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

Online Branding

What is an Online Brand? A Brand is the association connected to product, service or person and an Online Brand is taking that same establishment but developing it for the Online world.

Branding is a way to be remembered and have impact upon perception.  It’s also another way to claim separate identities and claim ownership.  The best example of this is back in the day Cowboys would brand their herd with their own signature trademarks to claim as property and to establish from the rest of the packs out there.

So why would you need an online brand?  Well it’s quite simple you need to..

• Establish your Online Identity
• Set yourself apart
• Claim ownership of your Identity
• Build awareness and recognition
• Exposure

To get started in your online presence and branding the easiest way to begin is to claim your online identity first

Hey Zero Cool what is your handle?

You may of noticed with my Blog image header that its a picture from the movie Hackers.  Most notable was the Online Handle “Zero Cool” from the movie.

Hackers for example have a way of standing out or becoming known in the online world by their calling name or Online Handle.   An Online Handle is a username/nickname or online username that is used when referring to oneself other than their real name.

AOL is another big hit example where Screen Names took off and once again pushed online users to develop an online id other than their real names.  Screen Names took off with unique handles too during the Punter & Prog Age in claiming online territories.

Blogs, Social Media and Social Networks like Twitter all require a Username of some sort and by now more than likely you have a couple user names floating out there.  

The best way to develop a nice and consistent online branding is to have a conisstent user name throughout your Social Media sites out there.

Below is an Online Tool to check your Username throughout all Social Media websites.

Usernamecheck.com

Website usernamecheck.com is a simple site that searches over 65+ different Social Media websites out there to see if your online username has been taken or is available for use.

This is a great tool to seize the opportunity in shutting out your competition or claiming your online identity ownership.  After setting up your profiles in these Social Media websites, I would suggest in also staking your claims below

• E-Mail domains like Gmail, Yahoo & MSN
• Gamer Profiles like Second Life, MMORPGS
• Instant Message clients like AIM

Be creative –  Be unique.  You will find that it will be harder to claim ownership in online profiles if its a very common name and it will important more than ever to claim ownership early.

So go out there, develop an online identity and stake your claim in the digital world.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Media Online Branding & Establishing Presence With An Online Identity