What would it take for YOU to get 1000 new subscribers from facebook in 90 days?

Sean,

As raised in another recent thread (by Julia Rotgers), a lot of hard dedicated and targetted work over a period of months would be required. Effort require to get a 1000 subscribers may well have to be similar to the levels of action, you yourself had to take when you submitted all of those many, many ezine articles in the past.

I don’t, honestly, think many people have the zeal, and single mindedness, that you had, and still have now. That’s not being pessimistic that is just the hard, cold truth of the matter.

I may choose to use FB, when ready, to help grow a list, but after the groundwork had been done (several months later), I would not necessarily want to maintain a significant presence on FB as I would want to primarily talk to my list via email and Blog/Vlog.

We can’t avoid FB due to its massive reach and huge statistical information, but we must always remember it is primarily a Social platform and not a business one. And it is going to get more “social” not less in the future. So you either become a FB traffic expert with a bank roll and grow a list quickly through highly targeted ads. Or you spend a long time (at least 3 months but probably more if you want a 1000 “loyal” followers) nurturing relationships and giving help and advice within numerous FB groups. I would, if I so choose, have to take the latter option as I don’t have money to burn on ad spend.

While I would not ignore FB entirely, I would, if I am honest prefer to try and build an audience using YouTube, where people are more actively seeking help and advice.

But saying all that, if you have a way Sean, please feel free to continue sharing what you started to do, so brilliantly, several day ago through email.

I first read this on my phone and didn’t see the 90 days part and assumed it was a month, which added to the What??? factor.

Still, 90 days seems like a tall order, but I think it is great to ask these “what if” questions, they often lead to breakthroughs.

If the average independent marketer could do this and the subscribers be in alignment with what your are doing, not just coming for more fluffy cats making breakfast videos, the ability to do this would change your business and your life.

I am going to put my two cents in, I am sure Sean has really thought this out and is going somewhere with this, but I can be a stomping horse and he can correct me. I might raise some points that others are thinking and he can use me and this post as an example if he wishes.

First, the headline this morning is “Facebook loses daily users for first time.” Things are changing on Facebook. The story goes on to say that Facebook is reaching saturation. They just have reached all of the users that are interested. Really? It isn’t people are getting sick of their changes? Saturation is a steady state, dropping numbers is something else. The good news is when things aren’t stable there are opportunities. If people are dropping off, doesn’t that sound like there is a need for more interesting things? On to the random thoughts…

How many viewers would it take to get a subscriber? 1 out of 10? 1 out of 100? 1 out of 1,000? If you just sent random people to your page it might be something like 1 out of 1,000 or even worse than that. Where you get these people from and how you get them there will have a tremendous affect on the ratio. I think I checked this once for me and remember, every marketing funnel, offer, source, campaign will be different, but I think I was doing something like 1 in 40 in round numbers. I am sure you can beat that, I think my last effort was much better, maybe 1 in 10 or 20 (because they are seeking me out, instead of me trying to herd them in, but I didn’t actually count up the numbers), but I am sure a lot of things you and I can do could be worse.

If you are herding the numbers are probably going to be worse than if they are seeking.

You are going to have to get a lot of views, they need to be from somewhere people interested in what you are doing hang out, the reason they come matters (like for a specific offer or to get a specific question answered, vs click on this and see a cat make breakfast) and there has to be a good reason for them to subscribe. You can’t just say “Subscribe.” You have to say “Subscribe and you will _____” There has to be something of value and of interest in the blank. You hear people say things like, “You will be the first to know when there is a new video/content” which is a bit weak, but beats nothing. You can also say “You will get a (thank you gift) which can be pretty strong depending on the gift.

I think the worst thing you could do is work hard, spend money, get 1,000 subscribers and none or few are buyers or interested in changing their lives. I have heard of people with huge lists that don’t even pay for their email responder.

Here is a cardinal rule in marketing, “People don’t do things without reasons.” You are going to have to give people good reasons to do what you want them to do. Some marketers use curiosity and click bait, others offer answers and help. I think we are in the answers and help department here.

Well, you can’t do this alone. You will need some help yourself.

This would need to almost go viral, say, mini-viral.

Otherwise you are likely to be spending yourself broke trying to create the traffic in just 90 days to pull it off and you won’t turn a profit.

Either you promote this, you pay for it to be promoted or you find a way to get people to promote it for free. When people promote things for free we have a very specific marketing term for that. We call it… sharing.

I like it!

So how do you get people to share things? You have to make them want to share. So how do you do that? You have to give them reasons to share.

What reasons work? Some examples:

1. To look good, smart, funny, positive in someway to others.
Hey Bill, take a break and check out this cat video! (response, that Scott is a fun guy, he has the best cat videos)
Hey Bill, I found this guy that makes a lot of sense about money. Check out what he says about getting out of debt. (response, that Scott is a smart guy, he is always sending me something helpful)

2. To get someone’s opinion.
Hey Bill, I know your dad made money in the stock market, what do you think about what this guy says about bitcoin? (response, an opinion- Hey Scott, stay away from that thing, my uncle lost his shirt on it)

3. To help someone and as in number one above- to look good to others.
Hey Bill, I know your grandmother has arthritis. Check out this diet, it looks like it helps a lot of people. (response, Thanks Scott, that is really helpful)

4. To feel superior to others.
Hey Bill, try this test. I bet I beat you, I made a 9.7 on it. (response, there is no way you made 10, I know I beat you (and I feel superior)

5. To get something they want. Which, in all of the examples above they are getting feelings, advice or brownie points they want.
So you say, share this with three people and come back for your bonus/reward/kit/quickstart/cat video
Hey Bill, Check out this guy’s video on ways to make money. If you share it with 3 people he will send you a checklist, a quickstart and a book for free. (response, I get the stuff I want)

So a recap.
We need 1,000 people that are interested in what we do, can and will pay for it, not 1,000 people that just click on things to be clicking.
So who and how we get people to our squeeze page matters.
We probably can’t afford to pay for all of that traffic, so some of it has to be from shared sources or some sort of swap. Maybe splitting a back end with someone that has a good list. Getting interviewed for a busy site. Something that gets seen without a lot of $ investment
No matter how we do it, we have to find a way to make people want to do the things we need them to do.
It all comes down to “if you do this, then this positive thing will happen to you and if you don’t do this, then this negative thing will happen to you.”
Reminds me of that old chain letter that said “if you don’t do this you will keep your sorry old husband…”

AND, what may be most important of all is you need a WOW factor. When I read Sean’s topic or headline I said WOW. You need something almost unbelievable.

It all helps if you are dealing with people that want to go in the direction you are going it. Finding them and then figuring out how to get your message/offer to them is the big trick.

This is just one way to look at this. I am sure there are fifty more.

Jump in everyone. I am just throwing this out there. Sean makes you think!

best

Sean,

I hope that just because you have launched your traffic mastermind on how to cope with today’s declining returns from social media, that you keep the rest of us in mind, especially those of us who couldn’t take up your generous discount offers because it was still unaffordable.