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Using Social Media to Make Money by Achieving a Successful Conversion Rate

Computers connectingWithout equivocation, a business must engage in social media and must actively participate as part of a fundamental strategic plan. As Brian Solis of PR 2.0 advocates, “social media is no longer an option or debatable. It is critically important, without prejudice. It represents a powerful and additional channel to first listen to customers… and in turn, build two-way paths of conversations…. we also earn a place within their network as a trustworthy resource.” Brian strikes at the heart of it here, which is to establish your enterprise as the trustworthy resource.

To the entrepreneur, a successful conversion rate is everything and this is why you are in business in the first place. We learned very quickly that it is important to be able to track and measure our marketing initiatives and to see what converts versus what doesn’t. With social media, we are presented with something of a quandary and one which might strike against the ethos of the marketer – track ability.

Understand that social media marketing is not a quick fix and quite the contrary, should be viewed as a concerted effort over the long term. Just as it takes time to establish your credibility in the business world through excellent customer relations and customer service, over delivery and quality product, so it takes time to establish credibility through interaction within the social media environment. It appears that we have come full circle and that customer opinion and word-of-mouth is at the forefront once again. Before the days of the Internet, commerce in general was driven by complex human interaction and by the transmission of good vibes and bad vibes between past and potential clients. Social media presents this to us once again, virtually.

While it is possible to track traffic to your conversion sites using the industry-leading software from Google Analytics you should understand that your social media campaign is designed primarily as a public relations tool and is most beneficial in building brand and company awareness. You should go out of your way to ensure that your company is active in primary social media networks and begin the process of building your esteem. This requires a concerted effort and regular interaction and should be represented by its own, specific marketing campaign.

Social media should be used to drive links to your website which in turn will boost your website’s ranking and Google “page rank” status. As your primary site gains authority in relevance to its primary keywords it will attract more organic traffic and qualified visitors to spur conversions.

Numerous developers are working on projects to help analyze the impact and potential for conversions within the world of social media. For example, Buzz Logic focuses on social networking services and they index millions of tweets and posts to identify trends and influences, including factors such as linking activity, blog popularity and author credibility. Complex reports are available detailing the impact of various strategies and discussed subjects.

While we may be used to establishing conversion rates according to click through rates and conventional advertising methods, social media should be used to augment an overall marketing campaign.

Do Social Media campaigns help you convert?

Adam Toren

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