My Social Media Strategy: I got 700+ email subscribers in 4 months without ever going viral (here’s how)
“The Money is in the list.”
That’s my mantra.
Doesn’t matter if it’s your first time hearing it from me, or the 1,000th.
It’s the truth…
And when it comes to my list, I just crossed the 700-email subscriber mark…
And I did it in just four months (and no, I’m not bragging)…
My secret is my social media strategy.
No viral tricks.
No gimmicks.
Just plain old business tactics.
You see…
We all know the pain of hours spent on posts, going live, using trendy tunes… all that jazz.
And what do you get?
A trickle of followers, likes, comments, shares (if that)…
But they don’t translate to real growth…
They’re just vanity metrics.
They feel good, but they don’t pay the bills.
You know what pays?
Traffic…
Real, human eyeballs on your site.
And there’s two types of traffic: organic traffic and paid traffic.
Traffic is the first secret.
Ignore the likes, the shares.
Focus on the traffic…
(more on traffic in a second)
The second secret?
Truly understanding that time is more valuable than money.
(This will make more sense in a little bit)
So let’s get into the meat of it.
💡Secret #1:
Traffic (P2P VS PnP)
There’s generally two types of traffic you can drive to your content: Organic Traffic and Paid Traffic.
P2P: Stands for “Pay-2-Play” – Traffic from paid ads on platforms like Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
It allows for specific audience targeting and delivers quick results…
PnP: Stands for “Post-n-Pray” – Traffic that comes to your website naturally from search engines like Google.
It’s valued as it’s “free” and users are genuinely interested in your content.
Now, think about this…
What’s your average reach with social media?
With PnP organic traffic, it’s about 2% of your followers.
So if you have 1,000 followers, if you’re lucky, your post will reach 2% of them (or 20 people… that’s it)
Paid P2P traffic?
That can get you in front of 100 to 1,000 times more leads.
Also…
Traffic is scalable too.
But…
In order to scale up and get more leads with PnP organic traffic, you’re usually required to produce more content, which equals hours of more time.
P2P traffic?
Just increase your budget.
It only takes about 30 seconds and the click of a button to up your budget.
Also…
There are barriers with both traffic sources, of course.
Organic PnP traffic has to get blessed by the “algorithm gods” to get engagement from leads.
Algorithms can bury your content, and lack of engagement can kill your reach.
P2P Paid traffic, on the other hand, requires only identifying an audience and offering what they want.
The barrier is one’s own abilities, not the platform’s decisions.
But…
The two most significant factors are control and costs.
PnP Organic traffic leaves your fate to the “algorithm gods” (which is why you “post and pray”).
But with P2P Paid traffic?
You’re in control.
And the costs?
Well, this might surprise you…
Paid traffic actually costs LESS.
You see…
Organic traffic isn’t truly free.
It’s a myth.
I’ll make this clear in a few seconds…
Just know organic traffic costs 10x – 100x more than paid traffic.
.
.
You still don’t believe me?
OK then…
Let’s dig into the real numbers…
PnP Organic Traffic (by the numbers)
To best explain this, I have to take you on my quick journey with organic traffic.
My journey with my Jesse Young El brand began on June 1, 2021.
Here’s the first post I published on Medium.
(I also reposted these on Facebook and LinkedIn)
I spent about 4 hours a week trying to get organic traffic with this tactic.
This went on for 26 weeks, up until December 1, 2021.
The result?
Zero subscribers.
That’s when I quit…
I threw in the towel for over a year and worked on some other brands I wanted to build.
In 2022, I gave my personal brand another shot, and started my self-hosted blog.
April 4 2022 is when I got my first email subscriber.
That subscriber was me…
Then, I tried organic leads through Google Search.
I started getting traffic, but then… a Google algorithm change halted everything.
My friend Miles Beckler calls this the Google Slap.
A few months later, another algorithm change soon flatlined my blog.
Despite these setbacks, I pushed on.
I posted on Twitter, and rigged it with this tool so my Twitter account automatically shared my content on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn…
I went all in.
I was putting in seven hours a day, six days a week.
Writing blogs, guest posting, creating content, writing for social…
All while doing client work on the side…
It was a lot of work.
(💡I’m not just giving you a bio here…
I’m making a point that’ll be clear very shortly…)
After months of this, I had gained only 15 subscribers.
I tried another approach.
I texted my close friends and colleagues in design and content creation and asked them to subscribe.
This added 6 more subs.
