Introduction
This is an old post that I am now updating.
It’s about traffic. Most people instinctively try to use SEO to get traffic.
While we want to use SEO for content strategy, we don’t want to rely on Google entirely, as it is going to take you too long to start getting traffic and Google may change its algorithm at any time, leaving you stranded.
I will show you how to use social media to promote blog content and get floods of traffic.
This is not about promoting a single post, it’s more about your overall strategy.
And it doesn’t matter if you are a total newbie and no one knows you. You can still get traffic with social media.
Dead Even Before You Write It?
Have you ever thought about it that your blog posts may be sentenced to the death penalty before you even write them?
First of all, your blog posts need to fill an existing need.
Many people write blog posts because they feel like writing about something. They don’t realize that maybe nobody cares about the subject they are addressing.
The reason I decided to upgrade this post because I ran into desperate requests for help on Facebook:
“Hey guys! I’m struggling for traffic on my blog and would some tips or advice…anyone interested in taking a look at my blog? Anything I can improve”
“New Member · December 21 at 3:51pm
“Does anyone have any tips for gaining visitors to your blog?”
The subject addresses a desperate need.
Your Post’s Title
I updated the title, as the old one was bad. It was something like Getting traffic to a new site with social media.
The problem with such a title is that it is too bland. Like a meal without spice.
Your title needs to provoke emotions and reactions. I have another blog post about writing catchy titles and headlines, however I still need to make that post better.
The current title is “Flooding Your Site With Viral Social Media Traffic (Even If No One Knows You)”.
“Even If No One Knows You” is the target audience. This is something people can identify with.
It is a pain point. This combination of words stirs up emotions.
“Flooding” is another word that is popular, along with “viral”.
I believe that this is a title that people will want to open and share, as it contains key words that create a certain reaction.
Keyword In Your Title
Another part of the title is the keyword, in the title itself and in the URL.
Unfortunately this is not a good subject, because it is fairly competitive, even for long-tail keywords.
Anyways, the keyword is “how to increase traffic through social media”, 10-100 searches per month.
This is the level you want to target when your site is new and has no authority. As you can see, I am using a searcher intent, not an exact keyword phrase.
The Key Concept In Social Media Promotion
There are several purposes we are trying to accomplish here:
1. Driving traffic to your content achieving long page view times, low bounce rate and leaving comments will improve SEO ranking of your posts. Yes, your social media traffic can ignite your SEO if your readers are engaged.
2. Strategically put your content in front of people that are influencers and will share your content. Most content doesn’t get shared a lot. Your purpose is to intentionally generate hundreds of shares of your blog posts.
3. Inspiring people to naturally link to your content.
How do you achieve all that?
- See what content gets shared a lot on a certain subject in your niche and create much better content with a title that begs for opening and sharing.
- You will need to actively reach out to individual influencers and tell them about your content. This is a number’s game where you can calculate with 10 percent success rate.
Basically, if you want an audience for your blog, you are going to have to put in the work to get them there.
It’s important to be active and consistent on social media. You should be posting to your social networks every single day, several times a day. And not just posting your own content, but other people’s content as well.
In addition to posting content, don’t forget to regularly engage with people and other bloggers in your niche too.
Building Up Twitter From Scratch
Your Twitter Profile
When you open a Twitter account, make sure that you create a username that matches your website. If you already have an account you are not using, you can follow these simple steps to change your username:
- Click on Settings and Privacy from your profile icon dropdown menu.
- Under Account, update the username currently listed in the Username field. If the username is taken, you’ll be prompted to choose another one.
- Click the Save Changes button.
One of the key parts of your Twitter profile is your bio. Write a bio that clearly states what your blog is about, what you tweet about and add a link to your main opt-in offer.
You only have a limited amount of characters, so make them count. If after reading your bio, people don’t get what you are about, they won’t stick around. If they follow you after reading your bio, they will be targeted followers who know exactly what you stand for.
Twitter allows you to customize your Twitter account, so you can change all of the colors and you can upload your own background image. Why is this important? Well, by customizing your own account, you make yourself stand out from the rest of the crowd and create your brand.
Getting Twitter Followers
There is a method that you can use to get followers on Twitter. Ensure you have a Twitter account that has your website name.
Search Twitter for your niche, keyword or related niche and find a user that is in your niche and has a lot of followers. Go to their followers list and start following these people.
You can add up to 1,000 followers a day and a percentage of these people will follow you back. Then you repeat this the next day. After a week you unfollow the ones that didn’t follow you. I got 70 followers this way with two hours of work in 5 days.
Again, this is a numbers game.
Tagging Users
Anything that gets you into people’s notifications is more likely to be paid attention to and shared. Tagging other people in your tweets is no exception.
For instance, if you’re curating content (which I highly advise), there’s no reason not to tag the author of the post. It’s a great way to credit them. And, bonus, you’ll show up in their notifications. Of course, they’ll be appreciative and often will reciprocate down the line. They may even retweet that particular tweet (I know I do when people share my content and tag me).
But do you know you can also tag up to 10 people in the image of a tweet? When you add an image to a tweet, you’ll see an option underneath that says “Who’s in this photo?”
