What’s so great about traffic from social media?

[rajii]

1. Anyone can do it.
2. Success can be accomplished from day one of a new website or blog. There’s no need to wait to become a trusted domain.
3. The highs in traffic can be very high.
4. It’s free.
5. You’ll make valuable contacts along the way.
6. A power profile will allow you to get traffic just about whenever you need it (with certain sites).
7. You can help others in the process (and they’re not necessarily your competition like with search engine rankings).
8. The traffic snowballs. Those who are successful draw large audiences. Large audiences can lead to more success with social media and increased visibility.
9. The structure of your website isn’t really important like it is with SEO.

[jameshills]

The important thing that people forget (especially management types that just read or hear about something via email / article in business journal etc.) is that social media - while it can "just happen" - does take time, strategy and lots of effort.

It isn't like you can just one day wake up and say, "lets do facebook!" and you'll get 10,000 people at your doorstep.

The key for me - and when we discuss social media with our clients - is to set expectations and goals ... then we know what we need to do to achieve those goals and how much to invest in the effort.

[Ritch111]

Are there any particular social media platforms you like to use more than the others? Maybe give your top 3.

[morestar]

My top 1 would be blogs. I truly don't use other ones accept for the occasional Tweet...very occasional.

[tangeray]

I have a facebook page and don't get any traffic off of it, or business and have aprox 600 friend. I think social media traffic is horrible. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Any links for "How to" market on social media groups?

[morestar]

Do you blog tangeray?

[SuperMan]

I am still trying to figure out social media and how to apply it to business

[morestar]

BLOG! really though, start blogging...I was 'still' trying to figure it out even last year...

Start with blogging and everything comes natural thereafter as you start to pick up on the ins and outs of everything related to social sites and marketing...

For you Seinfeld (Superman) simply start a little blog related to your hosting services and just post hosting news, hosting updates, updates on the stuff you offer...interesting web related conventions and shows etc....

Superman are you doing good in the SERPs for your keywords?

[tangeray]

No, but but an off site blog with different host is scheduled for completion soon. Go to Satellite TV (http://www.SatHookup.com) and look at my social media icons in the bottom left footer.

I know it is important, however I find it difficult to get myself to target my friends and family for my services. I even see them ordering services that I provide, and feel like yelling at them for not ordering through me, but don't.

Maybe I have too much pride, but I think it;s y fault that when they think of tv, they don't think of me.

[pedroneiraf]

1. Anyone can do it.
2. Success can be accomplished from day one of a new website or blog. There’s no need to wait to become a trusted domain.
3. The highs in traffic can be very high.
4. It’s free.
5. You’ll make valuable contacts along the way.
6. A power profile will allow you to get traffic just about whenever you need it (with certain sites).
7. You can help others in the process (and they’re not necessarily your competition like with search engine rankings).
8. The traffic snowballs. Those who are successful draw large audiences. Large audiences can lead to more success with social media and increased visibility.
9. The structure of your website isn’t really important like it is with SEO.

Don't really agree with you, specially with "Success can be accomplished from day one".
Not quite sure how can you instantly draw tons of traffic to your site through social media...
Could you give some specific examples??
Thanks

[morestar]

tangeray, there are tons of subjects that you can blog about daily related to your services which will being visitors to your site.

are you competing locally or internationally?

If you write an article a week on something related to your industry you won't have to worry about your relatives - customers will come and find you via many avenues thereafter...

[morestar]

Don't really agree with you, specially with "Success can be accomplished from day one".
Not quite sure how can you instantly draw tons of traffic to your site through social media...
Could you give some specific examples??
Thanks


No really he's right. He's certainly not saying this is true for every campaign but honestly if you got up at 6am one morning and worked till 11pm doing some or all of what the OP mentioned I can assure you that the following day in your visit stats there would be more than just your IP showing up.

Building a little buzz...

[NJ]

While I don't think that Social Media should replace your website, Facebook has been a great place to keep in contact with my web development students. I started last summer, when I was asked to teach a Social Networking for Business class. The traffic to my site doubled with the Social Media efforts. Considering that my site is targeted to a very small market (folks interested in Web Development classes within driving distance of Missoula, Montana,) that's a pretty significant jump. Whether the classes filled because of the economic downturn or because of my efforts is a good question!

[tangeray]

Morestar, my concern is turning my "friends" into business without harassing or being cheesy. The fact is everyone in America needs my services: TV, Internet, Phone

I am nationwide with over 350 locations with independent installers.

