Conversion Heroes Part 2: Social Media Conversion

Welcome to the Conversion Heroes interview sequence Dan, and thanks for participating. We’ll kick issues off with a typical notion amongst entrepreneurs – that social media advertising and marketing is free advertising and marketing.

1. Is social media advertising and marketing actually free?

Oli: Individuals additionally say that social media advertising and marketing (SMM) doesn’t convert very nicely, however that that is okay due to the free advertising and marketing issue. What do you suppose? Is SMM actually free?

Dan: I wish to say that social media is free like a pet. If someone gave me a pet, yeah, it might be free, however it might additionally require loads of my time. Lots of people say that about social and open supply and until you contemplate your time nugatory, it does have a price.

Oli: How do you cope with the price issue? Is it simply one thing you squeeze in as a part of your every day routine or do you put aside time and a funds for it?

Dan: The very first thing you might want to do is work out what your aim is. I’ve all the time stated, when you’re higher at doing video than at writing a weblog then you need to stick to at least one format till you get traction on that, then resolve if you wish to department out to the others. Begin with technique first – what your aim is with regard to the content material and the kind of engagements that you just wish to have. If you wish to tweet, if you wish to weblog, if you wish to do YouTube movies or preserve a Fb fan web page, you’ve obtained to resolve which to make use of, and I’d say much less is extra.

When you’ve figured that out, attempt to perceive the issue that your organization is fixing on your buyer, discover or create content material that’s related to them and take a look at that format and see if it resonates with individuals. On the finish of the day it’s not essentially about producing income immediately correlated to your social media actions however it’s about creating related engagement along with your very best buyer kind. So the very last thing you need is to be a small espresso store and speaking about inside adorning as you’ll appeal to the unsuitable kind of follower.

Oli: So that you’re saying don’t unfold your self too thinly? Don’t attempt to bounce into each social media channel?

Dan: Precisely. Do the one which you recognize you’re truly going to do. It’s similar to being lively. Some individuals wish to go to the fitness center. Some individuals wish to run. Different individuals wish to bike. Determine which exercise you’re going to do and also you’re going to have the ability to hold doing. Having an inactive social media account is worse than not having one. It’s unfavorable social proof to have a twitter account that hasn’t been up to date in a yr, or that isn’t being adopted – it displays badly on the enterprise.

Oli: What sort of impact does a dormant social media account have?

Dan: I do imagine you need to declare it after which perhaps simply have a submit that claims “proper now we’re actually busy servicing our prospects however in some unspecified time in the future we’d like to begin participating utilizing this medium. Examine again.” proper? To have ten updates after which no updates for six months is dangerous ‘trigger it makes you seem like you’re a starter and never a finisher – a foul notion to have in enterprise.

It’s unfavorable social proof to have a twitter account that hasn’t been up to date in a yr, or that isn’t being adopted – it displays badly on the enterprise.

Oli: How helpful is content material in establishing the conversations you may have within the social media?

Dan: Everybody is aware of in enterprise that money is king. Within the social world, content material is king and also you don’t essentially need to be the creator, being a curator can also be helpful. Being the thought chief, establishing your self as a useful resource or a reference for the issue that your organization solves is the explanation you make social media work, with regard to producing an actual return on funding in your time.

There’s truly a time period I’ve heard some time in the past known as ROA (Return On Consideration) and I believe that’s an effective way of determining how one can add worth. Basically, you wish to present a excessive ROA on your followers and followers.

2. Social media advertising and marketing campaigns

Oli: Measurability is a giant deal in on-line advertising and marketing, and the idea of a “marketing campaign” will help relating to success or failure metrics. What goes into planning a social media marketing campaign? Do you deal with social media as its personal marketing campaign channel or is it simply one of many many items that you just’re throwing on the market?

Dan: Nicely I believe there are two varieties of social media actions. There’s occasion or marketing campaign based mostly which might be for one thing like a contest or press launch and so on. after which there’s the stuff that you just do on an ongoing foundation like a weblog, your Twitter stream, your Fb fan web page and people are basically channels that you just’re constructing. The great thing about social is that it disintermediates the proprietor of the advertising and marketing channel to your buyer.

So as we speak in conventional advertising and marketing, the newspaper owns the channel proper? With one thing like e mail, whoever owns that subscriber record (clearly permission based mostly) owns that channel. However with social media you possibly can basically begin creating your individual channel. That is one thing that you just wish to do over time. So on the marketing campaign facet I’d say that social helps amplify message. We use conventional press in addition to actual world occasions after which make the most of our social channels to amplify that.

