Whether you’re a new blogger trying to drive that first initial traffic to your website or a seasoned blogger trying to grow your current readership and/or launch a new site, Triberr may be one of the social networking sites that you should consider joining.
What is Triberr?
Basically, Triberr is a community of bloggers who work together to share each other’s content. “Tribes”, which are groups of bloggers are organized around content and each tribe has a “chief”. “Bonfires” are community forums.
When you join Triberr, you connect it with your Twitter account. Members are only allowed to have one Triberr account. You can connect multiple Twitter accounts and RSS feeds to that account. (Having more than one Triberr account is in violation of the terms of service and can be cause for immediate removal.)
In addition to sharing on Twitter, you can also easily promote other members posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and StumbleUpon. If the author of the blog post uses the Triberr plugin, then sharing on Pinterest is another option.
Joining the “Right” Tribe(s) – My Experience
Bottom line, Triberr is a platform that amplifies your “reach”. For example, one of the tribes that I’m a member of currently has 90 members. The combined reach of that one tribe is over 2.2 million followers. Joining the “right” tribes (for you) is very important.
I was invited to join Triberr when it first launched. Unfortunately for me, that tribe was started by a MLM networker and that was the focus of the group. (I am not in MLM marketing. So, it was not a good fit for me.)
As a chief, I was able to start tribes of my own. My first mistake was that I created a tribe and invited members who I was already sharing for. There was no advantage for us to use Triberr and I did not actively grow the group. Even worse, I did not form the group strategically. The members who I invited were all serious bloggers who provided quality content. However, our connection was that we liked and supported each other but we did not necessarily target the same readers. Our niches were different. (Some of us had the same target reader but that was purely coincidental and not planned.)
Eventually, I disbanded the tribe but I maintained a presence on Tiberr and (thankfully) I did not delete my profile. Months later, a very influential blogger (Kimberly Castleberry) invited me to join a new tribe that she was forming. Kim’s tribe is a perfect fit for me. Kimberly hand selected the members who she invited and we share the same target readers. Not only did I recognize many of the bloggers in the group, I was already promoting their content. Joining her group was a win-win.
A Guide to Getting Started on Triberr
For those of you who aren’t already a member of Triberr and would like to join, you can start by creating a free profile and then following some tribes that interest you. As a follower, you’ll be able to see and share blog posts from that tribe. (Their posts will show up in the tribal “stream”.) You can engage with the members, comment and share their content. The tribe chief can invite you to be a full-fledged member and then your blog posts will become part of the tribal stream too. For more information, check out Nicole Cook’s guide for getting started on Triberr.
Tribe Marketing works
For more insight on how Triberr can help you, watch this interview with Dino Dogan, (a founder of Triberr) at IBM’s Smarter Commerce Global Summit 2013 that was held in Nashville this month.
In this video, Dino mentions a study that reported that “most bloggers quit within 90 days”. He says the reason they quit is because it can be “sole crushing” to produce content when there’s no one there to see it and that this can be solved through technology. Dino goes on to say that there are two things left for the “creative class” to start making a living reliably from their creative works. One thing is distribution (which Triberr is about) and the second thing is to be able to make a living doing what they love (which is the next problem that Triberr is working on).
Over to you:
In his interview, Dino said that “tribe marketing works” by creating a community around your blog. What are your thoughts? Is Triberr a part of your social networking strategy? Should it be? What has your experience been? Do you have any tips that you can share? As always, your comments are valuable. We can all learn from each other.
Hi Sherryl: I am in 3 tribes. None of them is a perfect fit, but I RT tweets from the stream that Inthink my followers will relate to. I really don’t think it’s built my following, but how is one to know for sure? As long as ther are some commonalities, I think it’s OK.
Hi Doreen,
I just took a look to see how many tribes I’m in and it’s eleven. Finding the right tribes to join is critical. I failed miserably at first and finally am happy to be a member of tribes that are mostly a good fit for me. I try to only join tribes where I either have a personal connection with the chief, recognize the chief as an influencer or recognize/am connected with members of the tribe.
In the past few months, I’ve beefed up the amount of posts that I’ve shared on Triberr and it’s had a positive affect on my traffic. If you stick with it, hopefully you’ll start noticing an increase in your traffic too.
