A vital part of your online media empire is your social pages. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram- whatever networks you have chosen to amass a following on, these pages are huge assets to your business when used properly.
We’re all told as beginning bloggers that we need to start social pages for our blogs. We’re told to share links to our content and other people’s content on our pages. We’re told that we can also use our pages to make money. However, beyond that, we’re left out in the dark, wandering aimlessly as we not only try to build a following, but keep our following engaged with our posts.
This has unfortunately but understandably led to some pretty bad behavior, and the majority of people have failed to realize where the real power behind social media lies.
Let’s First Talk About What NOT To Do
Focus Solely On Driving Traffic
Social media can be a great way to drive traffic to your website. I get it. Heck, this is one of the methods I talk a bit about in my free traffic building eCourse.
However, this is where I see social media usage end for so many bloggers out there.
Share links to your content, hope some of your followers also share it, and get a few easy clicks to your website. Cool.
But hey, the sad reality is that most of your following isn’t even going to see the post you share. It’ll be gone in seconds on Twitter, and Facebook will likely show it to only a tiny percentage of your total following unless you pay to promote it.
No doubt your social profiles can drive a notable amount of traffic, but traffic is definitely not the #1 reason bloggers should be using social media.
Selling Directly
While it is possible to directly make sales from your social media pages, this is largely a waste of time for most people.
The fact of the matter is, people do not follow you for the point of being advertised to. Not to mention, most people just aren’t in a buying mood when they’re browsing Facebook. While I have made sales for my products through my Facebook page, it is certainly not something I count on and direct promotions for my products are not at all a frequent occurrence.
Facebook Ads are another story, but forget the idea of using your Facebook page as a platform for direct sales. It serves an equally important purpose. Embrace it.
Here’s The Main Purpose Of Social Media For Bloggers
Brand awareness.
That’s it.
When you actually take the time to hand-write messages for your social media pages, your following gets to know you. They see you and they are thinking about you when they would have otherwise not been doing so.
This perpetuates itself. The more people see you when they’re not expecting to, the more they think about you and your brand, even when you are not around. This is especially true when you deliver good messages that have an impact on people.
Sure, my Facebook posts may only reach 1-2% of my total audience. It doesn’t matter because I’m posting content regularly. Do I slip in my links to my articles? Absolutely. Do I promote my products on my page? Absolutely.
But only because I want people thinking about me and my products constantly. This action alone indirectly leads to more sales, and does so without you having to push people and come off as overly promotional.
Posting consistently every day day for the purpose of building brand awareness has led to:
- More sales.
- More people thinking about me and my brand.
- More people choosing to visit my website on their own, without having to click on a link to a specific article.
- More organic likes and referrals.
- Higher perceived authority.
It works. Be yourself. Let people get to know you. This is a core part of building a personal brand.
I don’t just share business related information, I share my thoughts about things going on, I share personal pictures from my life, and I talk to people.
It is called social media after all!
I guarantee that whatever your goals are, your results will be better if your following likes you and feels like they know you. You’re never going to get that if you’re only using automated software to share links to your website. That’s not only boring, but it’s about as far from personal and about as far from social as you can possibly get.
Won’t This Make Your Audience Mad?
You may be wondering if posting extremely often is going to frustrate your followers – especially if a good amount of this content is not directly related to your business.
The truth is, we do not and we can not know. Nobody is ever going to agree with everything you do, but you need to identify what’s important.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a following of 10,000 people that are thinking about my brand to the point of obsession than 100,000 followers who do not interact with me at all.
In a space where people’s news feeds are more cluttered than ever and brands are doing a worse and worse job at really connecting with their following on an emotional level, I believe getting social with social media is only going to become more important and more impactful heading into the future.
See: Social Media: The 6 Stages Every Future Customer Must Go Through (To Actually Make Money)
Here’s Where You Make Your Sales
The main point of running a business is not to gain fame, it’s not to make friends, it’s to make money. The other two are fantastic by-products of professional success, but let’s not lose sight of the real target here.
Understand that social media is a great way to generate interest and build awareness of your products, but it’s still your job to close the sales.
The best way to do this is to focus relentlessly on getting people to sign up to your email list when they do arrive on your website.
See: Email Marketing – Build A Huge List Of Engaged Subscribers!
Think about the benefits email marketing offers. Not only is it far more personal, but you can guarantee every message you send will end up in every person’s inbox. Heck, you can even automate the delivery of these messages and make sales consistently as a result. I make the vast majority of my sales not through my social pages, not even through my blog, but through my email list.
Putting email marketing off is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a blogger. Sign up for a free trial with ActiveCampaign – the world’s #1 email marketing service for bloggers, and start closing the sales you’ve been missing.
I promise you, if you start focusing on reaping the REAL benefits of social media and then get your followers on your email list, the amount of money your business is making will skyrocket.
Conclusion
How have you been using social media, and how has it worked for you? No two bloggers who are actually active on social networks seem to go about it the same way, so I’m very interested to hear how your strategy has been working for you. I have no doubt that you have something to share that we can all learn from as well!
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