Call To Action In Social Media

Techniques to boost your conversion

You bought a new office, a high-tech laptop, and a spanking new leather chair for your hiney.  On top of all the new things you just bought for your new blog adventure, you also have written the best blog article you have ever written, your blog post is so awesome it just screams to be ReTweeted by Guy Kawasaki.

The blog post is getting many hits but why aren’t you converting the new visitors to stay longer, click on your ads or even subscribe to your RSS feed?

Many blog sites out there have trouble converting traffic to loyal visitors, revenue generators and subscribers because of a lack of call to action.

A Call To Action is a simple method to show your readers the next step for your blog like clicking on subscribe, clicking on affiliate links or reading a next post etc etc.  Its the driving force for your readers to click on something you persuade them to.

Below are some simple techniques to use for your Social Media site to incorporate Call to Action

Banner – Your banner or header is the easiest and most important Call to Action to incorporate.  A simple change of getting a logo designer to create an attracting header for your Blog or Social Media profile will do wonders and will brand your site to the visitors.  Make sure that your new header is click-able to go back to your homepage and is large enough to be clicked.

Complete Profile – As with any social media site out there, make sure you try to have most of your profile complete.  There is no penalty in having too much information filled out for your profile.  Visitors will want to find more information about the Author and if they come to a blank page then the visitor will unlikely return.  On your blog make sure that readers can find a spot to click on to get more information about you somewhere.

Vanity URL – Most social network sites will allow you create a unique custom vanity url to link to your profile.  Most recently Facebook just launched vanity urls for your personal page and fan page.  Having a Vanity Url will brand yourself and is much easier to remember/click/drive to your site than a bunch of numbers.  It’s like remembering your friend’s car’s license plate because of the vanity plate, it just makes it easier to direct your reader to your site.

Easy to find links / RSS – Easy as pie right? Make sure your links are easy to find, you won’t believe how many sites out there still have the RSS Subscribe links hidden and the archive links no where to be found.  If anything make sure your subscribe to rss feeder link is visible and on the top portion of your site.

Next Post / Related Posts – A nice little plug-in out there is having all your footers in your posts show relevant posts and next post option.  This is a great call to action due to making your readers explore more of your website and thus hopefully capturing them as loyal readers instead of just stopping in to read 1 post.

Motto / Mantra / Theme – Whats the point of your site? Whats the main theme of your site? If you don’t know then what makes you think your readers will.  Somehow incorporate a Tag Line or Theme for your site.  Stick with it to help brand your site and capture new readers.  Most blogs out there are sporadic in just throwing everything at the site and not being unified.  A simple theme like Mashable’s “The Social Media Guide” works wonders.

Contests & Free Gifts – Nothing attracts readers more than free gifts and contest give aways especially if you are just starting out.  I seen some viral contests out there that spiral into a huge snowball effect thus attracting vast amounts of new readers and more than likely capturing new subscribers.  I gave away 2 books on my Financial Blog and my traffic spiked 200% and I received 22 new subscribers that day.

Limited / BETA – Most sites out there take advantage of the limited hype or the secret beta club hype that makes people want to come to your site even more because of the illusion of exclusiveness.  Remember when Brightkite and Gmail were invite only, this made users go crazy in trying to get invites to these sites and thus hyping up the exposure.  A great simple method is ping your social network sites saying something in the lines of “Created a brand new blog, click here to get a secret beta preview before it goes live” see how that works?

6 Second Window – They have a saying for most websites out there that new readers will only take 6 seconds to browse your site and if not interested they will move in.  This is very important to have all you key call to action methods in place.  If you can’t find anything to keep you staying longer on your site then you need to reevaluate your site to include better call to action items.

Location – Finally make sure that all social media links are filled in everywhere this includes Myspace, Facebook, Friendfeed, Mybloglog and Twitter.  Simply by adding your link to all your online profiles out there will get you more exposure and allows you to connect with your readers more successfully.

There is no secret method here as you can see most of these methods are common sense but still most people fail to incorporate a call to action.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Call To Action in Social Media

What type of a Tweeter are you based on your Zodiac Sign?  All results on based on the actual Zodiac signs and meaning, enjoy!

Aries – The Ram (March 21 to April 20)

This Tweeter is quick-witted, creative and adaptive.  They are very enthusiastic in what they tweet and full of energy when tweeting.  Often they highly over use exclamation points and “omg”.  Being full of energy also comes with being quick quick to anger.  This stems from being very impatient but overall they have a good sense of humor and can get along with all their followers.