Twitter Interaction
Another important part of the Twitter strategy is that when you follow someone, you may get a message from them. Look through these messages and answer them. This is interaction where you can build relationships, find affiliate programs to promote, etc.
Also look at the mini profiles you see under your followers. Look for ideas for products, headlines, etc. This is literally a goldmine.
Twitter is a social site, so be social! There is a whole community related to your niche out there, so get involved. Chat to people, make friends, share ideas, ask question, re-tweet, etc.
Now you can direct these followers to your opt-in page and get subscribers.
Keeping Your Followers
It’s very important that you regularly tweet quality content to your followers, otherwise they will become cold. Don’t just tweet your own content – share high quality content you come across when you research subjects for your site.
Also retweet tweets that you like.
Tweet your articles several times, but each time use a different quote, intriguing piece of datum. If you have mentioned an influencer, message them.
You don’t necessarily need lots of followers to start. You just need some that have LOTS of followers themselves. So when you get followers, always check out how many followers THEY have.
The best way to promote your site is to tweet about it! Tweet about all of your new posts a couple of times a day and keep everyone up to date about everything that is happening with your site. 8-10 am is the best time to tweet.
Twitter is not necessarily a high-converting platform, but it is a component of your traffic strategy.
Notify The Person You Wrote About
Here is another strategy that works well. You find a blog post that you like that matches your site, or you get an email you are signed up for promoting a post. You press the tweet button on the post to tweet it. You will probably see the Twitter ID of the blog’s owner. Take note of it.
First, he will probably like your tweet and may even retweet it, giving you more exposure. Second, you could write a post/review about his website or product and notify him through a Twitter message. He will probably share it on his social channels and you got exposure for your post.
Per the statistics, 25 percent of all web traffic is driven by Facebook. Therefore you miss out if you don’t include Facebook as part of your advertising strategy.
The advantage of Facebook is that when you post, a notification will appear in your friends feed.
First you should create a Facebook page. See the instructions here.
You also need to optimize your Facebook page for the type of activity you are doing.
You need to learn how to create effective Facebook ads. There are free Facebook strategies to get fans, and you can also use paid Facebook ads for lead generation.
Tagging People On Facebook
Tag interested people. Elite blogging strategist Patrick Coombe explained,
“Here is my best tip: Tag people. But don’t be reckless about it. Don’t just tag random people that pop up when the @ symbol comes up, tag people that you know will get amped up about the post and comment. If you can get someone excited, angry, or passionate about a subject, it will create conversation and if you can create conversation, you’ll naturally trigger Facebook’s internal algorithm to make it show up in more news feeds.
“Tagging people in comments is also helpful. Make a comment on the original post and tag someone in it. Ask them a question and tag them in it; it’ll almost demand their attention. Sadly, without having a budget to “boost” a post on Facebook, it is getting harder and harder to promote a post. This way, with the right initiative, you can get some great reach on Facebook without having to spend the money.”
Participating In Facebook Groups
Another strategy is to sign up for Facebook groups that have a lot of members and are active. Actively participate in the group, give likes, answer questions. Share content that helps them out, not just yours, don’t self-promote blatantly. If you help others, they will check out your page and will send you friend requests.
Usually, there will be a daily thread where members can link to their content, in exchange for liking/sharing/engaging with other member’s content. There are literally thousands of Facebook groups for bloggers.
See here an example of traffic increase from sharing a post in two Facebook groups:
You can see the highest ever daily traffic as a result on the graph.
Now imagine you write a new post every few days and share it. This is time-consuming, but you will have no traffic problems.
Form Your Own Facebook Group
To get started, under the arrow in your main menu, there’s an option to create a group. From there you can name your group, add at least one member (you can remove them later), and set your privacy settings.
It’s best to make it a closed group. This lessens the chance of just anyone joining and makes your group feel like it has value. There is also less spam.
Here are the steps to get your group up and running:
1. Create a Facebook group cover photo
When creating your Facebook group cover photo, don’t just get any stock photo. This is a great place to brand your business.
2. Write your description
The description tells people what your group is about – your main topic and how you can help or benefit them.
You can also direct people to your site or lead magnet.
3. Make a pinned post
In Facebook groups, you can “pin” a post to the top of your page so that this is the first thing your new members will see.
Use this as an opportunity to drive traffic to your site. Welcome everyone to the group and link back to your website. Ask people to visit your site to get the latest info in your niche.
With your group up and running, you now need to grow your membership.
Pinterest Traffic
Pinterest is not a regular social media. It is more like a visual search engine.
Pinterest has a huge traffic potential. You have boards with your pins and with others’ pins. The more pins from your board get shared, the more authority you will have in the eye of Pinterest.
You will need a Pinterest strategy.
Social Media Automation – Missinglettr
For an entire year, Missinglettr will promote your post links for you on the social media site of your choosing. It currently support Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Pinterest is coming soon.
Missinglettr monitors your blog 24/7. When you publish an article, Missinglettr automatically creates a year’s worth of social media updates, pre-filled with quotes from your content.
They also have a free plan which lets you
- Link 1 site
- 2 new campaigns per month
- Use 1 social profile of the ones listed above
There are also paid plans that allow you more promotion and thus save you time.