Oli: What do you set as your conversion objectives for a marketing campaign like that?

Dan: For me it’s not about direct conversions. Social media continues to be one of many least performing with reference to direct conversions tied to some form of monetary ROI. We all know as we speak how our weblog converts to signal ups. We all know how many individuals come from twitter that join a product.

Even when you’re solely doing social media advertising and marketing – which is predicated in your time, put a greenback worth to your time and say, okay it’s going to take me two weeks to run this photograph contest and I believe that we should always be capable of get x submissions and every submission ought to get 100 views and out of these hundred views 5% ought to convert.

The great thing about social is that it disintermediates the proprietor of the advertising and marketing channel to your buyer.

If you recognize that your web site converts at 30% to enroll and I believe I ought to be capable of convert 5% of social site visitors to paid or no matter it’s, then simply from sitting down and doing the mathematics it might allow you to resolve if two weeks is means too costly to do that marketing campaign based mostly on the numbers. I’m a giant metrics man and I wish to run by some numbers each time – usually utilizing a bit of paper and pen.

Oli: What instruments do you utilize to measure social conversions?

Dan: Initially we used Google. If I needed to do it once more as we speak I’d extremely advocate that small enterprise homeowners use a instrument known as Swix. I like the truth that they’re easy and allow you to monitor all of your social accounts with analytics in regard to views and followers. For those who’re an organization like ours which have a freemium mannequin or perhaps a hosted SaaS utility I’d extremely advocate KISSmetrics as a result of they let you monitor actual individuals (on the particular person degree) and customers by your funnel and work out the place they’re dropping off and never changing, on a per channel foundation.

You simply add slightly question string to inform it a customer got here from Twitter or your different social profiles after which you possibly can monitor them from click-through to your website, into your product funnel, after which work out which channels are changing the most effective to paid prospects.

Oli: That’s actually cool, the private side is important and one thing that’s been lacking from analytics for a very long time.

Dan: Yeah, as Eric Ries says “metrics are individuals too”, and understanding individuals as people and never like some quantity on a graph is essential.

3. Enhancing Social Media Conversions

Oli: There’s not a lot level in metrics when you don’t react to them. How do you study from what you’ve achieved previously to develop into simpler through your social media messaging?

Dan: We use a instrument known as awe.sm, for URL shortening when sharing our content material on our Twitter stream and even generally inside e mail content material. Awe.sm helps you to monitor the sharing actions by totally different social networks. So someone shared content material from my weblog to their Fb feed, versus from my weblog by Twitter, versus the identical piece of content material I shared on Fb however then someone took that and shared it on Twitter. It’s actually complicated however it reveals you which of them content material is resonating along with your viewers and which will get the furthest attain. After which as soon as I perceive what’s working, I attempt to determine how can I create different content material that’s related.

… it modified the sport for website positioning as now you might want to perceive how Google is classifying content material inside the true time feeds.

Oli: How has your social media technique modified in comparison with if you had been beginning out?

Dan: There are so extra many disciplines to study now. I wasn’t an website positioning man earlier than, however as soon as Google began licensing the Twitter feed together with social natural – or social ends in the natural outcomes – it modified the sport for website positioning as now you might want to perceive how Google is classifying content material inside the true time feeds. So I’d say that originally we had been doing just a few issues nicely, just a few issues rather well, and some issues form of novice, now we’re are much more refined.

Our Facebook fan page is my major focus proper now and our engagement and utilization has grown by 287% month over month as a result of I began specializing in it and making an attempt to grasp and study from the most effective.

And right here’s a tip. If you wish to be wonderful, go discover individuals which might be at present doing wonderful stuff and borrow their concepts. I discovered the highest ten Fb fan pages, appeared on the form of content material and interactions they had been having with their prospects and thought “How can I create content material just like these ideas? How do they format their standing updates? What questions are they asking their neighborhood? How typically had been they participating with them? How frequent are they posting content material?”

Then I used that to drive my technique.

If all you do is ask questions, you possibly can fatigue your followers…

Oli: Proper. So emulating what’s working slightly than reinventing the wheel.

Oli: What do you discover creates essentially the most engagement? Is it asking questions or is it based mostly on the fashion by which you talk?

