Contrary to what you might think, social media is not just a waste of time. It’s a very useful business tool, especially when it comes to increasing conversions on your website. With more than 12 million Americans checking their social media accounts multiple times daily, it makes it that much more important to utilize and connect with your audience.
With SEO best practices, you can get people to look at your website, but how can you get them to become customers? From data gathering to sharing capabilities, social media is making it easier than ever to get people to not only be visitors of your website, but also customers. Even if you’ve done all of your research, understanding and implementing techniques to raise your conversions can be extremely challenging. Use these tips to drive your conversions through the roof.
1. Use CTAs That Actually Work
People don’t like to make decisions, and if they’re asked to make one on a website, they’ll probably leave; whether their aware of the reason or not. The way around this is to have a call to action (CTA).
Social media platforms are perfect for CTAs; with one tweet you can invite hundreds of people to join your company. However, if they aren’t done right, CTAs can be a nuisance or ignored. To deliver a CTA that people will respond to, make it clear and easy. Have a button that’ll help them start a free trial, invite them to join an email subscription or a blog, or have a CTA at the end of a witty meme or video; these are more likely to drive conversions.
2. Link to Your Profiles
On every social media profile, it offers you a place to add your company’s website. It seems pretty obvious that you should have your website linked to your social media profile, but you’d be surprised how many businesses don’t do it.
Today, people turn to social media constantly for businesses reviews. You want your name to come up when they search, andwant them to be able to find your website easily. If the website isn’t linked, they’ll give up and go somewhere else.
3. Reach Out to Your Audience
Hopefully, you know who your audience is, and you should be marketing to them specifically. All of your content, tweets/posts, videos, user interaction, and CTAs need to speakdirectly to your audience. For example, if you’re a landscaper, you don’t want to be marketing to teenagers who don’t have the money to purchase your services. You want to direct posts towards their parents, with ads they can relate to.
A landscaper who is appealing to middle class parents might post a photo of a poorly mowed lawn, with a headphone-clad teenage kid texting at the wheel of the lawn mower. The caption could read: “Does your lawn look like this? Call us today.” The example is pretty cheesy, but it gets the message across.
4. Offer Value to Consumers
Everything you post on social media should offer something to the consumer. It needs to be high quality content that the consumer can do something actionable with. If it’s a helpful how-to article, consumers will be able to share it with others. If you have clear CTA’s, the consumer will be able to follow those to profit from your services.
You’ll also want the content to be relevant so consumers will take the advice and utilize your services. You should post about current news and other content that matches your business’s purposes.
5. Share Content with a Purpose
SEO is about much more than getting people to visit your website. It’s about knowing what you’re going to do with them when they get there, which plays a big part in the type of content you’ll share. For example, if you share a coupon that offers 10 percent off of an item, your goal is to get users to visit your website and purchase something.
All other content should have a purpose as well, with a firm end goal in mind. Sometimes the purpose of the content will be to generate sales, while other times it will be to gain followers. Think about what your company will benefit most from and share content that will accomplish that goal.
6. Engage with Users—And Pay Attention
When you walk into a brick and mortar store, you’re often greeted by friendly staff who are there to answer any questions and help you out in any way. Online stores lack this charm, making them appear less human and friendly. Customers value human interaction, and the best way you can give that to them is to engage with them through social media. Post riddles and trivia questions. Ask casual bonding questions and call for photos with a certain subject. These kinds of interactions will help you form relationships with your customers.
After you’ve made your initial posts, stay involved. Let your audience know that you’re available to answer any questions and offer some of that“in-person” service that so many ecommerce sites lack. If you’re willing to make conversation with your audience, you’ll build loyalty and customers will offer you constructive feedback that you can use to improve your services.
7. Network with Influencers
Social media is all about making connections with others, and it’s not limited to social purposes. You should take advantage of that capability in your business dealings. Make friends with other (non competitive) influencers who are active in the social media realm. A business relationship like that can help you reach a broader audience and grow your customer base. You can build strong relationships with other members by engaging with their profiles, sharing tweets, joining discussions, and participating with their content.
If you participate actively with other members’ profiles, they are likely to participate with yours, sharing content they find relevant to your business and helping to build your credibility. Social media users rely heavily on word of mouth when deciding where to purchase their products and services. Higher ratings and credibility will help to tip the scales when your followers are deciding which company they would like to go with.
