New site relying only on social media for traffic.

[Mike Friedman]

I have been trying to use social media a little more this year on the business side of things. 

 

I am curious from others who have been using it far longer than me (and far more effectively), what are you doing on social media to grow your online business?

 

I am actually working on a project right in which I am doing something I have never done before. It is far out of my comfort zone, but that is how we grow, right? I'm working with a partner to build a new site that is going to rely almost exclusively on social media for traffic. There will be some SEO involved for a handful of select keywords. There will also be a small AdWords campaign running, but other than that the plan is 100% social media.

 

As far as what the site is, think something like Women's Health or Cosmo on a much smaller scale. Do not fear. I will not be writing the content. 

 

I have a legit, talented writer willing to work on this project to get it started. We will hire more as needed.

 

We are certainly going to run a Facebook Ads campaign to get things moving. We'll do some post boosting in Facebook too. There will be a Twitter ads campaign, although I have found them extremely poor performing in the past. On the other hand, I have never tried advertising topics like "7 Positions for Better Webcam Sex". I'm joking... I think. 

 

I wanted to open this up for discussion though. I figure it might help others who are thinking of trying something like this.

 

Thoughts? Ideas? 

 

 

[yukon]

I'm not into social (yet) but I've done a lot of research on one particular business (Lolly Wolly Doodle), they're extremely efficient how they do business.

 

Anyways...

 

Why not piggyback off people/profiles on Facebook that mention an authority business? Obviously target people & not businesses.

 

Example, here's a search query looking for people on Facebook that mention a business/brand, the goal is page titles with profile names:

 

• "lolly wolly doodle" site:facebook.com -inurl:facebook.com/LollyWollyDoodle

 

I skipped a few search result pages before I started seeing real users, example, go straight to page #10 (all user names).

 

These are:

• Most likely women.
• Most likely buyers.
• Most likely have followers.

[Blaine]

I'm looking at social too.

 

With google going full balls at monetizing local in the near future it just make sense. It's my thoughts that I'm going to get away from depending solely on google for traffic. Not that I won't still optimize for google or keep them foremost in my thoughts when doing seo and site design. It's just so easy for google to take it away, or start charging for it.

 

Also it seems like a huge amount of internet use (by the public) is socially motivated in one form or another. Barring hard core Luddites almost everybody is there in one form or another.

 

Facebook is having a free marketing event locally in a week or two. I'm signed up for a 3 hour gig to go check them out. Should be interesting.

[HeySal]

I advertised on FB once. And only once.  Never will do it again.  My niece got a good amount of likes on her business, but very little conversion.  Since what she's doing can be photographed (leather work), she started using Instagram and really likes the results she's getting from that. 

 

On the other hand, I've had good results from just talking in an established group there (FB) about different concerns - sometimes link pics from my site to the group (rock and gem). I get a lot of traffic from that on my website, but as far as marketing products there, I'm not impressed. Those that seem to be making the good $$ on FB are the established marketers who actually had followers follow them to FB.  Little detail a lot of "How to social" ebooks and "experts" forget to talk about. 

[elcidofaguy]

On FB quizzes and polls such as buzzfeed/playbuzz do really well with getting shares and likes as well as folks whom go onto check out your FB business page and website... Recently I've been looking at self-hosted scripts for such things as that way you can place a link to your money site and not worry about a third party platform removing it...

 

That said - forget trying to sell directly - it just doesn't work and besides most people are on FB to socialize with their buddies and not buy stuff... What works for me is to offer free bonus incentives to signup to your optin list with using ads... With social it can take a some time for an ROI...  What I find hard with social is the need to stay on top of things with providing lots of new posts and interacting with folks - so like you its an area that I'm keen to get more involved in... I should ought to consider outsourcing... I've also heard from many that social bots are the way to go -  I haven't got round to trying it out - I'm curious to know if any one here has tried that...

[mkgg]

I use Youtube exclusively and it is the only thing right now that is bringing me traffic. Running a PBN/finding domains is too expensive for me, also with my site penalized its not ranking at the top where i want it.

 

Ranking youtube videos is easier than ranking a site and i have noticed the conversions are less than a site ranking at the top but its still profitable as long as my video is in top 3. 

 

I haven't tried running FB ads but it probably will not work as the poster above me said people are on FB for socializing and "viral" stuff. Still, i'd like to try it out 

[Mike Friedman]

I haven't tried running FB ads but it probably will not work as the poster above me said people are on FB for socializing and "viral" stuff. Still, i'd like to try it out 

 

Yes, it really depends on what you are selling.

 

I have not tried any remarketing campaigns yet in Facebook and I am curious about how they would perform.

 

Funny story about that. On the radio a few days ago I heard an ad about this product that was on Shark Tank called Squatty Potty. I of course had to check it out online. I also sent messages to someone on Skype about it. Now their damn ad shows in my Facebook feed constantly. 

 

(yes I know. If I clear my cookies it will likely go away. It's just funny to see.)

[DarthSCULPT]

I have a website that's literally been up for 24 days and it started from a Reddit post that went viral. Most of my traffic originated from Reddit and other social (Facebook, Twitter, etc) but it very quickly got mentioned in Wired, Forbes, Huff Post, etc and in four days I had 200k+ "sessions" and ALL from social shares that spilled over into high authority links. 

 

I've done zero link building (other than link it in Reddit and make a Twitter, FB and G+ page.) I still get ~2500 page views a day with direct traffic being the #1 source, then Slate.com (of all places), followed by organic, Facebook, then Reddit et al. One thing though, of course I monetized the site as soon as possible, but Reddit and the social traffic doesn't convert very well - at least not for me yet.

 

I've always thought social was a HUGE thing, but I got lucky and caught lightning in a bottle. Not sure how long the ride will last, but I'm hoping to earn a little jack before the dust settles.

 

On ALL my other sites (about 25) I just stopped using automated social bookmarks and my ranking keywords have gotten better SERPs less than a week later. Moral of that story: If you're gonna do social, make it organic (looking) as possible if you can't get the real deal. 

[MetaHelix]

Tried and failed on this one. Ended up working out @50cent a Like with 0 ROI other than a few photos in your FB display button. Pass

 

Edit: I ended up teaching the guy who was hired for social, how to build links instead.

[Jose Hoglund]

Today almost all businesses are promoting their business on social media. Social media has become a popular way to engage their target audiences.  
If you promote your business content strategically on social media, then you can able to generate a huge amount of traffic to your website.
 

[mallennig]

create visually appealing content to capture audience attention. you should also provide valuable and shareable content. use strategies like contests and other social media campaigns to  gain visibility and generate leads.

[Sophiaaa]

For YouTube and Instagram business, the best start is in cyberspace.