Do you struggle with what to post on social media?
Or wonder if you’re being too “spammy”?
Much of my blog traffic comes from social media and over the years I’ve fought with the balance of too much self-promotion vs. no self-promotion at all…
As with everything, there’s a happy medium you can find that allows you to proudly share the valuable content you create on your blog, without coming across spammy or too promotional.
Here’s what you need to know about how to approach social media, as well as some example 5-10 minute a day plans you can customize to work for you on the major social media networks.
How Does Free Social Media Traffic Work?
To attract FREE traffic from social media you need to remember two things:
#1 It’s not all about you.
It’s great to share your new blog post, your success in business, or to otherwise promote and share the product, service or opportunity you want your friends and connections to see.
But you’ve got to be SOCIAL, too! Always remember that people don’t login to Facebook to see commercials or advertisements–they’re there to connect with their friends.
You’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule?
It refers to 20% of your posts should be promoting your business and the other 80% should be a mix of personal updates, sharing other people’s content and more.
Here’s an example of what this could look like:
Post 1: Share a funny or interesting YouTube video and ask for comments.
Post 2: Find an interesting post from someone else and share it or retweet it.
Post 3: Post a link to someone else’s blog post that’s useful.
Post 4: Share a link your latest blog post.
Post 5: Write about your family, kids, or something personal.
Post 6: Share an interesting news article along with your thoughts and invite feedback.
Post 7: Ask a question. Can be serious or funny. You’re just looking to create interaction and responses.
Post 8: Showcase your results in business – what has the product or opportunity done for you? This could be a screenshot of a sale notification, your back office commissions stats dashboard, example of the traffic or interaction you’re getting on your blog, a lifestyle related photo (vacation, family time, etc). If you don’t have results, feature or showcase someone else who’s succeeding.
Post 9: Tell a joke or share a funny photo.
Post 10: Share a status update from someone else you’re connected with and add your comments.
Notice how only two of those were about business? That’s 2 of 10… 20%!
#2 People aren’t looking to be spammed or sold to on social networks.
This means you need to be careful not to share a lot of posts that scream “hey buy this!” or “sign up for this opportunity now!”
A better approach is to share blog posts and videos with useful content, and then you can mention your business, product or opportunity.
Focus on delivering VALUE so people WANT to interact with you and look forward to what you share.
Tweet this!
Daily Action Plans
Your daily goals on social media are:
- share valuable content
- build your connections/community/followers
- create engagement that leads to more traffic to your site
- get people asking you for information about your business, product/service, or opportunity
Tweet this!
Remember: You do not need to be active on every social network that exists. Choose one or two to start with. Once you’re comfortable with those, add another.
- Accept new friend requests & send a thank you note (it’s okay to add a link in your signature to your blog or an opt-in page)
- Scan through your news feed and like/comment/share several posts
- Request a connection with 1-2 new people (Facebook recommends people or find people from groups that you’re part of)
- Share your most recent blog post or YouTube video
- Schedule a few more status updates (you can use Facebook’s schedule option and follow the 80/20 plan above)
- Visit Facebook groups where your ideal prospects hang out and interact with them (comment on the posts, hit like, connect with people – don’t just pop in and post links)
- Accept connection requests & send a thank you note (it’s okay to add a link in your signature to your blog or an opt-in page)
- Reply to personal messages
- Request a connection with 1-2 new people (LinkedIn will recommend people)
- Check who has viewed your profile and send a “hey thanks for viewing my profile” and share a bit about who you are and what you do
- Share your most recent blog post
- Visit one group you’re active in where your ideal prospects gather and leave a comment or two, especially in answer to questions where you can contribute value (every few days you can make a comment include a link to a valuable post on your blog if it fits the conversation)
- Setup step: create a few boards that include keywords your ideal prospects would search for
- From your homepage, repin 5-10 interesting pins to your boards
- Pin your latest blog post or YouTube video
- Search for a #hashtag that fits your business and repin 5-10 more pins
- Find one influencer in your industry or niche, go to their following or followers page, and follow 10-20 new people
- Tweet a recent blog post or link to your opt-in page, adding #hashtags
- Check for anyone who’s tweeted at you and reply
- Look for those who’ve retweeted you and thank them (check their recent tweets and retweet one of theirs)
- Search for a #hashtag relevant to your business and look for any tweets to retweet or questions you can reply to with an answer
- Follow back people who’ve followed you recently
- Find one influencer in your industry or niche, go to their following or followers page, and follow 10-20 new people
Google+
- Share a link to one of your blog posts, and +mention anyone who you included in the post or who may find it valuable
- Add people to your circles (watch the “You may know” section)
- Interact and engage with people by 1+, commenting and sharing their posts
- Watch for questions you can answer or opportunities to share value by linking to your blog posts or other resources
- Interact in a Google+ community or two where your ideal prospects gather
Quick Tip: Take a few minutes to review your profiles on all the social media networks you’re active on, and include a great photo of you (would you want to be friends or do business with the person in your profile photo?), an interesting bio (include fascinating facts about yourself), and a link to your opt-in page or blog.
