I’m on a mission this morning. And, I’ll start by saying where have all the comments gone? Online communities like Youtube and various blogging sites are lacking user feedback. If you’ve ever spent any time on Youtube then you’d know that the majority of comments are a mere bashing of a musician or artist, and certainly nothing that provokes good quality discussion. It seems like the only way to get the conversation flowing nowadays is by being controversial or going against the grain. In that case, I’m going to propose a solution to your conversion problems and hopefully it will get the affiliate marketing community talkin’.
If you’ve ever spent a few minutes on facebook, then you’ve seen the remarkable discussions that occur via wall posts. People feel comfortable sharing even the most intimate of details to a community of 200 million users. How can we monetize the word vomit that’s being spat all across the facebook news feed? More importantly, how can we properly integrate social media metrics into our campaigns and see an increase in conversions of well…300%?
So you’ve tested. You’ve optimized. You’ve launched. But, your conversions are still low…I’m sure some of you are ready to gouge your eyes out and tear down your landing pages. Slow your roll, because there’s one piece that you may be missing: social media metrics. Let’s say you have already injected social media into your campaigns. Chances are you have not fully maximize its potential.
Social Media Buttons
Take for instance a landing page for an electronic cigarette offer. One of the top performers out there is Prado Electronic Cigarettes. With multiple versions of virtually the same page, Prado has experienced a huge increase in revenue by constantly optimizing their pages and targeting their users. But, things are slowing for most offers in the health & beauty vertical. I have seen just but a few offers in this vertical integrate a simple feature of social media buttons. Slap those on the top of your landing page, and that’s just the start of something great.
Smoke Anywhere utilizes social media to promote daily contests and gift certificates; display video testimonials; and open up discussion surrounding e-cigarettes.
Do You Need A Social Media Makeover?
With your landing page linked to various social media sites – you are opening up a whole new channel for your campaigns. First, you can pixel your landing page and gather some crucial information (who’s clicking and where they are coming from). If you read last week’s post of “like-retargeting” then perhaps you could take a guess at the next step. Using that same piece of crucial information, you can target ads to users. These ads will specifically be designed to drive users to your facebook page. Once on your facebook page users are one step closer to your landing page, thus completing the social media cycle. Sound a bit confusing? Take a look at the social media cycle below. (Please excuse my photoshop skills, I tried my best!)
What’s another benefit of giving your landing page a social media makeover? When people conduct a google search (as many do before making a purchase online) – they’re searching for a review of your product. Typically your facebook page will pop in the search results and that’s another way they can be directed to your offer. Since the majority of people use facebook for everything, this is a great method of promoting your product, and ultimately driving them to your landing page.
Inject Conversation Into Your Social Communities
As I mentioned before, discussions thrive in the facebook community. Using that knowledge, you can actively engage users. We should always remember to respond to user questions and comments in a timely manner, and also to create an environment that is conducive to quality conversations. Allowing dialog to evolve while provoking a level of critical thinking is often times overlooked when it comes to the development of many affiliates’ online marketing strategies. Perhaps social media is to blame when it comes to the lack of dialog and critical commenting on Youtube and blogging sites. People would much rather share a post on facebook and leave it at that. However, we need to capitalize on these conversations by raising insightful questions that will trigger dialog in these social communities. Since facebook is the macdaddy of online user engagement, we might as well piggy-back on the multi-billion dollar giant and see what level we can take our campaigns to.
What’s your take on integrating social media into your campaigns? Have you seen an increase in conversions since doing so? Or should we put the subject to rest and move onto bigger and better things…
Yes, I use social media, and rely on onlywire.com to post messages.
As we know, google and bing confirmed that links from social media sites play a relevant factor in search ranking. Facebook definitely plays an important role to increase the traffic and value of your product or site. So i think this is a useful post.
Thank you. Social Media is going to play a huge part in AM in 2011. Can’t wait to see how it pans out!
Facebook is always a good source to popularize your product. It brings real traffic to your site and your post really showed how to use facebook in an effective way.
Yeah, and you can target your ads which is crucial.
I always check the sidebars to see what offers and company’s are posted because they are targeted to me and I like to see who is similar in thinking to me. I really admire the companys that engage me and get my attention.
I’m the same way. I like seeing ads that are relevant to me, but sometimes I get annoyed when it’s over and over and over again the same type of ads. I guess when they are trying to connect with millions of viewers it’s really hard to get personal.
Very helpfull. Thanks a lot gonna use this information that’s for sure!
I think it is smart, informative and provides clarity!
Thank you, I’m glad you found it useful. Feedback and topic requests are always welcomed!
Excellent and super useful post. Social media is getting huge and it’s important to know how to run it properly for your company/brand!
First, w00t! Nice read though, and very helpful
Social media buttons are super important on websites these days to help spread the word about your brand. Great post!
Yup! you rarely ever see a site without social media buttons on them –no matter what industry, too. Even libraries and hospitals have connections to social media. It’s truly the future of communication!