I need a hook, or a way for people to remember to call me instead of the cable company. Thinking of an affiliate program

[morestar]

While I don't think that Social Media should replace your website, Facebook has been a great place to keep in contact with my web development students. I started last summer, when I was asked to teach a Social Networking for Business class. The traffic to my site doubled with the Social Media efforts. Considering that my site is targeted to a very small market (folks interested in Web Development classes within driving distance of Missoula, Montana,) that's a pretty significant jump. Whether the classes filled because of the economic downturn or because of my efforts is a good question!

Maybe the economic down-turn sparked the searches for your services and they found them due to your efforts?

I'll bet $20 on that...

[morestar]

Morestar, my concern is turning my "friends" into business without harassing or being cheesy. The fact is everyone in America needs my services: TV, Internet, Phone

I am nationwide with over 350 locations with independent installers.

I need a hook, or a way for people to remember to call me instead of the cable company. Thinking of an affiliate program

Hook. Well are you rankings high for your keywords - do you know what your highest searched keywords are for your genre?

Blogging very useful information wouldn't be considered harassing I promise. The search engines will find you and so will customers and if you blog without spamming your information will be appreciated.

:cool:

[NetProwler]

I am a little skeptical about the large volume of traffic from Social media built overnight - unless you are an established celebrity, self-help guru, Jet-setting Yogi or a minister. Winning a game of popularity contest in the social media is not everyone's cup of tea. Sure it is theoretically possible.

But for the majority it is far more productive to work on the regular website. Just my 2 cents.

[r5416]

Well I have to agree somewhat, you can get immediate traffic using social media sites, the biggest question is, is it exposure that will give you results, if all you want is clicks and visitors then sure, but if you want quality traffic that will come to your site for your offerings then you need to be a bit more scrutinize about how you go about using the social media scene.

Peace...

[Orion]

Don't really agree with you, specially with "Success can be accomplished from day one".
Not quite sure how can you instantly draw tons of traffic to your site through social media...
Could you give some specific examples??
Thanks

How's about a basic senario... I do this with clients and they are floored with the results.

I explain to clients that they already have an army of sales people for free and they never believe me till they see the results!

Example...

New Client 100 employees..needs some exposure on their website...
So average company.. 75% of those employees already have facebook accounts and 10% have linked in accounts, 20% tweet... I'm just picking a few numbers I've had with clients from experience.. of course every company demographic etc. will vary those numbers but stay with me here...

We set up the executive on facebook, linked in and twitter.. show them how to do some very very basic stuff.. Then create company profiles for each of the above.. (fyi. you can do this WAY beyond the three social networks I'm referring too)...

Then we have HR inform the employees of the pages.. ask them to add fellow workmates as friends, fan the company pages, and don't forget to add the company website to their profile pages and blogs! And don't forget (this is important) ask them to tell their friends about it! Set a goal! Make it a competition, or contest, have a draw.. there's a ton of stuff you can do to pump employee moral, create a buzz internally and blow the numbers outta this world...

Last thing.. make sure in staff meetings every employee is told to promote to clients, customers, the guys doing deliveries, voicemail.. etc. etc. etc.

Promote to Company mailing list.. encourage clients and vendors to link to websites, follow on twitter, and befriend and fan ..

Anyone catching on here??? This is Solid Gold here..

A 100 employee company with a not so good website can in one week see massive gains in traffic on their website..

To maintain and build on it of course a solid, long term strategy for your social media needs to be put in place..

But my point is that ya you can see results from day one in the majority of real world cases anyway!

[mjtaylor]

Great post from a new member. Thanks, Rajii. Rep points added.

I've read studies that suggest the traffic you get from social media has an advantage over other sources: loyalty.

My own experience: I have more than 2,000 contacts on Facebook and when I update my Facebook status with a link, I get more than a few new visitors. Is it all targeted traffic? Not in all cases, no, but it depends on the contacts you build. Most of my 'friends' have something in common, and I have become a trusted source within the community. When I post on the topic that binds us, you bet that traffic is targeted and effective.

[SEO Pirate]

You forget that the % of people using socail media is a lot smaller then those using Google. So SEO is always better for traffic.

[bostermax]

That's great, as it can be afford by anyone who recently launched a site and wanted to promote their sites on the web. It means it is best way of Internet marketing.