*Famous Aries on Twitter Chris Brogran

Taurus – The Bull (April 21 to May 21)

Just like the Bull this Twitter user is very strong willed and stubborn.  It is very hard to convince these Twits with Retweets and Hashtags if they feel like people are driving them to do so.  However if the right Tweet and Hashtag shows up as a trusted leader they trust then they will be loyal followers.  They are natural born instructors/teachers but can be very self-indulgent so watch out for one sided tweets often with these guys.

*Famous Taurus on Twitter Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook)

 Gemini – The Twins (May 22 to June 21)

Gemini Twitter users can be very complex and dual-natured often times leading to be elusive and contradictory in their tweets.  When tweeting you may notice they are very cold one minute and very hot the next.  The Gemini Twits are in constant need of new Tweets jumping from project to projects.  A positive trait they encompass is that are very lively, youthful and communicative with witty Tweets.  They easily inspire others in ReTweets, Reblogs and have huge followers due to their great charisma.

*Famous Gemini on Twitter Russell Brand 

Cancer – The Crab (June 22 to July 22)

Cancer Twitter users are most famously known for the Mommy Bloggers and work at home Tech Dads as they are mostly very family oriented and love the home life.  Very traditional and conservative, sometimes you might see them as thick-skinned and unemotional however they are not unsociable.  They just have a time to Tweet and have a time to be solitary.  They love history and generally interested in what people are thinking which make most Cancer Tweeters great writers, journalists and politicians.

*Famous Cancer on Twitter Felicia Day

 Leo – The Lion (July 23 to August 22)

Twitter users who are a Leo are natural born leaders and are very self-confident in what they do and Tweet about.  Most Leo Twitter users are very creative and is very black-n-white with a support of or in revolt against of a certain topic on Twitter.  Leos tend to be very vocal about what they preach as they tend to have a savvy way of analyzing a situation and executing swift judgment with a beneficial outcome.  You may find Leos on Twitter to be the center of attention as they adore their followers.

*Famous Leo on Twitter Barack Obama

Virgo – The Virgin (August 23 to September 23)

Virgos on Twitter are excellent communicators in social media.  They are  intellectually enquiring, logical and enjoys being a Teacher and a Student.  They love to post Tweets as much as they love to read other Tweets.  They are not very selfish as they love working with other Twitter users on various projects.  Most notable though, Virgos are often cited as being over critcal, perfectionist and a worrier.  They strive for balance (i.e followers, replies, tweets etc) otherwise they become impatient and self-serving.

*Famous Virgo on Twitter Guy Kawasaki

Libra – The Scales (September 24 to October 23)

Libras are represented by the Scales which portrays balance and diplomacy.  This is what Libras are all about.  On Twitter they seem to have great intuition, ignoring the fakes and spammers out there and really grasping the real motives of the Twitter users.  The downfall of a Libra is that they are very indecisive, Tweeting from one point to another point of view.  They are known for having their Tweets their way or not at all.  Don’t try to sway these Libras on Twitter through politics or religion for they resent any intrusions that will bend their thoughts.

*Famous Libra on Twitter John Mayer

Scorpio – The Scorpion (October 24 to November 22)

Scorpios on Twitter are very forceful, unrelentless and exciting.  They seem to never back down in a Twitter conversation and they often lead #Hashtag conversations.  Being powerful and magnetic often makes most Scorpios on Twitter the best sales and marketing experts in the field.   They always think outside the box and creatively so its not surprisingly they often have creative blog contests or Twitter events.  The biggest downfall to Scorpios on Twitter is that they are too emotional, you don’t want to be on their bad side as they can cut you deep with resentment being voiced through their social media channels.

*Famous Scorpio on Twitter Gary Vaynerchuk (Garyvee)

Sagittarius – The Archer (November 23 to December 21)

Saigittarians are the stars of the show.  They are extremely optimistic when they Tweet and crave excitement which makes them great entertainers and conversationalists.  Sagittarians are the best Twitter friends to have as they love to make their followers/friends happy whenever they can with their optimistic point of views in life.  Quite often on Twitter they are known to be very funny and a straight shooter never really playing any mind games with anyone.  Whatever their trade maybe whether its design, blogging or marketing they often shine when its crunch time.  They maybe known to procrastinate but when there is a great deal at stake they get things done.

