My blog is growing slowly and I get inconsistent traffic.
It’s an issue me and Mr. Coffee hear most mornings.
If you started a blog and have been at it for 3-6 months the problem isn’t what to write about, it’s who you’re writing to. Lack of readers is the age-old problem but I’m going to bet you have original insight (I’ve been reading a lot of the club’s blogs lately) and you just shouldn’t have to wait for growth.
In this post, I’d like to show you a set of principles that helps me find more subscribers online. None of this is new or ingenious; however, lately, I’ve been using it to create a decent stream of new subscribers straight from social media.
Of course if you’re not doing this yet, you may find yourself in a palm-to-forehead moment or two.
Where are subscribers?
The goal of this post is to give you some confidence so you can tailor your social media efforts to build your audience. Of course, social media is a huge playing field, so let’s narrow down where exactly we will be looking these days:
- Blogs
I’m assuming the audience you want is already familiar with blogs and has their own favorite niche blogs already, of which you’d probably like to become one. - Facebook
People naturally spend 30-45 minutes per morning trolling Facebook, so let’s look there for subscribers. - Google Plus
Because Google Plus is new, it is viewed as unnecessary to the tons of people that just use Facebook to stay connected, but the thing we have to understand is this network is filled with more experts. These subscribers are particularly valuable if you can win them over 🙂 - Twitter
Twitter is the hardest place to get noticed because of the noise. The Washington Post reported a while back that Twitter enjoyed 400 million chips per day which is 16.6 million per hour and over 200,000 per minute! I bet this number is way more today…
Given you’re already on these places and hopefully sharing content, I really hope you can use the strategies in this article because they should help increase conversions (take someone from a total rando to an eventual member of your club or team or army or whatever you call it). If you find them useful or have something to add (I often miss things), it would be great to hear from you with a quick comment.
Why subscribers are waiting for you
Social media is about connecting with people you’re into and consuming their content. The number of new users who’d like to learn from a blogger like you is always growing, so if you’re armed with the right strategy the issue really becomes not one of where and how, but how many. 🙂
The slight problem is what works for you could be totally different than what works for me.
For that reason I’ve tried to tailor the advice below to be both powerful and generic; useful across industries.
Guitar Zero
My roommate back in college used to want to become a rock and roll star. He knew every 311 song and would bring drum sticks to the dining hall to impress people by drumming on empty trays.
But as an introvert (like me), the whole celebrity thing didn’t look like it was in his cards.
When I asked him why he never tried for gigs, he said he just didn’t want to compete with ridiculous guys running around on stage and break things.
Then he started making electronic beats.
Guess what? He had found his niche. He worked at it all through college and is now a well-known New York City DJ named One Love.
The key to finding fans is to play to your own strengths.
If you’re going to begin a web business or blog for an audience in today’s climate, you have zero chance copying. You would have had a chance as the second or third copycat but, now, for every big blogger there are 14 copycats and 100 more wannabes. You may have small gains but in the long-haul it really just won’t work.
On the other hand, by going niche-narrow about what you love and leveraging free tools to your advantage, anything is possible. Since taking this approach to Twitter, for example, I’ve been able to break the 2,000 threshold and find a consistent stream of new subscribers.
Here are a few more principles to guide you:
- Pick one place to do your damage
Swiss blogger Ashley Faulkes explained how to get 4,000 followers not too long ago. By choosing one platform to grow your following ensures you don’t stretch yourself too thin. - Share the right way
Everything from when you post to the length of your post to little style things like using smilies, the right way can have an impact. If you’re just focusing on Facebook, for example, you can use the little “feeling excited” features or make sure you’re sharing images and not links with images to give yourself more control of how things appear, for example. - Let people know you’re there
One thing you might forget is to just announce yourself. Whether it’s a link in your emails or a post to Facebook or the last little request in your YouTube creations, this can all add up. - Make it really personal
Don’t listen to “branding experts” when they tell you to follow a certain blueprint. You have to make your profiles you-specific with lots of personality and a clear mission statement. Folks who really know you will appreciate the extra effort, and those who don’t will be able to get to know you. - Leverage that profile into more success
Once you’ve broken through and established your presence, start to focus on 1-2 other platforms.
It’s especially important to make your mission statements known and repeat them often. Sure, you risk people hating you, but the folks who dig it will really connect.
Finding meaning in a noisy place
As I said above I’ve had a lot of successful growth on Twitter lately. I’ve had the (quite modest) breakthrough of passing 2,000 follows. The coolest thing is more and more new followers are signing up to the email club right away and I think it has a big deal to do with my niche-narrow approach and consistent blogging content.
If your focus now is Twitter, here are some things that will help:
- Using images from the blog
Given we’re looking at Twitter as the marketing arm of our blog, we want our followers to get used to our blog. The best way to do this is by incorporating the same images as those we use in the most-viewed pages of our blogs. In my case, I have an image from the homepage, and one from the About page. While it’s fun posting pics of you at some concert raging around, it’s more productive to let a new follower get to know your business. - Displaying the right kinds of links
A homepage link can get someone to your blog, but then what? You’re leaving the decisions up to them. It’s better to save them some time and link to your subscription page, or a page that shows them where they can sign up; somewhere with an opt-in box. You’d be smart to also put a Twitter link to some rich media you’ve created to show off a bit. - Redistributing content for more exposure
Finally, once these two really easy items are in place, you should start sharing ideas from your blog to Twitter. But here’s the catch: don’t just tweet. Instead, reference entire situations or events that people can sink their teeth into. From my blog to your Twitter (and more soon):
This blog has developed an allure on a couple things (see guest-posting) but as far as social media is concerned (and the ever-important email list), we’re a small, tight-knit bunch.
Things are changing, though, and who knows, maybe next time you check in we’ll have 5,000 followers?
Share your breakthrough social media moment with the community
I’m aware this information might not have been particularly new or riveting. I want to say that so you know I didn’t shrink and get stuck underneath a coffee mug for a few years or something.
If that’s the case, I’d like to challenge you to make this post exciting by sharing your biggest breakthrough social media moment in the comments. Lately, the comments have been pretty rowdy, so I’d bet a handful of folks will candidly let you know what they think of your moment or story.
I dare you; then I’ll do the same.