As always, thanks for coming over and weighing in on this.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Big Companies Use Neuromarketing to Influence Buyers. Can You?
On a daily basis, I’ll check the “New Posts” area of Triberr to see what my tribe has recently published. And this ends up becoming part of my reading list for the day. If you find the right tribe, they’ll constantly feed you great content (their own!).
Thanks for letting us know how you use Triberr Carmen. I usually check Triberr at least twice a day. I use BufferApp to schedule them and with the free version, I’m limited to 10 updates in the queue at once. (I may need to upgrade soon). By checking it in my morning and before I call it a day, I can keep the hopper full.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Friday Finds – Blog Reader Engagement, Google Penalties, Mobile Websites
I have heard about Triberr though I haven’t joined myself yet. Guess I should be starting to have my own profile already. Looks like I am already missing a lot.
Good luck with Triberr Jeremy. The key is joining the right tribe. I’ve mentioned this below in my replies but if I were joining Triberr today, my approach would be to contact other bloggers who you’re connected with on other social sites and find out if they’re on Triberr. If that person is active in a tribe that is in your niche, it could be an inside track to getting invited. (Chances are that you’d recognize other members too because they may already be connected to the person that you’re connected to.)
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Friday Finds – Twitter Cards, Social Networks, SEO & Triberr Reblogging
Ditto here Jeremy, YEARS ago they had webrings, same concept so not sure if it would be worth it. Definitely agree you would have to make sure you join the right tribe as with the webrings you really had to be careful who you endorsed or added you to their website. Was a GREAT post, and will have to look at Triberr more closely now!
Ron, I never participated webrings. So, I can’t compare them to Triberr. The importance of joining the right tribe(s) can’t be stressed enough.
As you know, I tried Triberr years ago and it didn’t work very well. Instead use Twitterfeed that I’m really content with.
Checked it out again recently and there was still problems. Even to sign in. So I deleted my account.
Catarina recently posted..Do you test your hypotheses?
Catarina,
I use Twitterfeed and Dlvr.It to share content too but if I had to choose between those services and Triberr, there would be no contest. When my feed is streamed to my tribes, my content is shared by bloggers who normally would not see my articles or share them. My reach right now through Triberr is 5 million.
That’s too bad that you had issues with your account and deleted it. Triberr is going through a lot of changes and there are occasional glitches. (At one point, I suddenly got flagged as inactive in my tribes and I’ve still been unable to contact the chief of one of them.)
BTW – I still can’t log back into bx.businessweek.com. It’s been over a year now. So, I relate to your frustration.
Most likely the reason is that I haven’t been invited to the right tribe.
Regarding BusinessWeek, it’s my forth source for traffic (after direct, Google and Linkedin). Much more than I get from any source related to Twitter.
Why don’t you contact BusinessWeek about your troubles? It’s easy to log in when you are in Europe. This year it was only one week it was impossible. They do have problems with the site. Call them up and see what they say.
Catarina recently posted..Do you test your hypotheses?
Hi Catarina,
If you’re having issue, email us at support@triberr.com we can take a look at it for you.
Also, regarding Twitterfeed. I used to use Twitterfeed, and it’s a really cool service, but it’s nothing like Triberr.
Twitterfeed sends your posts (or someone else’s posts) to your social channels.
Triberr sends your posts to OTHER people’s social channels.
Finding the right group of people to tribe up with is crucial. Your entire experience hinges on that factor.
One way to control your experience is to build your own tribe(s) with people whose content you already share.
Hope this helps
Cheers,
Dino
Founder of Triberr
Dino Dogan recently posted..Order Out of Chaos at IBM’s #SmarterCommerce
Dino, as I wrote, I left Triberr recently. Deleted my account. When I used it a couple of years ago I did build up my own tribes.
Can you help me get invited to Swedish tribes? Have lived most of my life all over the world and am now, with my new business, building up my network at home again. Have a huge network, both on and offline all over the world. Mainly offline:-)
Maybe you could introduce me to Swedes using Triberr? Would be great.
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Hi Catarina,
Thank you for that….it made me laugh.
Your question assumed I know everyone on Triberr…and while I wish that was the case, I dont. I couldnt. We have over 50000 tribes. Thats a whole lot of bloggers, and unfortunately, I dont know them all.