*Famous Sagittarius on Twitter Britney Spears

Capricorn – The Goat (December 22 to January 20)

The Capricorn tweeters are your well reserved, practical and ambitious of the bunch.  They are often very resourceful in providing great Re-tweet posts and often are very chill in their twitter stream.  Some Capricorns often show signs of pessimistic and realism in their tweets.  Most notably though, these tweeters show great signs of organizational and goal setting traits that make them a great employee and great organizers for events.  Watch-out though Capricorns are know for being very independent in nature when doing project and rarely let others finish the work for them.  Many coders, designers and tech geeks on Twitter strive as being a Capricorn while the rest of the Capricorns are steadily climbing the latter of success.

*Famous Capricorn on Twitter Ryan Seacrest

Aquarius – The Water Carrier (January 21 to February 19)

The ever elusive Aquarius is the hardest to determine their personalities on Twitter as they always change.  Along with their ever changing personalities they are very clever and progressive thinkers.  The one word that comes to mind when you see Aquarians is “Friendly”.  The flip-side to these Tweeters is you might see a rebellious or sarcastic tweet or two.  Normally Aquarians have good taste in art and music which makes up for the Graphic Designers and Musicians on Twitter.  Along with the artsy side to them comes along the eccentric and conventional tweets but don’t worry this is what makes these guys original!

*Famous Aquarius on Twitter Ashton Kutcher

Pisces – The Fishes (Febuary 20 to March 20)

Twitter users who are Pisces are viewed as the popular Twitts.  They are very easy going, good natured, compassionate and not viewed as a threat to some of the dominant zodiac signs on Twitter.  They are never egotistical in their tweets and are often viewed as the Twitter’s peoples champs as they are the ideal Twitter friend to have.  The downfall to pisces on Twitter is that they are easily led in directions from other tweeters and are often an escapist in their visions.  Pisces are a great mystery to unravel as they always have some out of this world ideas tweeting forth.

*Famous Pisces on Twitter Kevin Rose

Post from: Social Media Vision

Twitter Zodiac Signs

I know I have written in the past about doing a weekly round up but I didn’t have any time to keep up.  So now I am just going to try to accumulate some good posts I have found for the end of the month.

Below are some posts you might find interesting that I have chosen to be in my round up.

Twitter

Top 10 Twitter Backgrounds of December 2008 - http://twitterbackgroundsgallery.com/top-10

Twitter Follow Fail - http://mashable.com/2009/01/06/twitter-follow-fail/

Twitter Squatting - http://theotherthomasotter.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/twittersquatting/

Tweetbacks Plugin - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/09/tweetbacks-plugin-for-wordpress/

Photo of Hudson River plane crash downs TwitPic - http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10143736-2.html

Social Media

Ultimate compilation of Seo, Sem, Marketing, Social Media & more posts of 2008 - http://www.techipedia.com/2009/internet-marketing-posts-2008/

PR vs New Media vs Social Media - http://123socialmedia.com/2009/01/06/the-death-of-public-relations-will-social-media-kill-the-beast/

James Surowiecki’s Wisdom of the Crowds Social Media Book - http://www.randomhouse.com/features/wisdomofcrowds/index.html

Wanna manage Britney Spears Social Media Campaigns?? - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/10/britney-spears-is-hiring-an-online-media-manager/

HOW TO Sell Social Media to Cynics, Skeptics & Luddites – Tips, Resources & Advice - http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/how-to-sell-social-media-to-cynics-skeptics-luddites-tips-resources-advice/

10 Things All Businesses Should Do to Market More Effectively on Facebook – http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/01/27/10-things-all-businesses-should-do-to-market-more-effectively-on-facebook/

Microsoft is spending 70% of their social media budget on Facebook - http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=99140

Applying Dating ‘Dos And Don’ts’ To Social Media Marketing - http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=99240

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Media Vision’s Monthly Round Up for January 2009

Welcome to the new blog and website of all things Social Media and Technology!  Social Media has been increasingly gaining popularity and exposure.  This is the new wave of Marketing, Branding and Exposure.  Social Media can be used as powerful tools to connect with people around the world while promoting an online presence to stay ahead in this digital age in business.

You can look forward to all the latest Tips, Advice, News, Resources and Media regarding Social Media, Technology, Internet, Marketing and Web 2.0.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Welcome to Social Media Vision