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Breaking the Wall: Taking Social Engagement to New Levels

Posted in: Blog, Social Media by SpiderWriters on February 18, 2010

Do all these funny-sounding social media sites cross your eyes? You need help sorting the tweets from the buzzes! Spider Writers can develop a sound social media marketing plan that brings followers to your profiles, and your business. Contact us today at 757-499-1990, ext. 104 for a free consultation.

The challenge in making social networks like Twitter and Facebook useful in your marketing strategy is finding the audience you need for them to remain effective. One might wonder why it’s necessary to devote time tweeting links and information to a handful of followers, when their main website pulls in a healthy amount of traffic through organic or paid search. While it’s difficult to argue with hard numbers, you must also consider this: how much revenue is generated from the search traffic as opposed to referrals from social networks?

Say you were able to track fifty people coming in from search, all of whom stayed on your site for a few minutes to browse before jumping off without clicking through to a conversion. Now think about the ten or so people following your Twitter or Facebook page. If just four of them came to your site via a tweet or social post and went on to contact you or buy something, one can argue the social media is more effective. Four conversions among a small following could be far better than zero leads in a larger crowd elsewhere, and though it’s certain you have no plans to cast aside traditional SEO and PPC efforts in favor of courting this social minority, such a case study will undoubtedly encourage you to take your social marketing to another level.

Making the Breakthrough: Sorting Wheat From Chaff

The established business or organization with an existing opt-in mailing list or blog following may have it easy when it comes to encouraging the masses to move over to Twitter or Facebook. The more options you provide for obtaining information, the stronger your online presence grows. The start-up, however, may encounter roadblocks. What have you to offer anybody in terms of relevant, twittered news, and why should anybody become your fan on Facebook? Why does anybody need to add you to their already bulging list of auto-buys?

Incentive: Think of something you can offer strictly to those who obtain updates via social media. You could offer free samples or deep discounts to visitors who join, and regularly provide unique information not made available on site or in newsletters.

Interaction: With Facebook in particular, fans have the opportunity to share photos and wall conversations about your products, services, and events. One Southern US department of tourism, for example, holds monthly photo contests among its followers and encourages the participation.

Personalization: Because social media encourages real-time interaction, social users may be more inclined to follow a profile if they believe they will receive support in a timely fashion. All you need to do is provide it. Engage people through social networks, and you may find you attract genuine followers rather than SPAM accounts – as people respond via Twitter, their friends will see the replies, and Facebook users will see the notifications on their friends’ feeds. Increased participation makes for good viral promotion.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media optimization and travel social media services. Clients include Gainesville hotels, European hotels, and Virginia web design firms.