Today we’re talking about two of my absolute favorite topics:
Social media and generating traffic.
Specifically how to combine the two into one tasty traffic social media treat…
Yeah… that sounds right…
So you want more traffic.
Good call!
After all, more traffic tends to mean more eyeballs on your stuff.
Which means more opportunities to connect, convince, and convert your ideal prospect or lead.
You likely know that social media is incredibly powerful and has all the tools necessary to deliver that traffic directly to you.
So here’s the thing:
When it comes to generating traffic, social media isn’t the issue.
It’s got billions of users and works just fine.
And a lack of traffic isn’t really the issue, because there’s plenty of people out there who would be interested in what you have to do.
So the trick then is: how do you combine these two?
And how do you make them work for you business to generate all the traffic you could ever dream of?
Well fortunately, that’s what we’re talking about today…
I’m giving you my six best tips on how to use social media to generate more traffic.
The first thing you need to do when it comes to using social media to generate traffic is…
Tip 1: Work Backwards
What this means is to begin with the end in mind and to be crystal-clear about that final goal.
What we’re talking about here is clearly identifying that one key place we want to be sending traffic to.
Do we want to be sending traffic to our website? Or our blog? An email list? Opt-in page?Webinar? Video series?
What ever it is, we’ve gotta pick that one key place that’s gonna give us the greatest opportunity of success.
Now the reason it’s important to be strategic here and to ideally pick just one place to send that traffic…
Is because we don’t want to dilute our traffic across a number of different places.
At least not initially.
So pick that one place that’s gonna give you the highest likelihood of success.
Where you’ve had great luck converting those leads into prospects and customers and clients, and go with that.
Alright the next thing when it comes to social media to generate traffic, is you need to…
Tip 2: Go Where They Are
So the way to do this is to first identify your ideal customer avatar.
That perfect prospect, lead, customer or client, the one that you love and loves you and what you do and tells all their friends about you.
Well, go after them, and do that by finding out where they’re spending their time online and which social media platforms they’re using.
I know it sounds simple.
But believe it or not, this is where so many people miss the boat.
They go to the channels that they want to use and they think are the “next hottest thing”…
And they completely miss going to the places that their customers are already active.
That obviously is a huge wasted opportunity and a complete waste of time, energy, and marketing dollars.
So, find the platforms that they use and they love, and then go to them.
And don’t expect them to come to you.
Now, if you’re just getting started and you have absolutely no idea where to go, well, the five best platforms I suggest you start looking into are:
- YouTube
Tip 3: Act Natural
The way to act natural when it comes to generating traffic is…
You want to fit in while simultaneously standing out.
Let me explain.
Basically, every different social media platform is gonna have a different style, a different tone…
Different kind of nuances, and the way the things look, and the way they feel.
Well, you want to be respectful of these differences and go in there knowing what to expect and fitting in with the culture.
This means studying what type of content works best.
What are the image sizes? What are the video links?
What kind of style, colors and graphics are working well on that platform?
But then, you need to stand out by being your own true and authentic self.
Yes, look for others for inspiration on what to do, and maybe model your stuff after them…
But don’t copy.
Don’t steal.
Don’t plagiarize.
Because your’e gonna come off as a second-rate version of them, rather than a first-rate version of you.
Tip 4: Jab Jab Jab Right Hook
Gary Vaynerchuck wrote a great book on this.
And he really nailed it when he said:
You’ve got to go out there and create a ton of value, and give a ton before you go in for the “ask”.
Basically, he was spot on.
So when you go to social media looking to generate traffic, make sure your primary aim is to give as much value as possible.
This means being entertaining, or informative, or educating, or helping…
Doing what ever you can to provide value to the social platforms.
Then (and only then) have you earned the right to make an offer.
But, an important point is, when you make the offer make sure that the offer is something that people actually want.
The reason why most people’s traffic-generating efforts on social media fail isn’t because of bad social media strategies or bad traffic-generating strategy in general…
It’s normally because of bad offers that are incongruent with the platform and the audience.
But let’s get back on track.
Tip 5: Wash, Rinse, Repeat
What this means is that once you’ve uncovered what works, well, you want to do more of it.
Lots more of it.
Lots and lots.
This is because you’ve uncovered what’s gonna work for that channel and for your business.
So you obviously want to try to double or triple or even 10X your results.
You see, once you’ve figured out something that works, well, take the lessons that you’ve learned from that and see if you can apply it on another channel.
And again, make sure to choose another channel that your customers and clients are actually on.
When it comes to social media, there’s been a long-standing debate of whether quality or quantity is more important.
Where we’re at today is that it’s a bit of both.
You need quality and you need quantity.`
So don’t be afraid to really dial in that first channel, but then take the strategies, lessons, and tactics that you’ve learned, and put ’em somewhere else.
…(Where your customers are).
Tip 6: Throw Gas on the Fire
What we’re talking about here is paid ads.
You see, the five channels that I mentioned before (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest)
All have advertising options available.
Which means, if you’ve identified a good strategy on a good platform that works for you, your business, and your customers…
Well you really want to use all the tools and resources available to you.
And this means putting your money where your mouth is.
And really leveraging all the work that you’ve already done on these platforms by amplifying your content with paid traffic.
Now, the reason that we’re putting paid traffic at the end of all the tips we’ve just covered is because we wanna use paid ads to amplify and leverage all the good stuff we’ve already done.
Because paid traffic is really just like gasoline.
It just takes what ever you’ree doing and makes it bigger.
Which means if you throw paid traffic at a really bad offer and a really bad channel where nobody is…
Well, you’re just gonna make it a whole lot worse, and you’re gonna end up losing money.
But, if you throw money at good platform on a good channel with your customers that are already active and engaged…
Well, again, you’re gonna amplify those results, and you’re gonna increase your return on investment.
My final point when it comes to using paid ads, is that they’re still incredibly under-priced attention.
Which means that you can reach your customers and clients for far cheaper than almost any other advertising option available.
And it’s incredibly undervalued attention.
So get to gettin’ while the gettin’s good.
Those are the strategies to help you leverage social media to generate even more traffic.
It is totally doable and totally possible and I know you can do it if you apply these tips.