However, I do know 1 blogger from Sweden. I dont know if he’s in your niche, and I dont think he even defines himself as a “blogger from Sweden” since his posts are in English. But I’m happy to make the intros.
His name is Jerry, aka Dr. Spinn http://doktorspinn.com/
I’ll make the intros on twitter.
Dino Dogan recently posted..Order Out of Chaos at IBM’s #SmarterCommerce
Many thanks, Dino!
It’s the result that counts, isn’t it?
Jerry doesn’t have a tribe either but will set one up for quality blogs this summer and invite me. That we both write in English is fine, it can still have members who write in Swedish.
Once again, thank you for your kind cooperation, Dino.
Catarina recently posted..Want to turn your phone into a robot?
I did not give much attention to Triberr initially, but when my friends told me about its utility, I thought of trying it. I have just started using it, and it is so far so good. I have no idea how will it benefit me in future, but I am just hoping for the best.
Lancia,
Joining Triberr is one of the strategies that can make a real difference. I keep a worksheet to track when I make a strategic move like that. (You may be doing something similar to this.) When I joined Kim’s tribe, I noted the date in my tracking worksheet. Within a month of joining her tribe, I noticed a significant increase in my traffic from Twitter. It made a bigger difference than I had anticipated.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and good luck with your social networking!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Tracking Changes to Your Website Blog and Social Media Strategy
Hi Sherryl, Great info on Triberr. I’m a big fan and have been a member for nearly two years. The site has definitely increased my traffic and has helped me meet many new blogging friends.
Great advice on forming tribes. They have changed the process over the years so the strategy has changed as well.
Triberr also is serving as my RSS feed now. I discover a lot of wonderful articles, like this one, through my Triberr stream.
Carolyn recently posted..Fun with Fonts!
Carolyn,
I just checked and I joined back in March of 2011. I didn’t realize it had been so long! It has definitely made a difference in my traffic. According to the Triberr stats on my profile page, my reach is 5M.
That advice on forming tribes came from the Triberr site. I’ve been also suggesting (in my replies to comments) that if I were looking for a tribe to join that I would reach out to some of my connections on other social sites and ask for recommendations.
I think I really got to know you through reading your articles on my Triberr stream too. I was following you before but the stream is a great way to have content delivered.
I joined Triberr shortly after I started my blog about a year and a half ago. At the time, the site was having issues, so I didn’t try to use it again until about a month ago. I’ve started a tribe and joined a couple as well, but it’s apparent that not all members share equally, so finding the best and most active tribe mates is definitely key.
Jeri recently posted..A Writer’s Guide: How to Get the Writing Done
That’s good advice Jeri. I’m sure you’ll find the right fit for you. Some niches seem to have more active bloggers than others. You’re right about the sharing too. Thankfully, I’m connected to several bloggers now who share for me and some of them I’m surprised by because they’re very well known. So, their reach is far greater than mine.
I have joined Triberr but still getting my feet wet. I’ll be honest and say that my first impressions were not great, largely because the bonfire conversations at that time were dominated by people complaining that no tribe would accept them as members. Joining a group to complain isn’t much fun. 🙂 I have since found a few interesting blogs and have shared some posts but still have not found a fit that works for me. Its nice to see that it has worked so well for others.
Debra Yearwood recently posted..Let Graphic Design Help You Deliver Your Message
Debra,
It took me a while to find the right tribes to join. If I were new to Triberr now, I would reach out to other bloggers in my niche who are reaching the target reader/customer that you’re trying to connect with. Ask them about Triberr. Chances are, someone you know is in a tribe that would be a perfect fit for you.
Being that I just recently joined Triberr the other day, these are some great tips. I already followed some Tribes and shared others content that I personally found useful. I guess that’s a good start. I obviously see the potential in it if I joined however I did not get any traffic from it just yet. But since my goal is not only to get traffic but also network, and learn something new, I’m assuming that it should work in my favor. I will however have to check out that guide.
Thank you for sharing.
Bernard Z. recently posted..By: Bernard Z
Bernard,
I get very little traffic directly from Triberr but I get a significant amount of traffic from Twitter after my content is shared by my tribes.
it seams that when people join Triberr, their first instinct is to join tribes. We are on one hand trying to fight this notion, and on the other, creating tools that would make the process of joining tribes more natural.
