Keeping Your Readers Engaged Using Social Media

31% of website traffic now comes from social media. What this should tell every e-commerce organization is that, as this trend continues, their social media accounts and pages will be the most critical sources of consumer engagement, and the single most important vehicle for getting visitors ultimately to their websites to be further engaged and, ultimately to be converted. Two major thrusts will be involved in engaging readers – the psychological aspects of appeal and solid data mining that finds and engages the right demographic.

Psychological Aspects of Engagement

Readers want several things when they use social media. They respond to content that entertains and provides humor, that shocks or puts them in awe, that connects with their “pain” and anxieties, and that appeals to their need to “belong,” and to be valued. This should drive all content that is placed on social media, once a business or organization has solid information about its typical target demographic. That demographic comprises a community, and there are then specific steps to engage community focus and maintain that engagement over the long-term. Here, then, are the specific things that research shows promote reader engagement.

1. Titles and Teasers: If the reader is not immediately struck by a title, nothing further will be read. Creating really catchy, quirky titles is an art, and as much time should be spent coming up with a title as with any other content. If you are not good at this, get someone who is. Another option is to try it yourself by checking out Copyblogger.com and go through their “How To” process for headlines. Basically, headlines that attract will ask questions, promote lists, give “how to’s,” state commands, or create some aura of mystery.Teasers are like headlines. You have a great blog post. You don’t want to publish it on your social media page, because you want that reader to come to your site. Putting a compelling and creative “teaser” about that design tricks for your site that will continue to engage.
2. Be responsive: If people are commenting on your posts or tweets, you must respond, and this can become a daily, rather arduous task. Remember, however, that your followers have an emotional need to feel important and valued. One way you do this is by engaging them in conversation and by responding to all of their comments/questions. And go further than that. If you can determine their specific interests, write a post related to it and notify them that you have done so, with a link to that post. This is part of establishing the relationship you need to convert your readers/followers.
3. Look at what your competitors are doing on their social media pages and accounts: What reader comments are appearing there? Address those issues with posts that you then “tease” for on your page.
4. Search by keyword on Twitter and learn what questions people are asking related to that keyword. Respond to those tweets with your “solutions” and invite those questioners to link over to your content.
   
   
5. Establish a daily compelling routine: One of the greatest ideas for using social media and for getting a regular audience that then shares your posts is to have a daily joke (readers love humor) that people will come to read every morning or evening. This may take research and some solid creativity, but it is a truly effective way to keep people coming back and spreading your brand all over the place. If you know your demographic, then your humor can match its sophistication level. One company that uses humorous posts a lot is Newcastle Beer, and a recent tweet went like this:  “Today is National Beer Day. Have an ice-cold Newcastle and pretend you care.” If jokes are too difficult, find great compelling quotes or some other gimmick – even a “picture of the day.”
6. Use Facebook for story-telling with videos or photos of your team with personal anecdotes: This gives you a humanness that is a psychological draw.
   
7. Design you content strategy as follows: Start with emotional appeal and continue to engage while moving the reader from an emotional response to a more logical one. This is when you provide the actual content that you want the reader to have.
8. Combine social media and your email: Put sharing icons in your emails; ask you email subscribers to share and give them incentives to do so; put an email subscription option on your Facebook page, and given an incentive for readers to do it – a discount or a freebie.

 Data Mining for Your Correct Demographic and its Behaviors

Always, the task that is the trickiest is to identify your target audience and to find them wherever they may be on social media. Google Analytics will certainly assist, but you need to go deeper. Social Data Mining will give you great information, such as:

1. When your target audience is online
2. Where your target audience is going online
3. Current market mood
4. Relevant issues of your demographic that will give you ideas for content
5. Competition research

Here are some tools that will help with this:

1. Crazy Egg: this tool will not only provide you with data on what your visitors do on your site, which is great information to have, but it will also let you know when and from where they are coming. This should drive the content that you place on your social media venues.
   
2. Chartbeat and Simplereach will give you the information of when and where your audience is. This will drive the content you post and when you post it.
3. Keyword Grader from HubSpot will give you great information on the best keywords, but also will track the results from each keyword you are using. You will learn which ones are driving traffic and links, so that you can use them on your social media pages and, as well, to find your competition and analyze their behaviors that are bringing in traffic.

Social Media promises to be the most important venue to drive traffic to your sight over the next several years. Your site design, you site content, and your blogs are critical too, of course, but unless the traffic is generated, they are meaningless.

from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1LP8HqG via Transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1D3g0YQ