social media Archives

5 Tips to Optimize Landing Pages for Conversion

May 20, 2013/by Corey Padveen

If you properly optimize landing pages for conversion, then you can expect higher clicks, results and engagement!

Social media is a great referral source for landing pages, and with every landing page we are hoping for some form of conversion. Whether that is a sign-up, a download or a purchase, we want visitors to take that next step.

In order for a landing page to work in your favor and lead to that next step, you need to properly optimize landing pages for conversion. There are several ways you can go about doing this – after all, optimizing a site or a page may differ depending on who you are trying to target. But when it comes to surefire ways to effectively optimize landing pages for conversion, there are 5 main items that should always be on your checklist.

Is there a clear Call-to-Action (CTA)?

When I get to your landing page, do I know what to do next? Is it clear how I am supposed to proceed? This is going to be the most important element to any optimized page – you need a clear Call-to-Action.

According to the inbound marketing experts at HubSpot, you’ll want to avoid negative action phrases like “Submit” and focus more on phrases like “Download Now”, “Get Your Free Trial”, “Speak to an Expert” or “Buy Now”. This reduces anxiety and friction for the visitor.

Do You Convey Who You Are?

When I get to your landing page, do I know who you are? Be sure to brand your page. Consistency is everything when it comes to online marketing; you are creating a personality with which people are interacting, and that personality needs to be as apparent on your landing pages as it is on your social networks.

Is It Simple?

Am I going to be turned off by your landing page? Using flash, too many colors and varying fonts is going to turn people off and result in lower conversion rates. You are going to want to keep it simple, to the point and clean. The easier it is for the visitor to find and click on your CTA, the higher those rates are going to be.

(Extra Tip: The only area where there should be a contrasting color on your landing page is in the CTA button.)

Is Your Page Properly Formatted?

Headlines, images, and forms are just a few examples of professionalism when it comes to landing pages. And professionalism is key. If your page is all over the place and I don’t feel like it was put together with professionalism in mind, I am, in all likelihood, going to leave the page without asking for more information, buying now, or downloading your e-book. Proper formatting goes a long way.

Here are some examples of stunning, effective landing pages.

Can Your Content be Shared?

I love what I see. I not only want to get more information for myself, but for my colleagues and friends. Is there a simple way for me to do it?

Make sure your content is shareable. I shouldn’t have to copy your link, go to my Outlook, create an email and do the work for you; the more steps there are, the lower the conversion will be. With the click of a button (using ShareThis, for example) I should be able to share your content to every one of my social networks and my entire email address book.

While you are going to want to configure some landing pages differently based on the audience you are looking to target, these elements should remain consistent across every one of your landing page campaigns.

Have you seen success with landing pages? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: The Viral Effect

May 17, 2013/by Corey Padveen

We all strive for the viral effect when sharing content on social media, and when it happens, we need to know where Social Equity is derived.

Virality is one of the most common terms when it comes to social media measurement. How many people are we reaching? Is our content being shared? Is our network growing? Is our business growing? It all relates to virality. Yet, while we measure what the viral effect might be, we may not be taking note of how it adds Social Equity, and therefore value to our business.

In this week’s Social Equity segment, we aim to explain how the viral effect on social media adds value to your business in three ways: credibility, exposure and network growth.

Credibility

If Company A and Company B are both pitching your project but Company A has an outstanding track record, dozens of referrals, an impeccable portfolio and a proven history of success, whereas Company B has no distinguishing benefits, you will most likely choose Company A. That is not to say that Company B might not be capable of producing good work, but without the same level of credibility that is backing Company A, it is hard to choose Company B.

The viral effect adds a tremendous degree of credibility to your brand. Your name popping up on news feeds, timelines, in groups and on search engines means you have made a name for yourself. When it comes to making a choice between you and your competitor, you can bet that the credibility garnered from the virality of your company’s content will make a big impact.

Exposure

Once again, if you are choosing between two companies, and Company A is easily discoverable for a given topic while you have to dig deep to even find a mention of Company B, chances are the choice is Company A.

Discoverability is at the heart of success in the online world. The goal we are all aiming to achieve is inbound business. According to the inbound marketing company, HubSpot, inbound leads cost 61% less than outbound. The exposure you receive from viral content can translate directly into inbound traffic, calls, leads and business.

Network Growth

If you’ll recall, our first Social Equity segment discussed the example of the dentist. Essentially, the added value of the dentist’s online presence and the size of his network allowed him to sell his practice at a much higher price than if he was relying solely on his current patient roster. The growth of your network resulting from the viral exposure of your content will lead to Social Equity in the long-run.

