How to Spread Your Message

After you build your website, the next logical step is to let people know it exists. In 2010, 21.4 million websites were added. That’s roughly 58,630 new sites every day!

Marketing

If you want to attract immediate attention to your site, it’s important that you market it through a variety of channels. One method being touted as an important marketing avenue is social media.But, how do you attract attention? That’s really the $64,000 question.

Going Viral

We’ve all heard stories about blog postings or videos going viral, and if we could just duplicate their success we’d be happy. Right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Dan Zarrella, a social media scientist at HubSpot, discusses the science of social media. He spent five years researching the “why, how and what of contagious ideas.”His new book, “Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design and Engineering of Contagious Ideas”, identifies three steps that must be met before someone will spread an idea: exposure, attention and motivation.

Exposure

It seems obvious that the more people you expose your idea to, the better chance you have at motivating someone to act. Establishing multiple channels for your customers to interact with you allows you to connect with more people. Twitter, Facebook and email newsletters are all effective marketing tools. Not all of your potential customers will be following the trends on Twitter, but perhaps they’ll read your email newsletters.

Publish interesting content and identify yourself as an authority. According to Zarrella’s findings, Twitter accounts that include words like “guru,” “official,” “founder,” “author,” and “expert” have more followers. Readers want to connect with relevant and proven sources.

Attention

Every day we’re inundated with information. So, how do you attract attention to your message? Where possible, personalize it. Naturally, if we see our name on something we’re more prone to take notice.You should also experiment with when your message is sent. If you normally send an email newsletter on Tuesday, try Thursday or Friday. Then, see if your click-through rate is higher. It’s important that you measure the “open” rate and find the best time to reach your audience.

Motivation

In the social media realm, it's beneficial to your marketing efforts if people share your message. For instance, you want to encourage them to re-tweet your initial tweet. According to the research conducted by Dan Zarrella, certain types of words are more likely to be shared. By far, verbs are re-tweeted more often.Now that you have their attention, and people are sharing your information, make sure that your message is clear. What do you need them to do for you? Be sure to ask!

Your Plan

Exposure, attention and motivation are the steps that must be met before someone will spread an idea. Keep expanding your reach. Ask people to sign up for your newsletter, like you on Facebook, or follow you on Twitter. Make sure your content is unique and relevant. Try posting messages on different days of the week, and track which day creates more traffic to your website. And most importantly, tell them specifically what you want them to do for you.