Dan: The factor that we’ve seen is that if all you do is ask questions, you possibly can fatigue your followers. We made this error the place we stated “Hey, what do you suppose?”, then we’d share some content material. Or “Do you want this?” On the finish of the day individuals simply didn’t prefer it. So I’ll give a tip to your readers. One thing we found was these dialog starters – the little playing cards which you could purchase for your home and put in your espresso desk – and when you may have individuals over you possibly can pull one out and also you ask them a query based mostly on the dialog starters.

Take into consideration that. They’re wonderful inquiries to be asking in your fan web page. Related to your business. So for us it’s social engagement, individuals and relationships. We did a few these checks and obtained the most effective conversions and engagement that we’ve ever had.

So now we sprinkle that into our Fb technique.

Oli: That’s an incredible tip.

You must be exceptional. Exceptional that means that folks will comment on what you’re doing

Dan: What are the issues that folks touch upon? Clearly it’s important to have a powerful opinion proper? You must be exceptional. Exceptional that means that folks will comment on what you’re doing. Seth Godin calls it the purple cow. You might have several types of viewers inside your buyer base. Some individuals would possibly like your content material to be extra visible. Be sure you have a compelling picture in a few of your posts. Some individuals learn standing updates. Ensure that your standing updates are good.

My favourite social media instrument is to make use of a query with a fill within the clean. Individuals will reply that query. It’s what individuals do in the true world and the sample applies to social channels.

Go take a look at a photograph on our Fb fan web page and also you’ll see that’s what we’re doing, and when you really feel like that may work on your viewers, borrow from us. We don’t thoughts.

4. Enhancing touchdown web page efficiency utilizing social media

Oli: Let’s change on to the thought of touchdown pages and social media. Touchdown pages are a confirmed means to enhance the conversion charge of your inbound site visitors. How are you going to leverage social media on a touchdown web page to extend engagement out of your social media site visitors?

Dan: Yeah, the large concept you might want to perceive is a factor known as social proof. I first discovered about it from actual property entrepreneurs that used to rent actors to be in a room after they had been explaining and promoting rental items. Once they opened up the doorways to presell these rental items, 4 or 5 actors would bounce out of their seats and run to the 4 or 5 tables that had been accessible, basically demonstrating to the opposite contributors within the room that wow there’s an curiosity and if I don’t hurry up I is probably not in on this chance.

In order that’s the idea of social proof. I don’t agree with that specific tactic, however it labored.

If I am going to a touchdown web page or web site and it reveals me their Twitter account with 14,000 followers, that’s one indication that this particular person is top of the range, they’re saying issues that folks care about. Or if I am going to a touchdown web page and it has a Fb remark widget and I see those that I do know commenting and giving reward to this firm, that’s big. That’s social proof.

The identical factor applies in your weblog. One factor that we concentrate on as a metric is what number of feedback can we get per submit? As a result of on the finish of the day there is just one or two % of individuals on-line that may truly create content material or touch upon issues. So these persons are distinctive and also you wish to just remember to’re writing content material that engages them.

Each time someone says one thing good on their Twitter account, simply star the point out and it mechanically updates on their web site. It retains it contemporary and attention-grabbing and new.

Oli: So it’s basically a extra fashionable model of the testimonial.

Dan: Completely. And a tactic I’ve seen startup firms use, is as individuals say good issues about them on Twitter, which is by default public and accessible for anyone to re-purpose, they star it after which they use a feed to indicate the starred feedback on their homepage, biking by. So each time someone says one thing good on their Twitter account, simply star the point out and it mechanically updates on their web site (utilizing some easy scripts). It retains it contemporary and attention-grabbing and new.

Oli: Yeah, that’s an incredible method. What’s your tackle etiquette right here? As regards to asking permission to indicate the feedback?

Dan: I personally suppose asking is the correct factor to do. You may simply DM the particular person and say “Hey do you thoughts if I exploit that and put it in our homepage?” Most individuals shall be honored. Some individuals would possibly say no. On the finish of the day although it’s as much as you. If their account is public I believe it’s truthful recreation to indicate what they created if it’s an RSS feed. That’s the important thing as there are particular sorts of etiquette round syndication that make it acceptable.

Oli: Yeah I assume it’s slightly totally different when you may have a circulation of data like that slightly than simply taking someones phrases and onerous coding them into your web page.