Keep in mind, virality is not a one-hit-wonder concept. Of course, there are examples where content goes viral without a business strategy behind it. (It is almost guaranteed that the sneezing panda wasn’t intending to capitalize on the massive audience that watched the video.) In business, if your content goes viral, you can expect to see a spillover effect. While not everyone exposed to your content will look to familiarize themselves with your brand, there are those that will. Down the road, this increased network will mean big value for your business.

Have you seen any of your content go viral? Tell us what you noticed in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Comodo

May 16, 2013/by Corey Padveen

It doesn’t take a big brand to do something innovative that warrants a social media case study!

If you’ve ever scrolled through the images of Instagram, you know that food is a pretty popular subject on the photo-sharing network. Comodo, an independently-owned restaurant in New York City, recognized the app’s popularity, and decided to integrate the food photographing hobby into their establishment.

Essentially, the idea was to allow users to share their experience in a very natural way that not only promoted diners’ experiences in the restaurant, but also provided user-generated publicity, virality and some pretty nice images of dishes to a wide audience.

The video below does a great job of outlining the premise of the campaign:

The Lessons

This is a simple, cost-effective concept, but there is a lot that marketers can take away from the study.

Make Social Media a Part of Your Brand

There should not be a distinction between your physical brand and the one you have created on social media. What Comodo did was integrate their social media efforts into the dining experience. Thus, the same friendliness, fun personality they were aiming to establish online was personified in the restaurant itself.

There needs to be fluidity in all of your marketing efforts. Consistency is how you will be identified by markets that are both familiar and unfamiliar with your brand. The marketing team behind Comodo realized that and the proof is in the campaign.

Provide Clear Avenues for Engagement

You’ll notice in the video that Comodo’s menu offered the hashtag for sharing images on the bottom. Direction is something that many brands often forget to provide, and the result is a less than optimal social media campaign.

In order to see the greatest benefits from your efforts in social marketing, you need to let people know how, where and with what type of content they should be engaging. Don’t rely solely on organic engagement, help the conversation get started. Two examples of this are Best Buy’s Twelpforce and Comcast Cares. Both are Twitter channels that provide nothing but support, and that is made perfectly clear everywhere they are mentioned.

Adapt Your Marketing Strategies to Your Audience

It’s hard to believe how unique this case study is. It was simple to execute and the results have been outstanding for Comodo. Yet, we still see more billboards and bench ads than we do hashtags when it comes to restaurant marketing.

Comodo’s success arose from the very simple fact that they adapted their marketing for a new generation of consumers. While not all of their customers will be using Instagram to promote the restaurant and the dishes, imagine how much they would lose out on if there were no social media initiatives in place! The opportunity cost of not engaging in social marketing is far greater than the cost that goes into such a program.

Although Comodo is a small, local restaurant, they managed to do something innovative, creative and successful. Social media marketing provides avenues down which anyone can create a viral sensation out of their business.

Do you know of any other small businesses that have used social media to create a viral effect? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

How Organizations Structure Social Media Teams [INFOGRAPHIC]

May 15, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social media teams can be responsible for some of the most crucial marketing decisions when it comes to your business, but how are social media teams structured?

The importance of strong social media teams is right at the top of the list when it comes to modern marketing. Yet, because social media is so new and so fast-paced, many businesses – both large and small – are not sure how they are supposed to go about structuring their social media teams.

One of the most interesting figures in the infographic from Go-Gulf below is right at the top: 65% of organizations assign social media tasks on top of regular job responsibilities. Furthermore, 25% of companies are using interns to manage social media! The many benefits of social media for business are of growing importance to a company’s success. That being the case, assigning an inexperienced staff member to manage your social media will certainly not lead to a revenue-generating program, and the numerous benefits that can be derived from social media will be lost.

The result of this lackluster effort on the part of most organizations? Only 5% of organizations are highly satisfied with the results generated from their programs. It doesn’t take a statistician to see the correlation: if you are not devoting the proper resources to your social media program, you cannot expect to be satisfied with the results!

Have a look at this infographic to see how companies are structuring their social media teams. What data do you think is most interesting/surprising? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Understanding the Facebook EdgeRank Algorithm

May 8, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is something we have all heard about, but what exactly is it and how should it be considered when developing content for the channel?

