Social Media users are normal web users to. A lot of people forget this. They think that a lot of people want to read a certain mix of content all the time. Preformatting content for social media is one way to get people to come to your website. That being said, I want to show how it really doesn’t help your site in the long run as much as writing great content will.

Firstly I want to differentiate between the two types of content. Social media content is content that is created for the sole purpose of ranking higher on social media websites (such as Digg). It is created to lure users to your site and yet your site to hit the frontpage or the hot section. On the flip side, good content is normal content about your niche. It is quality content that delivers information to your readers.

So, when you write this great content for social media, you may achieve your purpose, but it is moving away from what you should be doing. By writing something to purely get social media visitors you are not creating a renewable traffic source.

Direct and organic traffic is what I would call “renewable”. It comes back normally instead of being forced to your website. That being said, social media traffic is a one off thing. Sure you may get a few more fast readers, but chances are that they want more of that same content. If your social media content deviates from your normal content, you will find those readers drift off.

On the other hand, by writing great content, you are still creating content that people will love. Social media users are people as well! By writing great content, there is always a chance it will still go hot on social media and you don’t compromise your type of post by doing it. If your normal post goes hot, the people that subscribe will want that same content. This isn’t a problem because you’re already writing it!

Take a second and think about what kind of content your writing. I’d love to hear back from you guys about this. As with any marketing thoughts, there is an opposite train, so I’d love to hear what you guys think.