Sweeten Up Your Social Networking

(Written by guest contributor Carrie Wilkerson)

I know just enough to be dangerous.

Seriously.

I am a case study in, “Don’t wait until you have it figured out before you take action.”

That being said, I take massive action and when I don’t get the results I hope for, I evaluate, readjust, and take more massive action. This seems to work for me.

Somehow I have grown my online audience and lists to about 100,000 with no paid traffic.

One thing that has planted itself firmly in my head since back in the day when I was in sales, is “attract, not attack.” In other words, rather than actively going out to chase prospects down, draw them to you.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Let me clarify right now that in your online toolbox, you need several strategies, but for the sake of space and simplicity, I’ll focus on using social media for traffic to your blogs, websites, promotions, and products.

Because I feel like confession is good for the soul…and because I want you to see me just as I am, I will tell you, I’m no wizard. I don’t test and track as well as I should. I have never studied massive traffic methods and…I am NOT a social media expert.

Whew. Ok, I feel better.

What I am is a businesswoman leveraging social media for:

1) Connections

2) Credibility

3) Content Creation

4) Compensation (i.e. Cash)

Sorry if that shocks you, but it’s the truth. I don’t know all the nuances about social media or WHY it works. (I also do not know how a fax machine works.) But I do know that it DOES work and I’m going to tell you how I personally utilize it for my above purposes.

Let me focus on my primary method of social media for traffic: Twitter.

For the sake of oversimplifying, let’s classify Twitter as the world’s largest open meeting space, a 24/7 mixer or party. You walk into the party, you select which people interest you and you join in the conversation. The conversation moves fast, is immediate, and the topic varies according to who you are interacting with.

While there is some acceptable etiquette for social media, there are no hard and fast rules and I’m certainly not going to define how you must use it here. But I will tell you that keeping the “attract, not attack” rule in mind will serve you well in this space.

“But Carrie, seriously – get to TRAFFIC already!”

Ok…here goes…the magical, mystical power of Traffic with Twitter…are you ready??

When you focus on people, on serving them with encouragement, valuable information, authentic interest and introducing them to others…YOU BECOME magnetic, drawing others to you.

People want to be in YOUR space because you are all about THEM, not YOU.

Come to the table with “What can I do for YOU?” instead of “Guess what you can do for ME?”

(Sounds over simplistic, right? Guess what? It works offline too!)

Now, this is not scientific and I’ve not done tons of measuring…but my Alexa ranking is pretty high (that’s good, right?) and my conversions are profitable, my speaking schedule is packed, my list is growing and the opportunities are seemingly endless. So….SOMETHING is clearly working!

Here are some points I try to remember:

Have Character!

Especially if you are building a business online (I’m guessing that’s why you are here), you need to have character! You would not (hopefully) go into a party and immediately start with insulting people, bashing companies, or making inappropriate comments to strangers. Remember – this is a very large FISHBOWL and people are listening and watching. You are your own marketing…guard your character.

Be Conversational!

Do not walk into the party, stand on a stool and just shout self-promotional things or preach at people. They will either kick you out, talk about you or WORSE, grow deaf to any further message you have. Interact with people, show interest in them and see how you can make yourself of value in their space.

Provide Content!

Believe it or not, 140 characters is a great space to show tidbits of what you know about your business and area of expertise. You can establish trust, credibility and TEACH powerfully when those 140 characters add up over time! Tools, resources, videos, quotes, lessons learned…all very good at helping solidify your validity in your niche or market.

Be Consistent!

You don’t have to show up on Twitter as much as I do to be effective! But if you only come around when you are bored, have a promotion, have a blog post or are seeking input…your fellow party-goers will see right through that! So be consistent and engaged. Your face popping up on their screen should not cause a “HEY – who is that?” But instead “Oh hey, there you are!” We trust the people who have consistency in our lives. The barriers of resistance are comfortably lowered. It is the same in social media circles.

THAT is my whole magical formula. Seriously. Rocket science, right?

“Carrie, that is too warm and fuzzy…I want to know about traffic. How does that get people to my sites?”

If it makes you feel better…you can use Google Analytics, budurl.com, twitpwr.com, opt-in boxes on your offer pages, etc. if you truly want to track what is coming from where and if you have a good ROI (return on investment) for your time in social media.

But I prefer to measure based on interaction, conversation, and the growing size of the circle surrounding me at the party. As long as they want to be in my space…I will welcome them there. I will use my brand of encouragement and edu-tainment to hopefully make them smile and perhaps even enlighten them a bit.

So…in a nutshell – the @Barefoot_Exec magic Traffic with Twitter strategy?

When your audience knows you, likes you and trusts you…they want to know MORE about who you are, who you know and what you have to offer.

I don’t “drive” traffic to my blogs, sites, movies or offers. I draw it there with Character, Conversation, Content and Consistency. Try it for yourself and let’s talk about it on Twitter!