21 Traffic Triggers for Social Media Marketing

What does it take to have a huge web traffic breakthrough?

In order to produce a single piece of content that brings in dramatic amounts of traffic, you should aim to fulfill an existing psychological need. Aiming at root needs can be more powerful than simply stimulating desire, because you need people to feel compelled to share.

For example, you’ll see plenty of advice telling you to praise Apple or bash George Bush if you want to get on the Digg home page. But why not dig a little deeper?

Try examining the underlying needs that are being addressed by popular content. Then develop something unique that strikes a subconscious chord and satisfies a genetically-programmed craving that gets people talking, linking, bookmarking and Digging.

Here’s an alphabetized checklist of 21 psychological triggers that you can consult when trying to craft breakthrough content that spreads throughout the social media landscape and brings in big traffic. You’ll find more great insight into human psychology over at Changing Minds.

Beauty
Beautiful design, photography, illustration, music… all have a tendency to attract attention and prompt sharing. True beauty is rare, which triggers the scarcity principle that creates desire and discussion.

Belonging
The need to belong is fundamental. Content that demonstrates that the author belongs in the same group with the target audience is highly influential, and the fear of not belonging often prompts a bandwagon effect.

Certainty
Certainty has to do with our need to understand, predict and control, even if it’s ultimately an illusion. Breakthrough content can either reassure people about an uncertain situation, thereby restoring normalcy, or it can challenge existing notions and create unsettling confusion that you cure with a unique solution.

Challenge
In order to feel happy, we need new challenges that push us, but not so much that we cannot adapt. Challenge your audience, but make sure that you don’t go to the point where they are overwhelmed and discouraged.

Completion
We hear all the time that people need closure. However, many very persuasive people know that withholding closure is a masterful way of getting what you want. Finding a way to create a huge cliffhanger could create huge buzz.

Conformity
No one likes to think of themselves as a conformist, but conformity is a huge psychological need that ties in directly to belonging. Letting people know that both you and they “fit in” can cause a strong connection with your content.

Consistency
Society considers inconsistent people as “confused,” “irresponsible,” and often “incapable,” despite the fact that Ermerson wisely said “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” How did the “John Kerry is a flip-flopper” meme gain so much traction and ruin his chances for election?

Control
The need for control is huge, and you can actually benefit from increasing a reader’s perceived sense of it. Deliver new choices, or give up control of something yourself and hand it over to the audience. Think about Darren Rowse’s group writing projects… relinquishment of control to his readers resulted in massive attention for him.

Curiosity
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it can lead to killer content. Fascinate readers with content that sparks questions in their minds and overwhelms them with possibilities, and there’s a good chance they’ll want to add to the conversation and spread the word.

Esteem
Self-esteem determines how we regard ourselves, and we look internally and externally for cues that determine our level of esteem. Content that makes people feel good about themselves is always popular. And while it can be tricky, strategically catering to the esteem needs of prominent bloggers can result in beneficial traffic effects as well.

Explanation
We all try to explain things to others to demonstrate our expertise, but think about satisfying others by explaining something about them. Resolving self-doubt with beneficial explanations of behavior can trigger feelings of belonging and conformity to those who might feel otherwise.

Fairness
There’s a reason why the Bible’s Golden Rule of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is also a powerful rule of secular society. People have strong reactions to unfairness, so identifying an injustice or rectifying one will get people’s attention.

Health
While we don’t always take very good care of ourselves, our own health is a fundamental root need. There’s a reason why health is an industry unto itself, but if you can credibly create content that uniquely addresses health issues, people will take notice.

Identity
Content that either facilitates or challenges a reader’s identity—their concept of who they are and who they want to be—has an opportunity to gain major traction. Steve Pavlina knew what he was doing when he started writing personal development content for “smart people”.

Novelty
Novelty is much more than something trivial; it’s actually a fundamental human need that literally makes life worth living. Novel content seems to drive most of the traffic on the web, but realize that anything that breaks up routine, alleviates boredom and challenges people will be greatly appreciated.

Prediction
Predictability is highly related to control, and yet acts as the enemy of novelty. Doing something unpredictable is a great way to be remarkable, but many people don’t realize that if you go too far and make people uncomfortable, you’re alienating people by damaging their sense of control and consistency.

Repetition
Repeat after me: People need repetition, especially to learn. If you’re developing exceptional tutorial content that you hope will get you noticed, your results will improve when people effectively absorb your lessons. Repeat key points to aid the reader and leave them with a positive impression that prompts them to spread the word.

