How does someone actually find your web site?
Besides manually typing in your web site address into a browser, there are actually many aspects to how people can end up on your web site. Does your site meet W3C web site standards for accessibility? Is your site responsive or are you losing near 60% of today’s smart media internet users? Do you include best practices when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization)? Are you keeping your site content updated, utilizing cross linking, and integrating social media?
Why does social media matter?
Social media may be your new best friend in improving your site visitors and assisting in your conversion optimization. In internet marketing, conversion optimization is a system for increasing the percentage of visitors to a website that convert into customers, or more generally, take any desired action on a webpage. Social media allows you to be present and personally engage with your target audience in a way no other form of direct marketing can. Read here for the many proven benefits.
An ‘on-line-and-real-time’ word of mouth opportunity
Gone are the days when most businesses or organizations invested heavily in ads in a local newspaper. People trust what their friends have to say and today social media allows a connection that includes businesses and organizations like never before. Companies and non-profits alike seek more “likes” on their Facebook page because they know there is proven conversion in this effort. The click through rate is always greater when recommended personally.
Social media has a great ROI
There are virtually no out of pocket costs in integrating these social media strategies unless you choose to hire out for this effort. In either case, the ROI (return on investment) is still one of the best ‘deals going’ in internet marketing today. If you follow best practices, your organization will realize benefits from integrating social media regularly and consistently. Some of these benefits include brand recognition, creating an online audience with the ability to share what you share with their friends and a “click through” rate that your competitors will never have if they only have a web site.
Social media also benefits your site’s search engine ranking
On top of all the other benefits, social media also impacts your site’s ranking on search engines. Google, for example, includes areas like external ‘back links’ and ‘new traffic’ in determining whether your site is worth ranking well against sites with the same focus. Every time you share a post to your Facebook page you have just created an external back link. In so doing, you are also allowing new traffic to flow to your site. New traffic and back links prove to Google you and your site are more valuable than another site that does not show this activity. Read here for even more on this topic.
