Suze Bragg

Part 9 of social media marketing: improve the benefit and experience

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When it comes to social media marketing, you need to remember that some things are consistent:  quality comes first and speaks for itself. How well your website meets your customers' needs; how well it suits their expectations of how the site should work; and how well it operates never deviate regardless of what type of marketing you're aiming to do.  Broken links and images, outdated information, and shopping carts that crash are a kiss of death.

The beauty of websites is they're constantly evolving and changing, unlike static advertising where it just sits there and doesn't interact or physically engage the customer (besides flipping the page, turning the channel or driving by).  You have to ensure that your website not only meets the needs of your audience today, but that it deliver what they need tomorrow.  Too many websites never get updated (kiss of death with the search engines) or the owners think they're fine the way they are and rarely, if ever, remember they exist beyond an information page.  it would be the same thing as building and stocking your store, but never getting new merchandise, sweeping the floors, rearranging the merchandise or attracting customers.  Scary thought, isn't it?

How do you improve the experience and keep people coming back?  It's easier than you think.

1.  Listen to your audience and what they're asking for.  Your website is yours, but you're not marketing to you, right? 

2.  Update often (my mantra that I have stated repeatedly throughout this blog).

2.  Encourage them to do something: register for coupons, weekly drawings, ask a question, give a tip, recommend you, etc. 

3.  Include a Tip of the Week or "The Expert Says...".  You need to provide them something that they know will be updated and they can expect to read each week (or day).

4.  Archive everything on your site.  If your customer remembers seeing something on your website and you've removed it, they're not going to be happy.

5.  Add a sign-up form:  collect their information so you can reach out and touch them.

6.  Be alert to knew technology and trends in the marketplace.  As a small business owner, you don't have time to know everything that's going on, but keep abreast as much as you can by reading websites/blogs that discuss them.  

You don't need to have a million visitors to your website to be successful, but you do want them to come back regularly, and to tell their friends about you.  The best way to do this is by making your site speak to them continously. It's not rocket science (as you already know), but merely good customer service.

Posted by Suze Bragg on May 20, 2008 | Comments (0)