P.S. Stay tuned for a follow up post where I’ll share the second half of this social media traffic equation – which is getting others to share your blog posts for you…
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Thanks so much for this I found it to be very valuable for me as I am a fairly new blogger just started May 5th. Thanks again.
Hey LuAnn, welcome to the blogging world! :) And thanks for reading and commenting.
Thank you for posting this information Michelle! I have been blogging for a bit, but had gotten overwhelmed with which social media platform to focus on (so I tried doing them all, and that just doesn’t work). After reading your post, I will be picking one and focusing on doing all your suggested steps. Thanks for the value!
Michelle:
Appreciate a reminder on the 80/20 rule and the wonderful suggestions of what to cover in the 80 percent.
Would you say it is okay to include a video snippet introducing the topic you will cover or a couple key morsels of information posted to YouTube and embed that in the post, or does that appear too promotional?
Excellent blog, Michelle! I have been writing all my life, but the blogging thing is fairly new, and I’ve learned that I’m going about it in all the wrong ways. Bookmarking this for reference time and time again. This is extremely invaluable. Thanks for sharing.
Oh course you provide great content, Michelle! Great tips in this post. I know a lot of people (pointing to myself!) that get ‘lost’ on various social media sites and looking up moments later only to find an hour has disappeared!
These lists are going to be GOLD – I will know what to do and when I am done. I see this as a huge productivity tool!
Thanks for sharing!
Paul.
This is a handy checklist – thank you, Michelle! #HUGS
“Pocket”ed ;)
Kitto
Thanks, Michelle. You have given such great tips here. I’m saving and sharing this. :)
Another fab article Michelle thanks lots. I’ve printed it out and pinned it at my desk to remind of all the things I can do.
Keep the ideas coming. I learn something new from you every time.
Cheers
Michelle, Thanks the tips. I analyzed my recent tweets and say that I actually don’t have enough promotional tweets. LOL Lots of sharing tweets, though. :)
Wow Michelle! Pure value here :) simple
Thank you for the checklist, Michelle. I’ve always found Google Plus a little intriguing and the checklist for it is definitely what I needed to make sure I spend my time on it effectively and efficiently. Point number 4 is definitely one that I will look out for.
Great blog tips Michelle. Sharing blog content is more than just sharing your own posts as you mentioned. I’m glad you also point out that if you are just starting out, choose one or two social sites and get acclimated first, learning more about your audience and building more engagement. Always appreciate the fact you are making positive contributions towards everyone’s online success, you rock Michelle!
These are great. They are very useful. Going to work on using these. Been struggling with getting my blog back up and running. Hopefully these will help
Great list! I agree it is good to have a mix on social media. And sometimes it can feel awkward but just keep at it and it gets better with time. I definitely need to work on my Twitter interaction!
Great tips as usual, Michelle! The 80/20 rule makes perfect sense. I’ve unfriended a few people whose feeds have turned into non-stop sales pitches. It’s all about balance.
Hey thanks Michelle. This is really helpful stuff and I’m looking forward to growing in my experience. Cheers.