Dan: Precisely. And so long as you don’t mislabel it. So long as you utilize a label like “issues persons are saying about us on twitter” that’s cool. For those who present what your customers are saying with out the reference to their tweet it’s deceptive. It’s essential body the context of their message.

5. Leveraging social profiles

Oli: Let’s finish on how one can leverage social profiles in your advertising and marketing. Are you able to discuss slightly bit about Flowtown and what it supply entrepreneurs in social media?

Dan: So Flowtown solves the issues each small enterprise faces after they select to make use of social media as a advertising and marketing channel. These are the place are my prospects? as soon as I be part of a community what do I say and who do I discuss to? after which what influence is any of this having?

At this time when you import your prospects into Flowtown we’ll present you a breakdown of what social networks they’re on. Subsequent you possibly can see who’s influential inside your current buyer base and plan 1-on-1 outreach with the individuals who have the potential to be your largest advocates, subsequent you possibly can ship focused e mail to subsets of your buyer base i.e. individuals simply on Fb and ask them to return and be part of you on Fb, we had a buyer just lately do that and never solely did they get extra followers, their name to motion for a sale transformed at 2x their lists historic common.

Lastly you possibly can combine Flowtown into your current utility you already use like: iContact, MailChimp, Marketing campaign Monitor, BatchBook, Wufoo, SalesForce, Unbounce and Formstack.

The factor that makes us distinctive is Flowtown is powered by your current buyer base. You import all of your contacts and we use your current prospects to get you extra prospects.

Oli: Is there a technique to gauge who crucial persons are? The influencers?

Dan: Completely yeah. We’ll present you who’re essentially the most influential in every of the networks and who’s influential in your business. Who’re the very best influencers for advertising and marketing or for espresso, or structure and so on.

Oli: So what are among the methods which you could make the most of that layer of knowledge to learn your different advertising and marketing channels.

Dan: A method individuals have been utilizing it on segmenting your e mail advertising and marketing efforts. We offer an e mail advertising and marketing instrument that means that you can take your emails, phase them and invite individuals on Twitter, which have a sure affect rating, dwelling in San Francisco, to an occasion I’m internet hosting. A number of non-profits are utilizing these sorts of geographic filters and growing their open and click on by charges by 250%.

We additionally present companies the share of consumers that aren’t following them on Twitter, however have a Twitter account and you’ll ship an e mail simply to these individuals not following you to say “Hey I seen you’re on twitter so are we, we’d love to attach. Right here’s our hyperlink.” Some prospects get 35 – 40% response with reference to new followers. We’ll present you the earlier than and after, so it’s an incredible instrument for small companies which might be simply stepping into social media or wish to improve their present social media channel with current prospects.

A number of non-profits are utilizing these sorts of geographic filters and growing their open and click on by charges by 250%.

Oli: Once more it comes again to that non-public contact that folks reply to.

Dan: Precisely. One of many different methods persons are utilizing it that I discover actually modern, is real-time social notifications. Basically utilizing social information for lead scoring. If in case you have a contact kind in your touchdown web page, when someone offers an e mail, ship that e mail over to Flowtown and based mostly in your filters we’ll notify you with all the knowledge we’ve about them in real-time in an effort to interact with them.

For those who seen {that a} author for the New York Occasions in your business simply signed up or subscribed to your publication, your organization you possibly can observe up instantly with extra information to make a private connection. We’re making an attempt to provide the instruments to be responsive within the social sphere to get you the very best outcomes.

We use it solely at Flowtown for all of our press. When someone signed up we seen they had been a founding father of an organization, myself or Ethan will contact them immediately. Usually by Twitter, generally through e mail trigger we clearly have their e mail handle, however we all the time contact in real-time which reveals a degree of consideration to our customers that they aren’t anticipating. This will get again to that complete wow! purple cow, exceptional actions an organization might do to extend individuals caring about them.

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Large due to Dan Martell for being a Conversion Hero, and offering us with some nice insights into social media conversion and buyer engagement through social media advertising and marketing.

Extra Conversion Heroes

Half 1: Roberta Rosenberg on Copywriting for Landing Pages
Half 2: Dan Martell on Social Media Conversion
Half 3: Paras Chopra on Split Testing
Half 4: John Hossack on PPC
Half 5: Chris Goward on Conversion Rate Optimization
Half 6: Cindy Alvarez on Point-of-Conversion Feedback
Half 7: Tim Ash on Landing Page Optimization