Social media usage continues to grow around the world, with global penetration rates now in excess of 30%. With more than 2 billion users, it’s obvious that business owners should be aware of the social media potentialities as a marketing platform that can drive a lot of users to your site. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn offer an array of opportunities for a number of different audiences. All of these tools are focused on specific markets but each has its own power of boosting sales and getting people talking about your company.
Being popular on Facebook or Twitter may be an ego-boost but social media popularity doesn’t necessarily translate into new business. ROI on social media advertising is notoriously difficult to achieve, especially when compared to search engine advertising where users are much more likely to be ready to purchase the exact goods or services you have to offer. The amount of traffic you manage to attract from social media and the level of engagement you manage to drive from it depends largely on how you structure your social media posts and the share worthiness your content.
After having considered what to avoid if you don’t want to fail your social campaign, here are a few steps you could take to increase conversions from social media.
Become familiar with link posting
One of the main purposes for a small business page or profile on social media, is to get people to use your services. Link posting around your page is a great way to get your audience directed to your website. Posting links to specific pages on your website saves your followers time wasted looking through irrelevant information
Align Your Offer To Each Platform
Not all social media platforms are created equal, and different approaches are needed.
Facebook is the easiest platform, in terms of growing engagement, because of its huge user base. With this social network, you have the opportunity to engage in one-to-one conversations with your audience. It can be a great way to demonstrate good customer service and to interact with industry experts. Another essential aspect of Facebook is the possibility to share events and invite people to engage directly with your business.
Twitter is particularly well-suited to businesses offering special discount codes to their followers. The main objective is to engage your followers and make them feel like they are part of an exclusive online club. Another option is to offer users the chance to win tickets for big events, gadgets, discounts, gift cards, etc. by clicking the link in the tweet.
LinkedIn is estimated to generate three times the conversion rate of Facebook or Twitter. For B2B businesses in particular, the advantage of LinkedIn, with its self-selected network of users related to a given company, is evident. For B2C companies, LinkedIn may not be as much of an obvious choice, but you could benefit from a platform that is not as cluttered as other social networks.
Use Social Media Management Tools
Collecting the right data is key to defining your social media marketing strategy. To start, you should look into social media management tools, such as Crowdbooster, HootSuite or free tools such as Bitly (which also shortens your links for Twitter), allow you to plan posts in advance and select only the specific channels through which you would like a particular message to be shared. Many tools, including Bitly, also provide real-time analytics, and allow you to track clicks, number of likes, comments, shares, retweets, replies, reach and more. However, to improve your strategy and to build a stronger presence online, you should pick tools that are specifically tailored to social channels that allow you to gain more insight. While most of them are not free, the investment will be beneficial for your business: you’ll be able to manage all your social accounts at once and save plenty of time.
Use High Conversion Keywords
On almost all social networking sites, certain keywords generate more engagement than others. They appeal to much more clicks as well as discover more visibility. By applying those smartly in your social media updates can certainly boost the social media traffic exposure, as well as the visibility and the effectiveness of your posts. Here are some of the high conversion keywords for leading social networks
Facebook – Where, When, Tell Us, Inspire, Submit, Deals, Discount, Warns, Amuses
Twitter – ReTweet, Follow, Social Media, New Blog Post, Check Out, Help, Top,
LinkedIn – Created, Improved, Increased, Developed, Reduced, Researched
Google+ – Share, Promote, Increase, Create, Discover