Martin recently posted..Update #3: Two Portfolio One Page Templates + Two WordPress Themes
Martin,
I joined back when Triberr was by invitation only. At least now, you can follow a tribe and get a feel for whether it would be a good fit.
The suggestion for following tribes that I included in my post actually came from the Triberr site. Personally, if I were new to Triberr, I would reach out to people who I’m connected to on other social sites. (That have the same target reader/clients that I do.) I’d ask them if they’re in a tribe Triberr and possibly find a tribe to join that way.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Friday Finds – Twitter Cards, Social Networks, SEO & Triberr Reblogging
Hi Sherryl, I am not too old a blogger. With a blog aged a tad over a year, I am still managing to handle Facebook and Twitter. I will try other ways too but I want to give each strategy some time, so as to figure out which one works best for me. Thanks a lot for sharing the post.
Congratulations on making it past the one year mark Andru! (They say most bloggers quit within 90 days.) It makes sense to go slow and determine what works for you. I’ve linked to a post I wrote a while back on tracking your changes to both your website and to your social media strategy (just in case you might be interested). You don’t have to go overboard tracking everything but I’ve found maintaining a spreadsheet with my strategy changes has really helped me determine what I did that worked (or didn’t work).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Tracking Changes to Your Website Blog and Social Media Strategy
Sherryl, I love Triberr! It took me quite some time to learn it and use it right to get many shares from it. I also increased my readership and comments from Triberr. Every blogger should be on Triberr if they are to get serious about their blogging.
The only drawback is when their site goes down but they are EXCELLENT at customer service and letting us users know what is happening. (When Triberr goes down I head over to JustRetweet.)
I think they new upgrades they made to the site will help the site not go down.
Lisa recently posted..Fiverr To The Blog Rescue and To Your Rescue Too
Lisa,
My memory isn’t what it used to be 🙂 but I’m pretty sure I got to know you well on Triberr. I knew who you were before and had shared content for you but (to me) being in Triberr together solidified that relationship.
BTW – I’ve mentioned in previous replies that there are certain tribe members who I am completely confident in to share quality content. I can share their posts without feeling the need to “check them out” first. Lisa is definitely one of those members!
Thanks Sherryl I feel that same about your posts too 🙂 I can share before I read.
Lisa recently posted..Fiverr To The Blog Rescue and To Your Rescue Too
Hi Sherryl,
Thanks for this wonderful post that talks about a new, raising trend: influence marketing.
I have some things to say about Triberr and tribes:
1. 90 members in a tribe? Ouch! How can you mange all those posts? What are you doing with the other tribes you are member in? Do you have time to sleep at night? 🙂
2. When you choose a tribe you must be very careful, indeed. It must fit into your niche. Otherwise you’ll have a lot of posts you don’t want to share and you’ll need to leave that tribe.
3. The chief will invite you? It depends. Most of the time you need a long period of “following”, of sharing other people’s posts. Sometimes you will be invited fast (if you ar e lucky). Most of the time you’ll have to wait.
4. Excellent video.
“Influence is better than ads.” WOW!! For the first time, something better than adds. Almost unbelievable.
However, the idea is so wonderful. I will go for it with all my heart. This is power, this is future.
Thanks for taking the time to write this post.
Have a nice day
Silviu recently posted..How to get Traffic to Your Blog with Triberr
Hi Silviu,
Those are great questions. I’ll try to give you my input.
1) Although there are 90 members in that one tribe, not all of them post weekly. (A couple post multiple times a day and others daily.) Many of the members of the tribes I’m in I knew long before I joined Triberr and already had subscribed their RSS feeds into either Dlvr.it or TwitterFeed. So, I just skim over those people in the stream. Most of the other members who I promote consistently create quality content and I trust them explicitly. So, if the title of their post is relevant, I can schedule it to post without having to read it. (I’m confident that it will be valuable content to share.) I do spend time reading articles from members who I don’t know yet and that takes more time to share.
As for the other tribes that I’m in, I look at one stream for all the tribes together. In total, I’m active in 4 tribes and many of the bloggers are in multiple tribes. I have it down to a system and I estimate that I spend about an hour a day between Twitter, Triberr and Buffer with a little more time spent on days when I publish.
