Without web traffic, your online marketing efforts are going to fall very flat. Lucky for you, there is tons of web traffic out there. With billions of people using the Internet on a daily basis, you only need to funnel a tiny fraction of that web traffic in your direction and you’ll succeed. One of the best ways to funnel this traffic is with social media. Social media is taking the world by storm. Young people, middle aged and elderly alike use social media and this makes it one of the best forms of traffic generation the world has ever seen. The thing is, getting web traffic with social media is much easier said than done. It must be handled very delicately if you hope to succeed. Social media 
traffic generation rule number one is: Don’t be a salesperson.
Don’t Be A Salesperson
People visit social media sites to be social. They want to send a message to grandma thanking her for the birthday gift. They want to visit their old college friend’s page to see what he’s been up to all these years. And most of all, people want to pass around funny, interesting and thought-provoking media such as articles, videos, blogs and more, mostly to pass time, reminisce and, as the kids these days say, merely for the lulz.
Be Social
If you hope to generate traffic with social media, you must pledge to be social. You must look at your friends, followers and contacts not as prospects but as members of your community. You need to treat each of your social networks like your own little neighborhood. Be friendly with your contacts, engage them often and, most of all provide value. Do this and you’ll have no trouble funneling web traffic your way.
Provide Value
Social media web generation rule number 2 is: Give your community what it wants. What is your audience looking for?
Do they want to get their ex back, cure their acne or lose weight? Start giving free advice, share valuable articles and videos and become a helpful and useful member of that community. More importantly, you must attempt to become an authority figure within your niche.
If you can make it so that your audience begins to look up to you and, this is key, if you can get them to come to you for advice, you’ll be most of the way there. This will also help to develop trust. This is when you’ll have no problem directing that traffic to your website.
Just think of how targeted that traffic will be. Your social media audience will already know you at that point and they’re already interested in what you’re offering. With the trust factor thrown in, they’ll be happy to buy, subscribe or otherwise act in any way you want them to.
Be Committed
You will not succeed with the above advice unless you commit right now to keep up with your social media efforts. You must post to Facebook often, you must Tweet and re-tweet, you must post videos and, most importantly, you must respond to any comments you receive on any one of those postings.
If you don’t have time for social media updates, you are not going to generate very much traffic. If you’re far too busy to post and tweet and respond, you should consider outsourcing your social media efforts.
Without constant focus and attention, your social media profiles will remain dormant and useless like so many other marketers who have tried and failed at social media traffic generation.
Don’t give up and don’t quit. Put these tips to the test and post as often as you can to see just how powerful this form of traffic generation can be. Don’t forget to analyze your results and test your posting habits, the elements of each post and even the contacts you choose in order to maximize your results.
Now you can take these tips and apply them to:
- Facebook: With almost 900 million users, you have a prime opportunity to funnel tons of traffic your way.
- Twitter: The second most used social network in the world can bring you even more attention and traffic.
- LinkedIn: The social network for professionals is quickly rising as one of the most used social networks. LinkedIn is also great for finding business partners for future JV ventures that can bring you even more traffic.
- YouTube: The Internet’s largest video sharing site gets billions of hits per day. Funnel some of that traffic to you with engaging videos that always deliver.
Just remember, don’t be a salesperson, give your community what it wants and become the go-to person in your field. If you can achieve all of that and keep up your posting habits, you’ll be amazed at just how many web visitors your social networking habits are able to deliver.