First and foremost, for those who are unfamiliar with the feature, what is the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm? It is a system used by Facebook to determine what posts appear on each user’s timeline based on certain criteria. The purpose? In theory, it is in place to ensure that each user only sees the most relevant and engaging content based on their history and activity.

What does the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm mean for brands? It can be either a good thing or a bad thing. There is an endless stream of content being shared on Facebook, and if you are not properly implementing a content strategy, yours may never be seen.

There are three main variables that make up the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm: affinity, weight and time decay. These terms sound impressive and technical, but like anything on social media, it all really comes down to engagement.

Recently, Will Cathcart, Facebook’s News Feed Product Manager, broke down the EdgeRank system and clarified exactly how it works and what you should be focused on when it comes to getting your content seen on your fans’ timelines.

The Individual

On an individual level, there are two key points of focus. First, history is a major factor. The more your audience engages with your page over time, the more likely it is that they will see your content appear on their timeline. That’s a given. The second factor, however, is a little more specific.

Individual engagement matters. But as a brand, you need to take note of the types of content your audience is engaging with. If, for example, images receive plenty of interaction but your videos are ignored, your audience may only see images as they are posted and your videos will disappear into the annals of Facebook.

What is important? Study what individual fans are engaging with and encourage engagement both on popular and unpopular types of posts in order to ensure that all of your content is showcased for your audience.

The Network

The second level is the network. There is a secondary effect on Facebook that can help you reach a broader audience. Have you ever noticed that when a post is receiving a lot of attention, your reach sometimes exceeds your fan count? As reactions and interactions from direct users increase on a given piece of content, more people are exposed to that post. Therefore, high engagement on a post might mean bringing back fans that were once lost for lack of engagement.

Second, sentiment plays a major role with network reach. If people are engaging negatively, then you stand to lose a good deal of your reach, and your content might be hidden from users that were once engaged in the future.

What is important? Monitor the popularity of your posts and modify your strategy in order to share only content that is receiving high levels of engagement and reaching broad secondary audiences as a result.

The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is not a horribly complex phenomenon to understand. Sure, we may not be tech-savvy enough to know how it is coded, or how it does exactly what it does, but we can certainly understand how it produces the end result. Knowing that gives us leverage when putting together a Facebook content strategy, and can certainly give us a competitive advantage when it comes to Facebook.

Did you know about EdgeRank? Did you understand it? Have you done or will you do anything differently with knowledge of how the algorithm works? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

The Importance of Mobile in the Marketplace [INFOGRAPHIC]

May 7, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The importance of mobile in the marketplace is growing every day, and marketers should always take mobile into consideration.

Mobile marketing is not the newest trend (relatively speaking) but as the number of smartphone users continues to rise, the importance of mobile grows faster and greater. Just look at the data below: in two years, the number of mobile searches on Google has grown five fold. Therefore, it is important to always take mobile marketing into consideration when putting together a strategy.

Of the impressive data in the infographic below, perhaps what is most important is the fact that local searches now account for nearly a quarter of all Google queries; with roughly five billion searches done on Google every day, that’s a lot of local search.

What is also important to note in the data is the fact that 60% of mobile users use their devices for daily activity on social media. The key takeaway derived from this further adds to the importance of mobile marketing: your brand and your message are amplified across a number of social channels and to far greater networks when your mobile marketing incorporates social elements.

Have a look at the infographic below and consider your own mobile strategy. Do you have one? If so, how is it generating business for you? If not, do you plan on developing one? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Tips to Creating a Great Facebook Ad Campaign

May 6, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Facebook can be a successful, cost-effective channel on which to promote your business, and these tips will help you create a great Facebook Ad campaign.

We see Facebook Ads every time we log into the social network. They may not always be captivating, and you may not always notice them, but they are always there and always trying to grab your attention. But more often than not, they are not achieving the goal of converting eyes into clicks.

Facebook Ads may be easy to use, straightforward and simple to monitor, but there are a few key factors that distinguish your average-performing Facebook Ads and great Facebook Ad campaigns. Below are four tips that should help take your Facebook advertising to the next level.

Do Some Research

The first time you put together an ad campaign on Facebook, you are going to be eager to get your content out there and watch the “Like” counter shoot up. Unfortunately, without at least a little bit of research, you are not going to see the results you are hoping for.

Look through your insights, study engagement levels and develop a campaign that both fits the brand you’ve created on Facebook and appeals to a specific audience. If you are trying to target everyone, you might end up reaching no one. (Don’t worry – that makes more sense after you see the next tip.)