2) I’ve learned to avoid “atomic” tribes too where the chief has paid to ensure that their posts are automatically shared. (I learned that the hard way.)
3) In my post, I wrote about the recommended way to join a tribe that I found on Triberr. Honestly, I would take a different strategy. I would contact those bloggers who are in my niche already (and that I have built a relationship with). I’d ask them if they are in Triberr and if they could recommend a tribe to join. They may be chiefs themselves or they may be able to get you an invitation.
Thanks for letting me know that you liked my article and for giving me the opportunity to write more!
Sherryl Perry recently posted..SEO Gets Social | How to Use Social to Get More out of Search
Im so glad you watched the interview, and thank you for embedding it 🙂
I had a great chat today with Elizabeth Scott and she extracted all sorts of top secret info from me 🙂
Dino Dogan recently posted..The Rise of the Creative Class at IBM’s #SmarterCommerce
You’re welcome Dino! I’ve been meaning to write an article on Triberr for a while and now seemed the time to do it.
Elizabeth told me that she had scheduled a chat with you and she has promised to share some of the inside scoop with my readers in a guest post that is scheduled for the week of June 10th. So, stay tuned! 🙂
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Social Networking and Casting a Bigger Net
Sherryl — I joined Triberr a couple of years ago but I didn’t “get it.” They were undergoing a reoganization at the time and I had a couple of email discussions with Dino. I opened an account and honestly don’t even know if I belong anymore because I didn’t get active. I know it’s something I need to do. Thanks for the reminder.
Jeannette Paladino recently posted..Is the Term Journalist Passé As Writers Become Curators of Content?
Jeannette,
I believe that you joined about the same time that I did. (You may have been one of the members in that early tribe that I formed and later disbanded. I can’t remember at the moment.) Triberr was so new back then that many of us didn’t really know what to do with it. I certainly am guilty of not spending a lot of time strategically forming tribes.
Thankfully, (as a rule) I don’t generally delete profiles from social sites because you never know what’s going to happen. I would guess that your profile still exists. So, you should be able to easily get involved now if you want to. I know Dino is talking about exciting features that are coming to Triberr. Elizabeth Scott recently interviewed Dino and she’s going to write a guest post for me to give us some insight. I’m hoping to publish it the week of June 10th. So, stay tuned. 🙂
Sherryl — right after I commented on your post I hopped over to Triberr and I’m still a member. I filled out my profile and joined a social media group. I’ll write to you separately about potential tribes, etc. Thanks for the kick in the butt!
Jeannette Paladino recently posted..Please ReTweet, Link and Comment on This Post — So Says HubSpot
You’re welcome Jeanette! The magic is in joining the right tribes. I’m glad you kept your profile.
Sherryl, You know what a fan of Triberr I am. I had a wonderful conversation with Dino Dogan, the co-founder of Triberr and I can say there is many cool features that are up and coming. I have clients who have seen growth by leaps and bounds by becoming members of the right tribes. It takes some time and dedication but definitely worth the effort. I love being able to assist my clients in finding the perfect Tribes and helping them share.
Elizabeth Scott recently posted..Time Management Keep your plate from overflowing.
Elizabeth,
I am really looking forward to reading the guest post that you’re going to be writing for my blog about Triberr and Dino. The timing is perfect!
I am huge fan of Triberr. It has been (and will continue to be) a part of my ongoing Social Media strategy. The key, as you mentioned, is to find the right niche tribes. Once you’ve done that, you start to see the benefits of what Triberr can offer. 🙂
That’s great that Tribber is working well for you. When you find the right tribes, it can make a significant difference in the amount of traffic that you’ll get. Some of my tribe members have become visitors here and I’ve engaged with them on their blogs too. There’s real opportunity to build a community there beyond promoting each others content.
Hi Sherryl,
This topic was completely new to me and of considerable interest. Triberr sounds like something I’d like to get involved with. I really appreciate your suggestions for getting started–setting up free profile, reading others’ streams. I’m excited about exploring this! Thanks for bringing such good information.
Judy Stone-Goldman recently posted..How the Farmers’ Market Makes Me Write the Same Thing Twice
Judy,
Thanks so much for letting me know that you learned something new from me. Triberr can work very well when you find the right tribes. Good luck with it!