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You Have To Be In It To Win It
You have probably heard that saying “you have to be in it to win it” on so many occasions. Benefiting from social media is no different.
You need to dive into the pool and really flood yourself with the platform to reap the most benefits.
Having said that, it is important to have a strategy, otherwise, you could dive in headfirst and have no idea where the surface is.
Make sure you know what it is that you want to achieve from each social media platform, and build goals around it. Your social media strategy is crucial here.
You must commit to Engagement if you want to see success from your social media strategy.
People are highly unlikely to engage with you if you are not engaging with them. Start by responding to people that make comments to you, but go one step further and visit THEIR social media platforms too.
Start engaging on their platforms and you will soon find that you start to be noticed. Once you are noticed, it is likely that your own following will increase.
Two Heads Can Be Better Than One
Do you have a Facebook or Google Plus account? Both of these platforms have groups and communities that you can join. This is a great place for you to start your social media strategy.
Find the groups that are suited to your niche, then join them and ENGAGE with them.
Once you have established networks within these groups, you can start to help each other out.
For many bloggers starting out, their biggest hurdle to overcome with social media is getting the engagement and traction moving.
People are funny creatures and we are more likely to comment or be involved with something where others have already gone before us. We really are sheep in some respects.
I have seen groups on Facebook where everyone comments on each other’s posts and social media platforms to get that ball rolling.
This can help start conversations but also highlights to others that “hey…this is interesting…come take a look”. If you can help each other generate interest then go for it!
Focus On One Or Two Platforms
There are many social platforms to choose between and if you tried to focus on them all, you would seriously send yourself crazy.
Whilst it is tempting to be seen everywhere if you are not engaging to your full potential on each of the platforms, you are wasting your time.
Do you want to be a little fish in a big pond or the biggest fish in a small pond?
Set your social media strategy by choosing two to three platforms that will work well for you and your niche. Focus on those platforms to start with, build up your networks and your presence, and get yourself known.
You will find that you will see much greater success if you are known on just a few social platforms rather than being on them all where no one knows who you are.
As your experience grows and it takes you less time to do things, you can grow the number of profiles that you are part of. Narrow down your target areas and do those well!
Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day!
Despite the fact that you would love to have overnight success, let’s face it….it is unlikely to happen!
So you have defined your social media strategy by choosing the platforms to focus on, you have joined groups and you are regularly engaging. Your next question is….when will I start to see the increase in traffic?
If you are using your social media platforms well, you should notice an increase in your traffic over the coming weeks.
By an increase, I am not talking about 50 blog views one day and 5,000 the next, but 50 might turn into an average of 80 the next week and 150 the following, 210 the following week, and so on.
The traffic you receive from your social media strategy will be a snowball effect, but be consistent and stay on track and you will see that snowball get larger.
If you have your goal in mind, have a plan of action, and are focused on achieving it, then it will happen.
Don’t be disheartened if your profiles are not an overnight success, because this will take time (and patience) to see the rewards.
Are you using social media as part of a strategy to drive traffic to your blog? Has your engagement on these platforms had an influence on your traffic? Please share your thoughts with us below.