sites. 
 
Here is what really makes it impactful.  Now when someone clicks on your link in twitter they will go to your post on StumbleUpon where they can not only view your cartoon but also give it a “Thumbs Up”.  The more “Thumbs Up” you get, drives potentially more visitors. 
 
Even better is that Su.pr has analytics of who retweeted your post.  If you are like me it can be difficult to determine if someone retweeted your post especially if they don’t use your twitter name.  With Su.pr, anytime they use the shortened URL in a tweet, it will show up on su.pr analytics who sent out the message.
 
Hopefully this is a tool that is useful to you and please if you see the SU header in a post and you like it, take the second and give it a thumbs up.  Your fellow cartoonists will appreciate it.  And as always you can find me on twitter at @bearmancartoons.

Comments

32 responses to “Maximizing Twitter and StumbleUpon”

  1. frigginloon Avatar

    Hey you’re back and as lazy as ever …there’s the Bearman we know and love 🙂 . About friggin time. Hope you won’t be doing that again!

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      Awwww…that’s the sweetest thing you have ever said.

      1. frigginloon Avatar

        I was trying to be nice 🙂

  2. Dave Hambidge Avatar

    Birds twitter, bloggers write (or do visual stuff anyway) in proper joined up writing…

    Welcome back BTW.

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      Wasn’t that a song?

  3. Brogan Avatar

    That’s a bit of genuis that I forgot to use. Thanks again sir! Too late for today’s, but certainly not Wednesday’s strip. 🙂 P.S. Glad you’re back!

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      Just coming out from all my fan mail.

  4. Danica Avatar

    Welcome back Bearman!

  5. Bo Lumpkin Avatar

    Glad to have you back. Good article even though I don’t tweet or digg at my age I stumble alot…. Oh, you meant on the computer didn’t you.

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      As well as dribble. That should be the new social network.

  6. Corve DaCosta Avatar

    hmmm super cool…gonna check this out

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      You already have too many visitors..haha

  7. Tracy Brady Avatar

    Thanks for this post Bearman.. might I add that with the exception of Reddit, URL shorterners on sites are a great way to keep track of one’s traffic.

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      Yes don’t send live links to Reddit…they don’t like that.

  8. spilledinkguy Avatar
    spilledinkguy

    Welcome back from a well deserved break, Bearman!
    I hope hibernation was relaxing! 🙂

      1. spilledinkguy Avatar
        spilledinkguy

        ZZzzz … huh?! 🙂

  9. duncanr Avatar

    Good to see you back in the land of the living – even if I didn’t understand a farking word you said !!! 😉

  10. just jill Avatar

    welcome back Bear! I don’t use either of them because….I just don’t get it!! 🙂

  11. bschooled Avatar

    So glad you’re back Bearman!

    (Although technically, I’m not back for another two weeks…so pretend you’re getting this two weeks from now.)

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      Well in two weeks give me another.

  12. Nate Fakes Avatar

    Does that work with Facebook? Good to know. I’ve never had any luck with Stumbleupon, Digg or any of those. I still am pretty clueless how some people get thousands of hits from those places.

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      Not sure since I don’t have a facebook fan page.

  13. George Avatar

    Your StumbleUpon advice works wonders for me. I’ve seen a gradual increase in my viewership since I began utilizing it. Thanks for the heads-up, Bearman, and it’s good to see you again.

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      You see me?? Damn’t wait while I close the blinds.

      1. George Avatar

        I can still see you.

  14. Nef Avatar

    Every few days I get a few stumbles and every few updates I suddenly get an unexplained flurry from facebok. I still don’t know what triggers it. If I knew, I’d be able to reproduce it for every strip.

    Twitter doesn’t seem to work that well for me…

    1. bearmancartoons Avatar

      I haven’t gotten much from twitter either as far as traffic goes but it does help to get a few new regular readers now and then.