Factoring Social Traffic Acquisition Strategies into Your Business

I reference TV, YouTube videos and podcasts quite a lot when I'm trying to explain different traffic acquisition and search engine engagement models as the visual and audio media are great ways to cram an awful lot of information into a relatively short space of time.

A recent Apprentice episode (The Apprentice, reality TV programme,  BBC One, London, 29th March 2014) serves to highlight a traffic acquisition technique that I'd previously heard referenced in a recording of an event set up by Matt Bacak (Traffic Infusion 2014) -- namely, using social influence to generate leads.

For those who didn't see The Apprentice Week Four episode in question, the task was to create a YouTube video channel and see which team got the most hits. This has echoes of a similar task run by Donald Trump in the original US version of The Apprentice franchise (The Apprentice : Episode 4, Snack Attack, NBC, New York, USA, 7th October 2010) which involved creating a viral video to promote a popcorn based snack brand.

Where the US version concentrated on getting the message across to promote sales, the recent BBC spin was to generate views, on the assumption that traffic attracts advertisers. That's a business model in itself, but the end result hinged on a part of the task that at first glance might have been overlooked by many viewers.

Traffic Acquisition using Social Influence

Part of the task was in selling their concept to a YouTube celebrity, to get them to agree on a collaboration, and then, vitally, use their social influence to promote the channel. We all know how hard it is to get traffic to an online property, and so using someone else's influence is an obvious strategy.

During the Traffic Infusion 2014 event, it was suggested that one of my favourite traffic acquisition strategies -- participating in online discussions -- could be enhanced by finding one person with a very active, and respected, profile, and paying them to host your link in their signature for a set length of time.

The Apprentice task mirrors this, using a popular online video producer to drive traffic; not for money, in this case, but in return for the exposure on one of the BBC's flagship crossover reality TV business programmes.

My point is this: if you're looking for a traffic acquisition strategy that really engages and pre-qualifies your audience, then using collaborations, or just paying for the association with someone who already has authority in your target channel, can be a very profitable way to create new traffic streams.

One book that is strong on this subject is Social Media Metrics Secrets, by John Lovett. It might be a 2011 book, but it's worth reading if only for Chapter 7, which gives you explicit guidance on measuring your ROI from social media engagement strategies, including a section on traffic acquisition.

Recommended if you are thinking of taking the plunge and using search engine and social engagement as part of your ongoing traffic acquisition strategy.