Posted in Driving Website Traffic	May 12, 2008

Could social media networking and optimization play a role in The New York Times' 82% increase in traffic this year?

We know it’s hard to follow social media marketing trends, not knowing what’s hot this week or next week and where you should be spending your time where it counts. But there is no denying that social media networking is one of the keys to success for many online publishers.

For example, you can find The New York Times on Facebook, Twitter, MyspaceTV, and YouTube. They’ve also added Digg, Yahoo! Buzz, and Mixx to the “Share” bookmarking links of every article. For MyspaceTV and YouTube, they aren't just listed by other users, they have their own "channel" that is branded.

This year, according to Compete.com, their monthly visitors have gone up 82.2% from 20 million to 36.7 million.

Their unique visitor count has gone from 8 million to 12.1 million, which is up 55.2% this year. That’s hard to ignore in an industry that is struggling to make a good impression with their online followers.

Could it be all of that social networking going on? We also posted a blog today about Chris Brogan's "Social Media Advice". Check that out and see what you can do to compete with The New York Times.