When we make changes to client websites, one thing we like to have is metrics. We want to be able to quantify the benefits reaped from our efforts. One of the easiest things to add to your website and the simplest to measure is online coupons. Quite simply, who doesn’t like and use coupons? If you are going to your local pizzeria and they have a coupon, won’t you go to their website and use it? So 2 things happened, you get a visitor to your website that printed a coupon, and you know this was a successful conversion as the coupon is redeemed at your store. (or on an eCommerce site, they entered a coupon code)
Say you are working on an effort to bolster your “likes” on Facebook, coupons are a great way to add fans. You can have an app that makes tabbed content only available to people who have liked your page. People know that once they like your page they will get your news feed every time you post. As such, they are being far more selective than in the past. By giving them something for their loyalty, you are enticing them. As an example I added a coupon to a retail clothing store’s facebook page and within a week, they added 500 new likes. We also gave people the option to receive a coupon via email by signing up for our mailing list both on the website and through facebook. We added over 1100 people to our list!
Coupons are a great way to attract customers and offer an easy way to track how well your promotion did. You don’t need anything fancy, just a simple coupon for people to print out with an expiration date. Of course, you can add barcodes, etc if your business is set up to handle them. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, I am happy to help.
The problem most clients have is finding the time to tweet or post to facebook. So they ignore. My response, you are ignoring something that is not only unbelievably popular, but free as well. I think tweeting things of interest, shows you are a SME (Subject matter expert) and can set you up for possible business down the road.
So, what should I tweet? Tweet what you know. I have a friend in my networking group who is a grammar expert and makes a living proofreading and giving grammar seminars. As an example, I told her to do Grammar tip of the day. She can automate her tweets*, one or two a day and literally has hundreds of tips she could give. By utilizing the hash tag, #grammar, she can find an audience and hopefully gain business. If you are in retail, tweet what is on sale, or about new products. If you are a service organization, show what value you offer, and lead them to your website for more information.
But the time thing…..I think you have to treat your website and social networking as part of your routine. Schedule a recurring meeting with yourself to work on your web properties. Hire someone to do the heavy lifting, and even to tweat for you, or post to facebook. I do this for clients, and we have seen a real growth in followers due to our activity.
If you blog, make sure your blog is tied to your twitter and/or facebook accounts. I use the rss feed from this blog to post to twitter as an example.
* Automation software is available to post tweets and to send posts to all your SN sites. The purpose of this blog isn’t to promote any one company, but I am glad to help, shoot me an email for more info.