Safety
Challenge someone’s physical or psychological security and safety, and they’ll drop everything and focus on the threat. Some people, groups or governments maintain constant fear with vague threats to safety, but you’ll be better served by catching attention with the threat and then providing a real solution that alleviates the fear, if possible.

Self-actualization
The very pinnacle of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is self-actualization. Inspiring people to achieve the ultimate person they want to be takes the need for identity to its transformative conclusion.

Understanding
Writers and other content creators who can communicate with clarity provide people with the understanding they need to make sense of life. Find a way to get to the very heart of a complex matter in a simple, straight-forward manner, and people will happily point others your way.

Winning
Information marketing is the ultimate win-win situation, because people love to be supplied with the resources they need to be a winner in business, relationships, and life. If you provide the means for others to improve themselves and their situations, the natural result will be a vast improvement in your own situation as well. Wake up every morning thinking about how you can deliver insane value to others, and I guarantee you’ll find success.

Author:

Name: Brian Clark
Url : http://www.copyblogger.com/

Everything in the Digg, Reddit & Netscape Algorithms

At work today, Matt noted that he found Digg's algorithm far more interesting than Google's. I was shocked - after all, Digg isn't nearly as complex or widely used as Google, but with its rising popularity in the tech space, I could, at least, empathize with why he might feel that way. I also took it as a challenge to expose all the possible elements that might be in an algorithm at Digg, Reddit, Netscape, Shoutwire or other social-news-voting sites. Let's see how I do:

BTW - I'm going to use a lot of Digg-specific terminology, despite the fact that I'm referring to all of the sites above.

1. Number of votes over time

• Uses a floating target based on relative levels of popularity (as mentioned in timing below)


• Any number of votes in a very short period (if not manipulative) is stronger than the same number of votes over a longer period.

2. Domain of link

• Has it previously had content submitted? If so, did that content receive votes, get marked as spam/lame, make the front page, etc?


• Has the domain been manually/automatically flagged for being manipulative

3. Profile of submitter

• Have they submitted high quality stories in the past?


• Have they submitted spam/lame stories in the past?


• How many friends do they have? This could make it harder or easier to get a story Dugg (harder if they have thousands of friends, but possibly easier if they have at least a few)


• How many submissions have they made? What is their success rate?


• How long has the member been around? New registrants could be a clear sign of spam

4. Profiles of voters (as above)

5. Timing of submission

• If a low number of stories have recently made the front page in a given sector or overall, the story is more likely to get on top with fewer votes


• If a high number of recent submissions, the opposite may be true


• Time of day - if 50 people all tag a site at 3:00am, that might be a red flag

6. Similarity to other links (duplicate)

7. Source of votes

• From the same IP address or IP block


• From the same geographic region (that's not a hotspot for Digg users)


• From the same group as has voted on previous content from a domain or string of domains


• From a group of users who aren't regular participants/voters

8. Manual review as it hits the homepage

• Many Digg users may not realize it, but all stories to hit the frontpage get a manual, editorial review that may pull the story. This often happens with content the editors feel is marketing-focused, driven by marketing dollars or has a marketing agenda.


• Reddit does this, too, but it's not instantaneous


• Netscape used to do it, but some have speculated the the level of oversight fluctuates


• As a quick example, Brian Clark (of Copyblogger) had this post hit Digg's homepage last week for a scant minute or so before the editors pulled it.

9. Number of comments

• Potentially could be used to detect patterns, though I've seen a lot of Dugg stories that had very few comments, so this might not be a great signal

10. Number of views

• An abnormally high ratio of views with few Diggs could mean that people aren't fans of the content


• In my opinion, this is a low signal, and down votes or lame/spam would earn more weight in bringing down a story

11. Down votes

• Although Digg doesn't specifically have them, Reddit does and surely uses them as an influential factor


• Digg, Netscape and Shoutwire all use flag systems which could be similarly interpreted

12. Source of Votes

• I suspect that Digg would follow how users normally reach pages (through friends, via direct links, via email/type-in, etc.)
• If an abnormally high number of folks came via an uncommon method to a Digg page (for example, with no referring URL, possibly signifying a mass email or IM link), Digg might want to discount the value of those votes

In a wonderful irony, the Digg website appears to have crashed tonight (a likely cause could be the new re-design, which Neil details at SELand).

