Do you feel like you’re putting yourself out there and end up like a sitting duck waiting for customers to start rolling in? Just like online dating, it’s no longer good enough to just set up a profile and wait for the perfect fish to bite, you have to give a little bit more in order generate leads. A long lasting, high quality relationship needs to have some substance, so just because you’ve got a lovely profile picture doesn’t mean that your target customers will instantly want a meeting. You’ve got to work at it.
I’m going to let you in on a few not-so-little secrets that we use for all our clients as standard:
Twitter Analytics is your best friend – so use it as much as possible!
We all need someone to go to when the going gets tough, a little reassurance from this trusty tool will give you the boost you need! Honesty is the best policy, so even if it’s not exactly what you want to hear it means you can tailor your content so that it converts more efficiently for the future. You might not be getting all the favs and RT’s you’re wanting on your latest tweet, but that’s not to say you don’t have people lining up and viewing your profile. Twitter Analytics can provide you with this information along with the number of impressions gained each month. Looking at these stats regularly means you can decipher whether your followers are enjoying what you’re sharing, even if they don’t want to publicly endorse it. Adapting your posts to speak in the language of your customers whilst also positioning yourself as thought leader can be tricky, but once you know you’re doing it right you’ll see your stats booming.
Bitly should be your partner in crime, for everything!
Bitly is a great way to get basic information as to whether your content is hitting the right spot. Think of it like a version of dating app Tinder; you get instant results. If you’re putting in the time and effort to write blog posts but don’t know how many people have clicked on them, it’s like focusing on how good you look in your Tinder profile but ignoring the number of people who have swiped yes. There’s just no point. Bitly will provide you with the total number of clicks each link has received and even tell you which platform performed the best in terms of clicks. Do you ever see articles pop up on your Facebook newsfeed which you click on, read and enjoy but don’t want to click ‘Like’ because you don’t want your friends to know that you’re actually a massive geek when it comes to the latest sci-fi news? Bitly relays that information back to you and gives you comfort in knowing that you actually have an undercover fan base for your content.
Google Analytics is ‘The One’
Your relationship with Google Analytics should be a long lasting love affair. Difficult to get to grips with, yes, but once you’ve got your head around the site and start using it effectively it’s definitely worth it in the end. Similar to getting out in the dating scene, if you’re not willing to go out of your way to get to know someone, you might as well just not bother at all. One of the key pieces of information Google Analytics will give you is your bounce rate. This is the percentage of single page visits – so basically, the number of people who come to your website either after following a link or searching for you, take one look at the first page they land on and decide they’re leaving. So obviously, you want your bounce rate to be as low as possible. Perhaps he’s just not that into you (great film), the average bounce rate on a website is between 41-55% so don’t feel too bad about it. Not every date you go on will turn into a relationship, just like not every visitor to your website will turn into a paying customer. By having interesting and relevant content that is constantly evolving helps to keep the bounce rate down, and conversion levels up (it’s all a juggling act really!).
Budgeting for ‘smart’ SEO is similar to paying for professional photography for your oh-so-important profile picture. It might get you lots of visitors to your website, but if you have no substance under all the Photoshop and keywords then visitors are just going to bounce away. Looking at your statistics for the first time can be daunting but the sooner you find out what works and what doesn’t, then the quicker you can reap the benefits.
Finally, don’t forget that dating is as much about listening as it is about talking. We use a social media management system that allows us to pull together analytics from a range of different platforms in one place and effectively ‘listen out’ for engaging conversations so that we can really get to know our clients’ customers. Drop me an email on chloe@engagecomms.co.uk to find out more.
