Social media is definitely the big topic these days. Over the weekend I attended a free 1/2 day workshop on social media and over 200 people showed up! People wanted to not only know how to use the social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but they wanted to know how to create a strategy. Better yet, they wanted to know "what's in it for me?" How can I make money using social media and is it worth the time?
But nobody asked the question that I think most business people are over looking, "How does my website work together with social media?"
Everyone is excited about networking with social media, but where does that get you? Sure, you make contacts, build relationships and share your expertise. But then what?
At some point, you would like people to want to do business with you. After all, isn't that the reason you are doing all this social media networking? Eventually, you'd like them to visit your website or landing page and be converted to a customer.
Now, before anyone jumps all over me for being too direct about things, I do understand that social media should not be focused on sales. (In fact, if you do that, you turn people off.) The advice is also to direct people to your blog, not your website, so that you can continue building that relationship.
However, what I'm talking about is not forgetting that your website is your conversion tool. Your website is an important part of your social media strategy that is often overlooked. The branding on your website should match your branding in the social media world. The keywords you are using in your postings and your blog should match the keywords you are using on your website.
Learn how to write targeted ad copy on your website for increased sales and lead generation. Then use social media as an opportunity to build your brand and use your website to close the sale.
Here's a great video I found that will give you some tips on writing targeted ad copy:
Way to bring it all together. After all, we are trying to figure out how to increase business and that requires using all the tools cohesively. Excellent article. In fact, I linked it onto a Tweet :-) @officefinder
Posted by: James Osgood | July 21, 2009 at 05:01 PM
Hi Michelle,
I agree with you that some biz folks get fascinated with the shiny new toys without determining if they will help the bottom line. The challenge with social media is it can be effective, but not necessarily fast.
Posted by: Flora | July 21, 2009 at 08:26 PM
Right on. It's just another tool in the box, but not a one-size-fits-all universal tool. Every business has to figure out how to make social networking fit their "climate" and what will work best for their target audience. I describe social networking as helping to project a 3-D hologram of your company, with the website as the projector (Help me, OB1!)
Posted by: Marjorie Clark | July 21, 2009 at 09:26 PM