6 Mistakes Publishers Make When Monetizing Social Traffic
This post is also available in:
Pt 
Es
Social traffic refers to traffic coming to your website from social media platforms or networks. It implies sharing posts, links, and updates on social media channels — and greatly boosts online exposure and reach!
However, it’s not enough to have steady social traffic. Finding reliable ways to make money from that traffic is also a big challenge.
Unfortunately, people sometimes make mistakes in this social traffic monetization quest. And we don’t want you to make mistakes, too! So, we collected and explained the most popular ones.
How to Monetize Social Traffic?
We already have a big and detailed post on social traffic monetization: here it is.
Briefly, the top tool Monetag offers for this is Smartlink (Direct Link) — a link that connects a user with the most relevant ad, selected automatically thanks to Smartlink’s algorithms (that’s why it’s actually called Smart).
So, our mistakes guide will include tips on Smartlink monetization and also some content tips… but let’s not jump ahead of the story 🙂
Social Traffic Monetization Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Knowing the errors that can hinder your efforts is vital to turning social media engagement into real income streams. Below are the common mistakes that downplay monetization from social traffic:
#1. Neglecting Social Media Platforms’ Policies
Social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, X, etc. Each platform has usage, engagement, monetization, and advertising rules. Monetizing social traffic is difficult without adhering to platform-specific guidelines. Some sites may have strict rules about advertising products and services: prohibit specific ads or require sponsored content disclaimers.
Breaking these rules can get your account suspended, content deleted, or even completely banned.
How to avoid:
To prevent this mistake, carefully read the community rules. Learn the terms of service for each social media platform you use. Keep up with rule changes and monetize legally.
#2. Сhoosing the Right Format
We basically recommend monetizing your traffic via a landing page, your blog, or a website. The monetization flow is simple: you choose Monetag ad formats to show on these landing pages, blogs, or websites, and earn!
In most cases, the top profitable formats are Onclick and Smartlink.
However, if you don’t have a website and work with a blog or a landing page that uses free hosting (for example, Blogspot or Blogger), you can’t show traditional Monetag ads — Onclick, Push Notifications, Interstitials, Vignette banner — on it. These ads begin working after you add a special tag to your website code.
With many free hostings, your option is only Smartlink, which you can add to literally every part of your landing page or blog.
- Want to hide it in the ‘Read more’ or ‘OK’ button? No problem, go for it.
- Think it will perfectly fit a part of the text at your blog post? Great move!
Where is the catch?
Sometimes, publishers grab a Tag (that serves for showing traditional ads at websites) instead of a Smartlink. Of course, it doesn’t work.
How to avoid:
Make sure you take and use a Smartlink. Not a tag or any other link 🙂 Here is where your link is waiting for you at your Monetag account:
#3. Taking Down Smartlink Too Quickly
Another common mistake is getting a few Smartlink clicks and then removing the links immediately. We know why you want to do this sometimes: you might think that low CPM and profits mean the Smartlink doesn’t work with your traffic.
But that’s not always true! If users begin to follow your Smartlink, but the CPM and earnings are far from what you want, you might just need a bit more time.
How to avoid:
A few clicks or low engagement at the very beginning doesn’t always mean the Smartlink won’t work. So, be patient! Don’t make any conclusions before you get at least 1,000 impressions (or, better, several times more).
Note: Don’t try to speed up this process by testing SmartLink with sources you are unsure about. For example, sources that offer cheap and motivated traffic. Doing so might just result in a ban, not profit.
#4. Not Working On Your Social Media Strategy
Some wanna-be publishers and webmasters believe that sharing a Smartlink with their 1000 social media friends is enough to receive a stable income. However, it’s not like this. Monetizing social traffic requires work and a sufficient amount of traffic, which implies constantly attracting fresh users.
How to avoid:
To avoid this mistake, it’s important to study your audience and use various advanced targeting options that social media sites give you. Find out what your perfect customer likes, their behavior, and what issues they have. Once you discover who will most likely love your content, get the most out of the targeting settings for social media ads and also natural content distribution.
And, don’t forget to research the latest trends (for example, with the help of Google Trends) and test different CTAs to attract more users!
And, read some case studies on how our publishers do it!
#5. Too Many Ads in Your Personal Social Groups/Channels
If your strategy is based specifically on developing your channels to increase traffic, then distributing too many adverts to your subscribers isn’t a strategy to make money. It may only end up annoying your followers, making them disengage: it’s really hard to stay on a page overwhelmed by ads. So, people will get less interested, less likely to trust you, and eventually less likely to convert!
Remember, people want your content, not your ads or self-promotion.
For example, check how this publisher works with Smartlink frequency:
Besides, social media sites are becoming more vigilant about policing excessive or irrelevant advertising. So why risking your personal account that you work so much on?
How to avoid:
To avoid this mistake, find a good balance between making money and delivering value. Instead of cluttering your account with adverts, create high-quality content that people will share.
#6. Neglecting Content Optimization and Analytics
One of the biggest mistakes in social traffic monetization is not tracking progress. In fact, it’s a killer for any monetization efforts! A very simple but very true thought: without analytics, you can’t tell what’s working. And, you cannot make modifications that maximize profits.
Meanwhile, being aware of, for example, your most popular posts, you can have an idea of what your subscribers like and create more of such content. Maybe you will find out which headings, post images, or ideas bring the most views and comments — so you need to measure everything.
How to avoid:
Make sure you know how your audience acts. What is their favorite content? Which kind of posts get the most likes? What videos bring you the most subscribers? Check your social media analytic trackers to understand it.
Conclusion
Getting rid of these common mistakes will make it much easier to make money from social traffic. So, it’s high time you