And by January 27, 2023, I had a whopping 30 subscribers…
But here’s the messed up part…
I estimate I’d spent at least 1,864 hours working on organic traffic and getting organic leads.
If I’d spent that time working a minimum wage job in Texas ($7.25/hr), I could have made $13,731.50.
So I use that as the basis of how much I spent on organic traffic -— $13,731.50.
Now…
In any business, a key metric to look at is the cost per lead.
The formula to find your cost per lead goes like this:
Marketing Spend / Number of New Leads
In my case, my effective cost per lead was $13,731.50 divided by my 30 leads…
Equaling $457.72 per lead…
Yep.
With organic traffic, I was spending nearly $500 just to get each person on my list!
(And that’s estimating on the low-end…)
.
.
Just writing that last sentence is extremely painful when I put real numbers to the situation.
You should read that 👆🏾 again and again until it sinks in…
(Or better yet, estimate how much you’ve spent on organic traffic and tell me if it doesn’t hurt)
.
.
.
P2P Paid Traffic (by the numbers)
Let’s turn the table and talk about paid traffic…
It’s a whole new world…
Same platforms.
Same audience.
But completely different strategies, costs, and results…
I activated my first ad on Facebook on January 28.
Here it is:
.
.
And here’s the landing page they’re taken to when they click on the ad:
I got my first paid lead that very day.
And…
Within a matter of 6 days I had 34 new paid leads…
Think about that…
6 days VS a Year and a half to get the 30 subscribers?
(really there’s no comparison… but I’ll continue)
And so…
For a little less than four months, I tested various angles, offers, and audiences:
- Smartphone Filmmaking Pocket Guide
- Real Estate Property Video Cheat Sheet
- AI Survival Boot Camp
- Course Design and Outlining Guide
- ChatGPT Prompt Boot Camp, etc.
These are some of the free resources I offered to paid audiences in exchange for their email address.
Chances are, if you’re reading this, it’s because you opted in to one of these offers.
The results?
As of today, I’m at 736 subscribers, with 706 of them coming directly from paid traffic.
.
.
.
Now, think about that…
That’s 700+ perfect strangers that I’ve been able to connect with and add value to their lives…
I’ve never met any of these people in my life…
That’s mind blowing to me!
But here’s the real kicker…
I spend about 8 hours a week working on the ads, landing pages, and content.
If I were to calculate the value of the time spent at the minimum wage rate, it totals to only $870.
Add that to the actual advertising costs ($1,230.18), and the total comes to $2,100.18 -— that’s all!
Now…
Remember the effective cost per lead formula?
For paid traffic, I’m effectively spending $2.97 per lead!
And…
As I’m getting better at identifying audiences and their needs, I’m starting to get leads at even lower costs.
At the time of writing this, I’m literally getting leads at $0.83 per lead!
💡Secret #2:
Value Time over Money
So, what’s the better deal?
Spending 1,800 hours and getting 30 leads with organic traffic, or spending 120 hours and getting 706 leads with paid traffic?
Or…
Would you rather spend $13K and get 30 leads or spend $2,100.18 and get 706 leads?
Or put another way, would you rather spend $458 per lead with organic traffic or $2.97 per lead with paid traffic (and still have all your time available for other things)?
When you look at the numbers, the choice is painfully obvious — paid traffic wins.
But…
If it’s so obvious, why do most people flock to organic traffic over paid traffic?
In my humble opinion, I believe it’s because we’re wired to value money over time.
Think about it…
Most people trade their time for money at their jobs.
That’s how they survive.
It’s ingrained in society: value money over time.
And that’s why organic traffic seems so attractive…
Because it doesn’t “cost money” — at least not on the surface…
But…
There’s a small group of people who value time over money.
They invest money instead of their time.
After 20 years in content creation and digital marketing, I’ve experienced only a fraction of the true benefits of valuing time over money.
And it’s been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in my professional career.
Spending money instead of time not only saves me money but also saves me enormous amounts of time…
It even makes me more money on the backend.
(I’ll dive into this later on in the future)
So… (wrapping it up)
To build an audience quickly and efficiently is possible, you don’t have to spend countless hours or a ton of money.
Paid traffic offers a viable solution.
Still don’t believe me?
Take a few minutes and roughly estimate your own cost per lead using organic traffic.
You may be shocked by the real number…
Remember, the money is in the list, and paid traffic can help you build that list without breaking the bank or wasting time.
Peace and Love,
Jesse “The Paid Traffic Evangelist“ Young El