So, what do you think? Are there other elements you'd consider having in your own social media voting site? Any obvious ones I neglected to mention?

Easy Web 2.0 Internet Marketing: Strategies for Quickly Building an Audience with Social Media

The Web 2.0 social media revolution is in full steam. Are people finding your website?

As an entrepreneur, how do you make your business website stand out amongst 435 million other websites and more than 1 million blogs competing for your audience's attention?

It's not as hard as you might think.

To begin, let's look at the demographics of Web 2.0 social networking sites, Myspace.com, Facebook and YouTube.com. This will give you an idea on how to position your message in the Web 2.0 World.

The Web 2.0 Social Networking Revolution

Web 2.0 is a real revolution on the Internet. And these aren't just college kids...

• 62% of MySpace visitors are older than 25 (40% are 35+), and 83% are makíng over $30,000 a year. Nineteen percent (19%) are makíng $100,000 and up...
• On Facebook.com 46% are over 25 and 34% are 35+, but they've got deep pockets. Eighty-eight percent (88%) makë more than $30,000 and twenty-three percent (23%) makë $100,000 or more.
• In the years ahead these numbers will get ridiculous...
• Social media giant Facebook is currently ADDING a million 25+ (non-student) adults per week to their rosters. That's 52 million new users a year.
• YouTube.com gets over 50 million unique visitors per month. That equals over half a billion a year.
• Facebook and MySpace have the equal daily traffic of Google. Experts predict within the next year they will DOUBLE the daily traffic of Google search.

So your prospects are there. The traffic is there. The spending power is there. So NOW is the time you want to establish your presence on the social networking websites.

Web 2.0 Strategy: Why You Should Be a Maven, Not a Marketer

As a website owner, how should you position your message in the Web 2.0 world?

The increasingly savvy buying public will quickly shun marketers. Internet readers want information from the Internet. They don't want advertising, marketing, or a "pitch".

According to Schefren in his Attention Age Doctrine, the solution is to become a social media "Maven".

A Maven is a trusted authority, like a friend, on the social media websites. As you gain their trust, your audience will return to you over and over again wanting to invest in your advice.

Five Steps to Becoming a Social Media Maven

Social Media Maven Step 1: Get in the Game

Begin blogging immediately. Create a video explaining how to solve a problem and put it on YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook with links back to your main website. Just those two things alone will establish more Web 2.0 presence than 90% of your competition.

Social Media Maven Step 2: Share your passion

Build your Web 2.0 website around your passions. Thirty-two year old Gary Vaynerchuk transformed his wine knowledge to his video blog. It now has thousands of subscribers and does $50 millíon dollars a year in wine sales.

Social Media Maven Step 3: Be Controversial

Your audience will remember you more when you challenge the status quo. Controversy sells. Think like the tabloids and the local news channels here. For example, Web 2.0 Business Coach Rich Schefren challenges traditional marketing wisdom in each release of his Attention Age Doctrine special reports at www.attentionage.net/doctrine.

Social Media Maven Step 4: Create World Class Content

You will drive repeat traffic to your website by offering top notch "how to" information. Gary's wine tastings are highly educational on the benefits of wine, how to cook with wine, and how to choose a wine for your special occasion. Rich's reports teach Web 2.0 marketing principles.

Remember, as soon as your audience feels that you are "pitching" them, you've lost them. So provide content not advertising.

Social Media Maven Step 5: Engage in the Conversation

Web 2.0 is a dialogue not a monologue. Internet businesses profít more when they observe and listen to their communities first before they broadcast their messages. Savvy mavens such as Gary and Rich encourage their audience to ask questions. The answers to these questions then become part of their user-generated content.

How Marketing in a Web 2.0 Social Media Environment Is Exciting.

Visualize it like a big radio or television station or movie screen where you're the star. You're building a fan base so you need to entertain, inform, and deliver consistently for your audience.

You have more publishing power at your fingertips right now than at any time in history.

So use it.

Share your passions.

Reveal your trials and tribulations

Tell your story.

And, watch how quickly your audience builds.

About The Author
Master Copywriter, Gary Smith (www.rightbraincopy.com) has taught thousands of entrepreneurs how to write copy that persuades, motivates and inspires prospects to buy. He strongly suggests using Web 2.0 Internet Marketing Strategies revealed in Richard Schefren's Attention Age Doctrine. Get it now for frëe at: www.attentionage.com/doctrine and discover never-before-revealed Web 2.0 tools and techniques to win in the Attention Age.