As we enter this final week of blog posts, we are charged with answering the storied question, “does size really matter?” Well, when it comes to the scope and levels of engagement of social media, it sure does. Key in improving your presence on the web is having a true grasp of your current presence and how to improve it through some optimization tools.
Search Engine Marketing
Well, if we are following all of the new rules of PR and marketing, we are building a strong search engine marketing program. “You started with your buyer personas, then you built your content especially for these buyers….Then you delivered the content in the online forms they prefer….[the content] will be indexed by the search engines, and that’s it” (Scott, 2015, p. 395). Essentially, everything we post is catalogued and indexed, so that the most relevant materials are the first to appear in the search engine results.How do I get to the top of the results?
While certain firms exist that offer to increase your ranking as a part of their professional service, buyer beware that some of these firms overcomplicate the concept to make a fast dollar. If a better understanding of what content should be delivered to get your brand to the top is all that is needed to improve your ranking, why expend the cost?
Also, avoid deleting old content. Leads from many search engine hits come from older posts. Unless that content no longer reflects the values or vision of the company, it can be used to continue to drive people to your current site.
What doesn’t work?
Broad keywords. A new restaurant trying to generate a buzz on social media might consider food as a keyword. As pertinent as it may seem, that term results in over four billion results – not very helpful. Tailor your keywords so the buyers are driven to the content they actually want to find. Instead of food, consider Hudson Valley Farm to Table Italian Restaurant or Poughkeepsie organic trattoria. Create separate search engine marketing programs for the innumerable specific search terms people might search for. When it fits a specific need, you rise to the top.
Poor Landing Pages. A landing page is a place to publish targeted content to the buyer persona you are trying to market to. You need to build landing pages that have specific content to enlighten and inform the people who just clicked over to your site from the search engine. Here are some guidelines to ensure you create successful landing pages (Scott, 2015, pp. 402-403):
- · Make the content short and graphics simple
- · Create the page with your company’s look, feel, and tone.
- · Write from the buyers point of view.
- · A landing page is communications and advertising
- · Provide a quote from a happy customer
- · Make the landing page a self-contained unit
- · Make the call to action clear and easy to respond to
- · Use multiple calls to action
- · Ask only necessary information
- · Follow up!
Measuring Your Scope
There are a number of services that allow you to measure your web presence. Understanding these analytics, or metrics, with provide insight in how to craft posts that will engage consumers to your brand in thoughtful and considerate ways. At a minimum, brands should be evaluating following/reach, page views generated, and sentiment (Turner, 2013).
Following, or reach, is a great metric for a basic understanding of how well your message is being delivered. From the number of followers your brand has on a social media channel, to the number of people engaged in a particular post, this provides a baseline for which your brand can use to determine its scope of influence.
Page views generated, is a metric used to determine how well your followers are reading your posts that drive customers to your website or landing pages. Creative and unique content that drives readers to visit your page for more information creates for a very successful component to your marketing program.
Sentiment speaks to the quality of how your brand is received. Are the posts and engagements positive or negative in nature? Do followers have an emotional response? Are posts liked? While this might be a difficult and more time-consuming metric to evaluate, understanding the quality and sentiment regarding your brand will help market a message that is delivered in a way that is more personal to the customer.
A number of services exist to measure these analytics. Mention, LikeAlyzer, and Social Crawlytics are web based services that evaluate your presence on social media platforms (Cleary, 2013). Google Analytics is another tool that assists with compiling data on site performance and reach. Additionally, Marketing Automation software such as Marketo, LeadLife and Act-On (affiliate links) gives a history for every visitor to your page, allowing you to track both where they came from and where else they have been looking. These software platforms can even generate reports specifically concerning your social media marketing and lead generation campaigns (Turner, 2013).
At the end of the day, a goal for every marketer is to ensure that their brand message is delivered to the greatest number of their target audience with each post. Posts that differentiate your brand, optimizing your brand in search engines, and then measuring the success of your engagement on social media are key to enhancing your brand equity and market share. So, when it comes to the success of your social media, size matters.
Discussion items:
1. According to HubSpot, here are examples of some very successful company landing pages.
How well does your company use its landing page(s) to draw customers to your brand? What are the strengths and weaknesses in its page(s)?2. Are there any other important metrics that should be used in the evaluation of the success of a social media marketing program, and why and how should they be obtained?
References:
Cleary, I. (2013, January 9). 3 Analytic Tools to Improve Your Social Media Performance: Social Media Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-analytic-tools-to-improve-your-social-media-performance/
Mineo, G. (2016, June 15). 16 of the Best Landing Page Design Examples You Need to See in 2017. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/landing-page-examples-list#sm.0000n4lv9wrc5ej5tqa1jr18u0sk4
Scott, D. M. (2015). The new rules of marketing and PR: how to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Turner, J. (2013, November 17). An In-Depth Guide on Calculating the ROI of a Social Media Campaign. Retrieved from http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2013/11/17/in-depth-guide-calculating-social-media-roi/
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