{"id":4890,"date":"2017-04-17T08:42:31","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T08:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/charlesavemktg.com\/blog\/?p=4890"},"modified":"2018-05-23T20:26:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T03:26:11","slug":"stumbleupon-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlesavemktg.com\/blog\/stumbleupon-advertising\/","title":{"rendered":"StumbleUpon: The Content Network You’re Probably Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Update, May 23, 2018: StumbleUpon is shutting down on June 30. (WAH!) Sorry, folks.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”5524″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Content discovery networks drive paid clicks to your blog articles. Two big players in the space are Outbrain and Taboola. But there’s another network that I’m bullish on, and, in my opinion, it performs better than either of these. What is this magical network? StumbleUpon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is StumbleUpon?<\/h2>\n

The way I explain StumbleUpon to clients is that it’s like TV channel surfing, but on the internet. Basically, you’re not sure what you want to view, but rather than flipping through TV programs, you flip through websites.<\/p>\n

When you sign up as a StumbleUpon user, you tell the network what subject categories you’re interested in. As you start to look at articles through the network, you can also tell the platform which pieces of content you like and don’t like. The algorithm factors in how long you engage with each site, and whether you’re motivated to share articles. Using this data, the platform predicts what content you might be interested in next.<\/p>\n

From a user perspective, your web browser looks exactly the same, with one small exception – the browser bar, which I’ve highlighted in red:[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4892″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d”][vc_column_text]Within this bar, you’ll notice a few things. First, the red Stumble button. This is how you “change the channel.” Each time you push it, a new article\u00a0appears.<\/p>\n

Next to the red button is a thumbs-up. You push this to tell the algorithm you liked this article and to show you more articles like it. Similarly, there is a thumbs-down button to tell it that you’re not interested in seeing articles like this.<\/p>\n

There is a share\u00a0drop-down menu so you can easily post the article to Facebook, Twitter, or share it via email or with people you’re connected to on StumbleUpon.<\/p>\n

The bookmark icon enables you to add that article to a list you’ve created, such as articles you intend to read later or articles related to an upcoming trip.<\/p>\n

As you can see from the image, I was looking at the “Trending” category, but by pulling that option down, I can choose a different category. The categories shown here are ones that I’ve told StumbleUpon I was interested in, like American History, Food\/cooking, and Dogs.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_single_image image=”4893″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d”][vc_column_text]Each time I “Stumble” something, I land in a different corner of the internet. Sure, I can tell the algorithm in which direction I want to go (Bizarre\/oddities, please), but the fun is that I never quite know where I’m going to end up.<\/p>\n

StumbleUpon for advertisers<\/h2>\n

Why is this network a good thing for advertisers? There are a few reasons that I’ll go into in depth:<\/p>\n