Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Toronto, July 18, 2012 - Raise your hand if you have built a social profile, only to find that you have very few friends? Maybe you have built a website, but have found that no one is calling? Or no one is buying? If we looked around, I bet you would see a lot of hands in the air.

"There are often two critical factors that are missed in setting up a social profile and connecting it to a website," says Randall Craig, Web and Social Media Strategist and author of the Online PR and Social Media series. "Attracting people and calling them to action." Improving your performance on these two factors will have a direct impact on your return on effort.

Randall Craig shares his top attraction and conversion tips:

Attraction Concepts:

• Advertise online and offline, targeting the right people with a message that is relevant to them.
• Build SEO, Search engine Optimization, directly into the site so each page attracts an interested audience.
• Use social tools to build a community of interest around your expertise or solution. Engagement and community are powerful attractors – and not easily duplicated.
• Provide an incentive to visit: a relevant report, an interactive activity, or perhaps a high-value video. If you cannot answer the question about why they should visit, chances are they cannot either.
• Put your social profile, or web address, on all of your off-web collateral and communications. QR Codes could also be an option.

Conversion Concepts:

• Make it easy for someone to contact you: your phone number and email address should be front-and-center. Your contact details should be on every page – not hidden on an internal Contact Us page.
• Use landing pages. Instead of linking to a generic home page, land them on a purpose-built page with a clear call-to-action.
• Offer to help in real time. Click-to-Talk technology proactively asks the user if they have a question that they would like answered. Retailers have known for a long time that helping customers results in sales. Research shows that it works online as well.
• Give them a reason to like you: Yes, some people will click "Like" to show support, but a little extra incentive doesn't hurt. Find an extra value-add exclusively for those in your community.
• Limit their options. If the goal of the site is to encourage transactions, having dozens of links off-site, or deep within your site, will distract them and lead them astray. Limit their options to choices that move them closer to commitment, not the opposite direction.

Adds Craig: "Attraction and Conversion are important for any marketing or sales function, but critical for the web." Looking at profile pages critically can tell you if you are doing all that you can to attract and convert. Being prepared to do all you can, will improve your time on the social web.

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Since 1994, Randall Craig has advised on web and social media strategy. He is the author of six books including the Online PR and Social Media series. More information about Randall Craig can be found at www.randallcraig.com.

For more information contact:

Randall Craig

416.256.7773 x101 / Randall@ptadvisors.com

Carolyn Bergshoeff

416.256.7773 x 103 / Carolyn@ptadvisors.com