Traction

Traction and product development are of equal importance and should each get about half of your attention. This is what we call the 50 percent rule: spend 50 percent of your time on product and 50 percent on traction.

Press is one of the single most effective things for pushing people over the edge and confirming they did the right thing.

Social media connections filled out the consultation (lead-generation) form at a 179% higher rate than the typical customer. Sales? They were 217% more likely to make their first payment. For one particular problem area (people who partially fill out the sign-up form then quit), social media prospects went back and completed the form at a 680% high

People visit social media sites for entertainment and interaction, not to see ads. An effective social ad strategy takes advantage of this reality.

Other products grow by encouraging collaboration. In this case, the product is still valuable on its own, but becomes more so as you invite others.

One application that is unique to social ads and where they have performed exceptionally well is when they are used to build an audience, engage with that audience over time, and eventually convert them into customers.

These interactions also get you additional data, like what messaging is resonating with potential customers, what niche you might focus on first, what types of customers will be easiest to acquire, and what major distribution roadblocks you might run into.

Shortening your viral cycle time drastically increases the rate at which you go viral, and is one of the first things you should focus on improving if using this channel. To shorten it, create urgency or incentivize customers to move through your viral loops. Additionally, make every step in your funnel as simple as possible to increase the number

TARGETS Run tests on a variety of smaller blogs. See what type of audience resonates best with your product and messaging. There are a variety of tools you can use to uncover relevant blogs, including YouTube, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Twitter, search engines, Google Alerts, and Social Mention. You can also ask people! Sponsor small blogs, especially