Hi, folks,
Just a cool strategy for you today, on building a "list" in the
modern Internet world. You can do this one with literally no
investment and no website to start. And if you have an existing
business, it's a strategy you might find very useful to extend
your reach and increase traffic.
Oh yeah... This one will work for real world, brick and mortar
businesses, too.
"It's All About The Audience"
===========================
I've been working on several projects over the summer, with a
couple of them just about done. One is a planning and strategy
guide for building an audience.
The real old-timers in the business will remember that I wrote
what I believe to be the first ebook on list building ever,
over 10 years ago. It focused on email lists, because that was
the only real way to communicate with the same group of people
consistently and which allowed them to choose whether to keep
receiving your communications.
The list was very nearly the only workable definition for
"audience" at the time. That has changed. A lot. The new
product takes into account a lot of ways to develop regular
communications with a self-selected group of people.
One module outlines 162 ways (give or take) to attract and
communicate with your audience.
It's a completely different ballgame these days. And it's a lot
easier to get started.
....
Over the weekend, a friend came to me with an interesting idea
that I think can work. In fact, despite being very general in
nature, it could be huge.
His initial view of the thing would have required massive
technical resources that he just doesn't have the background to
manage. That's not as big a hurdle, though, as the two that so
many people face when they start something up.
The first is finding out if it's something they'll be able
and/or willing to keep at for a long period of time. It's easy
to say "I'm going to start a business online." It's a whole
other thing to spend the time at your computer, building things
up one post or contact or test at a time, over a period of
months or years.
This is not the right environment for everyone.
The second big hurdle is building a connection with a group of
people with specific interests, in a way that promotes the
goals of everyone involved.
....
Notice the way that was phrased. The focus for successful
listbuilding isn't "getting the email address" or blasting
stuff out to everyone in your group of Facebook friends or
LinkedIn connections.
It's about building a connection with a group of people who
want what you've got to offer, and doing it in a way that
leaves everyone involved better off. The specific interest and
goal could be anything. The key is the connection.
Note: I chose the word "audience" here because it's the
closest word I can find to the concept. It may seem
impersonal, but the fact is that you're only going to be
able to interact directly with a limited number of people at
any given time, and it will usually be a small fraction of
the folks reading/listening to/viewing your content.
It's also critical to know the distinction between your
audience (the group) and your market. A simple example is
Google. Their audience is people who want to find something
online quickly. Their market is a whole other group - the
advertisers who pay for exposure to that audience.
If you sell your own products directly to end consumers, your
audience and your market may be the same group.
Be very clear on who falls into which group.
....
So, my friend's idea involves a very broad consumer interest,
but with a somewhat localized component. The most important
factor, though, is that it is a very social function.
The first thing we did was get clear on his goal. In his case,
it's something he believes in a lot, and he's not especially
concerned with the idea of turning it into a business. He wants
a specific result, and as long as it pays for itself, he's
happy with that.
The technical end was easier than usual. The people in this
group spend enough money on the topic that paying for an
expanded infrastructure will be easy, once you've built the
audience.
If people are already buying, it's not hard to sell ad space.
....
Here's the process I suggested for him. It's not the right one
for everyone, obviously, but it fits his situation, interests,
goals, and technical limitations, without keeping him from
expanding later. In fact, it will make it much easier to expand
if he decides it's a project he wants to stick with.
Really, if he builds a large enough audience, he could let
other people run with it later, and make money just from
hosting the thing.
Step 1: Come up with an available domain name that will work
for a later step, along with a slogan for it. Register the
domain name. (No need for hosting at this point.)
Make sure the slogan isn't trademarked.
Step 2: Create a Facebook page, with the slogan or some part of
it as the title. The social aspect of the topic makes Facebook
a great place to start getting exposure and developing the
audience.
While I generally don't recommend building anything of value
exclusively using a site or resource you don't own, this
approach lets him find out if it's something he wants to keep
pursuing. And this is not only a common topic on Facebook, it
doesn't involve anything that comes close to the edges of their
terms of service. The risk of getting the page shut down is
quite low.
Step 3: Start posting content.
The nature of the topic and the guy's personal style pretty
much ensures that the posts will be interesting to his desired
audience. This is a big point to keep in mind when considering
building a "list" using social media.
Step 4: Tell your friends, and contact the people you mention
in your posts, to let them know about the attention. Or just
tag them, if they already have a Facebook presence. With the
topic in question, the people you're discussing are almost
certain to reply, and to "Like" the page. Their Facebook
friends are similarly likely to visit, and many of those will
also "like" the page, since the topic is emphatically not
exclusive.
Step 5: Watch the group to see who the regular contributors
are, and who the "thought leaders" might be. Check out their
Facebook pages and their web sites. If they're interesting,
post about them.
Keep in mind that your audience will know the topic, and
they're likely to be fairly critical. There's no benefit to
pimping out your space in order to get the attention of someone
popular. If they don't have the goods, you'll lose more from
that than you'd be likely to gain.
Step 6: While you're building the audience, watch for what they
respond to the most, and keep an eye on what they talk about
buying. Get hosting for the domain you bought, and build it out
with the knowledge you've gained from running the page.
Step 7: Start posting content on the site, and link to the new
site from the Facebook page. Have ways for people to "sign up,"
including an RSS feed and email list. This starts to move the
relationship with your most loyal readers away from Facebook
dependency and onto your own site.
At the same time, you want to have social buttons on the new
site. You don't abandon the Facebook connection. You leverage
the interest those people have in your subject, giving them
ways to share your content on Facebook and the other sites they
might also use.
Notice that nothing in this strategy is in any way spammy.
Every part of it depends on giving people content they want to
read and share.
....
Notice also that, since this is a social topic, it will be of
interest to people using smartphones. Facebook works well for
that. And, if you design your site properly, it can easily be
made to be phone-friendly.
Without giving away the topic, I can tell you that this is a
Big Deal for this niche. And that is a whole other potential
income stream.
....
If you're new to doing business online, or just thinking about
it and not sure if you want to make the leap, this is a totally
free and easy way to test your idea. It also allows you to see
if doing something online is going to fit your personal mindset
and preferences.
If you have experience with online business, this is an
excellent, easy, and fast way to start adding to your traffic
and your reach.
And it only uses 4 of the 162 (give or take) techniques in the
new product. ;)
Hopefully, that one will be out later this week.
Until then... Enjoy!
Paul
-----===(*)===-----
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