Getting Social Media Traffic

social-media-traffic

Okay, first off, we need to know how social media works best and what pitfalls you must avoid when using it for traffic generation.

So I want you to get out of your computer for a while and focus on what your life was like (or is like) without social media in the picture.

As a kid, I’d hang out with friends for REAL. We’d have parties, watch centurions, have get-togethers, go rock-climbing and fool around most of the time (really miss those good ol’ days now, sigh). I’m sure you had a life where sitting by the fire you’d share your life and pop-up love stories. Well, before you step into social media, you need to know for good that this is exactly what the purpose was when socializing online was born.

Most marketers use (read “misuse”) it to try and build brands and hump people into their sales funnels. That’s more like trying to weasel into their pockets using the disguise of a facebook contact. MEGA FAIL!!

When you step online, you can get traffic by doing anything. That’s right, ANYTHING!! Just pick up your old times photograph, write a song about washing your car and blast that all over the place. No matter how crappy it is, you’ll still get a bucket full of traffic…

You can use anything BECAUSE “what” you use does not matter! It’s “how” you use it that conveys your “intent” to the people on the other side of the computer screen. And “intent” is what makes the difference between successfully using social media or wasting time over it.

So now let’s come back and relate the web with our lives. First you live at home so we start with your home. Online, it’s your blog. What do you have at your home? Some have pictures, others have shells, others have swords and armor, I have posters of Jennifer Aniston (love her), and you have whatever you feel describes you and your state of life best.

Remember, your blog (not your business site) is the landmark in your social media efforts. And this blog, like your home, is all about YOU as a person. The theme and setting is YOU – not your businesses.

Now, the social media sites

> Twitter
> Facebook
> MySpace
> Pounce
> Youtube

are a bullet list of party venues. You read that right, you need to treat all these as a freakin’ party!!

Now what do you do when you go to a party? You share. Not with the intention of selling your business, but with the intent of getting to know people and letting them know you. You share content about your life and the amazing things that can happen on associating with you on your profiles. You make friends, you expand your social circle.

And when somewhere down the road, you’re a hip with certain people and they’re onto you, you say

“Hey! Come over and visit my house some time… we’ll have fun with my scrapbook collection”

Read as

“Hey! Come over and check out my blog some time… we’ll have fun commenting on my comically stupid videos”

And that’s how you build traffic to your blog first. You deliver SOCIAL value and connecting power to people. And then at the end of your party visit what do you do? Say you found someone mention a dire need for a new golf club. You say “Awesome! That’s my specialty. Come over to my house and I’ll show you some great samples and maybe get you a great deal.”

The same way, on your blog, if someone’s really interested and intrigued by the stuff you share, you allow them to do two things-

> Share it with their connections on their profiles by commenting…

> Proceed to the business site catalog where you have what they need and can buy at great bargain.

That’s how social media traffic generation works. By the way, this is also why you’ll find attorneys attending parties after parties after parties. They’re building connections. Not necessarily to have everyone hear them show off their business like a screwball, but to let them know that they specialize in some legal matters that their friends or friend of friends may run into. And voila! You have your socially proven traffic.

That’s another facet of your wall or tweets online. If someone isn’t quite interested, they at least know that if someone else in their circle needs what you offer, then you’re the man to talk to and get a deal from!

So remember the sequence:

Party—–> Home—-> (if interested) Business

Similarly, we have

Social network Profile—-> Blog—-> (if interested) Website catalog

Wish you all the best with your social media efforts. Enjoy!

For even more traffic generating tips visit me at my new blog Income On Demand

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