Target a Very Specific Audience

When you first start building your ad and you see your options for targeting, you might be excited by the prospect of potentially reaching upwards of 150 million people (and that’s in the United States alone!). But the reality of the situation is, if you are not creating an ad directed at a targeted audience – namely, one based on the research you did before you got started – there is no telling who will see it, and you will likely miss out on opportunities to reach engaged audiences as opposed to a broad audience of uninterested persons.

To put it in perspective, if you are trying to attract people to your page about food and dining for female college students, a broad, unspecific audience might only show your content to middle aged professional men. The result? A lower-than-hoped-for conversion.

Create an Appealing Ad

Sure – it sounds like a no brainer. Why would you do anything else, right? Well, it is not as easy as it sounds. The key to a great Facebook Ad campaign is appeal. People should be intrigued by the content in your ad – and you don’t have much of it considering it might be as small as a little image and text on the right-hand column of someone’s news feed or timeline.

This is where you need to let your creative juices flow. The content and images in these ads should not simply be your logo and a brief description of your company. Leave that on your page. Share a fun fact, an interesting quote, an curious question or any other engaging bit of content. People should feel compelled to see what else you are offering when they see your ad.

Though it has been done by plenty of businesses, let’s look at the “abs of steel concept” we often see floating on the right of our Facebook screen. It might be for a personal trainer, a mail-order program or a diet, but they are showing a picture of a killer six pack and asking something along the lines of, “Do you want abs that look like this in 60 days? Then click here and get started today!” Even the skeptic is compelled to click, just to see what the offer is. Go for something irresistible and your click-through rates will be much higher than average.

Try, Try and Try Again!

There are a billion accounts on Facebook and your first campaign is not going to reach them all. In fact, you might be disappointed in the results of your first campaign. What went wrong? Were you targeting the wrong audience? Was your content not as great as you thought it was? That’s all part of the learning process.

You might find after a few tests that your most engaged market is nothing close to what you thought it was. That’s a great lesson and can translate into a lot more business, and it is not particularly expensive to figure out; your ads can be budgeted very modestly. Testing is the best way to turn your trials into great Facebook Ad campaigns.

Apply these tips and you’ll see your Facebook marketing take off in no time. Once again, one in every seven people on Earth is checking Facebook multiple times every day. Why not try and talk to them with a carefully laid out strategy in place?

What other tips can you think that help build great Facebook ad campaigns? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: Communities on Social Media

May 3, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Building and joining niche communities on social media can be one of the greatest assets to your business.

Communities on social media have been a growing trend since the concept originated with the networks themselves. While any network – like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. – can be considered a community, the true Social Equity derived from communities on social media comes from the niche communities filled with like-minded and highly engaged individuals from around the world.

In this week’s Social Equity segment, we aim to understand how social media communities add value to your business, and where there are unique traits to these communities compared to other types of communities that may also be beneficial to your business.

Niche Communities on Social Media

One of the most touted features of Google+ is their Google+ Communities. In these groups, content is shared with each member without any filtration, as each community consists only of users that have an expressed interest in the content being published. These communities can range anywhere from five or six members to tens of thousands or more; it all depends on how interested people are in the content.

The benefits of communities like those on Google+, groups on LinkedIn and others around the social web is the ability to reach an audience far greater than what was ever possible. Furthermore, unlike conventional, expensive digital and print marketing, communities on social media offer an inexpensive way of reaching out to an engaged audience, sharing relevant content to prospective clients all over the world.

The Key Difference with Social Media Communities

As noted above, there are a few key differences between communities on social media versus conventional business communities. Think about your LikedIn groups and Google+ Communities. Every member is there for the same reason.

The only other type of communities like this that exist are business networking communities, and before social media, these were local business people who may or may not have shared an interest or mutually beneficial business opportunity. Of course, there were conferences, but for many small business owners the cost of attending one is prohibitive, and thus few people (relatively speaking) were able to take part.

Now, with these social communities, opportunities exist where there were none before, and for a fraction of what it would have cost to reach an audience as targeted and wide as those in these social media communities.

Social Equity of Communities on Social Media

The ability to build influence and drive new business in a community on a social network is perhaps the most crucial aspect of the Social Equity derived from these communities. In an infographic we posted recently, we noted the importance of influence on social media. These communities allow you to build that influence with a very targeted audience, very quickly. This in turn results in your market power increasing and, subsequently, your business increasing.

In addition to influence, there is also the ability to reach targeted audiences worldwide without incurring massive costs as with traditional forms of marketing and advertising. Therefore, there is a twofold bump in Social Equity: business generated from engagement in social communities and expenses saved from your involvement in them.

Communities can be a major asset to growing your business, and there is no doubt that they add a considerable degree of Social Equity to your brand.

Where do you see the benefits of communities on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Best Buy

May 2, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The Best Buy Twelpforce program has taken the brand from a major force in local retail to an industry leader on social media.

Everyone knows about Best Buy, and everyone knows about their expertise. But a few years ago, Best Buy was faced with a challenge: How does a giant in electronics retail go beyond the walls of a store and engage with an audience, provide ongoing, real-time support, garner brand advocates and build their own brand on multiple channels in the most efficient, measurable way possible? The solution: @Twelpforce.

Twelpforce is Best Buy’s Twitter handle for their online community. Essentially, the Best Buy team provides support and answers to thousands of engaged users who want access to the Best Buy experts.

In this week’s social media case study, we look at what Twelpforce has accomplished, and what genius lay behind the concept that led to it being such a huge success.

The Concept

How is Twelpforce designed? Essentially, it is a handle to which all Best Buy employees have access. Questions about anything and everything electronics-related can be sent, and the Best Buy team answers them as quickly as possible.

With thousands of employees actively engaging with the Twelpforce platform, there is no shortage of experts that can answer a customer’s question without ever trying to close a deal. Thus, people can be comfortable knowing that they are getting a genuine, qualified response from someone who truly knows what they are talking about without being worried that they have fallen into a sales trap.

The Genius

When it comes to Twelpforce, there is a lot for Best Buy to proud of. Tens of thousands of questions have been answered since the program was founded and it has been a continually growing success. Below are a few features of note from the Twelpforce program.

Focus on Conversation

If this social media case study proves anything, it is that conversation is always better than monologue. In the first year of the Twelpforce program, Best Buy noted a 20% drop in customer complaints online. By engaging in active conversations with their clientele and providing simple, straightforward answers, Best Buy managed to boost customer morale and shrink complaints.

People like to talk to someone, with thousands of people ready to answer, conversation was inevitable.

Use Your Whole Team

People might hesitate to look at every employee and ask them to participate in a public, unfiltered conversation. Understandably so; particularly when you have a company as large as Best Buy. But the benefits to this tactic far outweighed the risks.

Limiting your engagement to a small team detracts from the purpose of a program like this. The goals, as noted above, are to start a conversation, and when you are simply providing support, there is nothing exceptionally unique. By involving the expertise of their whole team Best Buy accomplished two things: first, they ensured that questions would be answered promptly. Second, they ensured that no question would go unanswered, as they had a veritable “expert” in every field imaginable!

A 20% drop in complaints proves this was the right move.

If You’re There to Help, Help!

One of the most crucial aspects that led to the success of Best Buy was that they did not use their social community as a direct sales tool. Of course, if someone is asking about Best Buy-related products, then they can be driven to a landing page that helps them out further. But as far as sales go, that is not why people engage in a conversation with Twelpforce, nor would that angle have led to the same amount of success.

Twelpforce was designed to Tweet help (Twelp). By steering clear of the sales angle, Gina Debogovich, Community Manager at Best Buy noted the following: “Factoring in call deflection and sales influence, our online community engagements provide around a $5MM benefit to the organization.”

What strategy do you employ when it comes to engaging with your online community? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

The Importance of Influence on Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

May 1, 2013/by Corey Padveen

What metrics exist to show us that there is a great deal of importance when it comes to influence on social media?

We are all familiar with influence measurement sites like Klout, Kred and PeerIndex, but what makes influence on social media so important?

There is a lot of talk about your influencers and the people and brands you influence on social media, and people and brands go to great lengths to figure these things out. In fact, in a recent social media case study we looked at Honda’s use of Pinterest influencers to penetrate new markets and reach a massive audience with little cost to the brand. While there are many ways to go about reaching out to influential groups on social media, we might not be sure why they are so important, or how they can benefit our brand.

This infographic does a great job showcasing how and why influence is so important. The most crucial point? Influence on social media translates into influence on decision making. A recent finding showed that 85% of Facebook brand fans recommend those brands to friends and followers, compared to 60% of average social media users. That’s a substantial group. When you consider the power that comes with influence on social media, you can’t ignore its importance.

Take a look at some of the stats in the infographic below and let us know which ones you find to be the most shocking or important! Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

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