Making customers click

A great call to action (CTA) can increase customer engagement and boost a business’s website conversion rates. It can convince customers to engage in a particular action, such as visiting a business’s website, or motivate them to make a purchase after viewing a business’s services or products.

Call to actions can be used anywhere to promote a business’s products and services, such as on their website, blog, newsletters or social networks. They work well when they clearly trigger an emotional reaction, tell someone to make a purchase, create an urgency to purchase immediately, and provide incentives that are impossible to refuse.

Below are three important CTA features to consider when trying to make customers ‘click’:

Choosing the right colour
There is no particular colour that will guarantee client conversions, so firms should pick one that promotes a certain feeling in clients. Some colours to consider include:

• Orange: Encourages immediate action

• Blue: Builds trust and security

• Red: Increases energy and a sense of urgency

• Green: Promotes growth and relaxation

• Yellow: Gets attention and creates low-level anxiety

Writing clickable copy
The point of a call to action is to make someone want to take action right away, so write something that people are guaranteed to click. Try writing in first person, use active verbs, be specific and keep the message short.

Finding the best size
Your CTA button shape is very important. Rectangular buttons are the most common, but businesses should try out other shapes and sizes to see if they will complement the overall design better. Even though bigger is usually better, the CTA button should stand out but not be so obnoxious that it ruins the design of the page it is on.

Integrating social media into your email marketing strategy

Integrating social media and email marketing can do wonders for a business’s marketing efforts. Although quite effective individually, combining social media into an email marketing strategy can extend a business’s email reach and increase the number of followers and subscribers.

Integration also provides more than one platform for businesses to connect with their target audience, allowing them to find key influencers and providing more options to email subscribers. Ways to integrate social media and email marketing include:

Inserting social icons into emails
Email campaigns should include all the social icons for the social platforms a business uses. Make sure they are placed near the top of an email and are large enough to grab the attention of readers.

Asking subscribers to share email content
Sometimes including social icons in your email is not enough. Although many subscribers would recognise icons of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, they may not know what action they should take on seeing these icons. Don’t hesitate to tell them; including simple call to actions like ‘Share this email’ next to the icons.

Reach more subscribers through the social networks
If your business has a strong following in a certain social network, don’t be afraid to ask for new email subscribers through that network. One way to do this is through promoting your website’s email newsletter sign-up page through a status update or tweet.

Add ‘Retweet This!’
An effective way of blending social media with email marketing is to highlight a certain tweet within an email. Displaying a specific tweet in the email goes well with the mantra of “share your community’s stuff”.

LinkedIn Showcase Pages

LinkedIn’s ‘Showcase Pages’ are designed to help businesses build audience engagement around the different products and services they offer.

Showcase Pages were introduced when LinkedIn removed the ‘products and services’ tab on company pages. Now, Showcase Pages are the only option for businesses wanting to display their products and services on the LinkedIn platform.

And while the Showcase Page feature can be beneficial for businesses with an established product line, just because the feature is available doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the right fit for you.

Here are some of the benefits and problems of the feature to help businesses decide whether they should use it as an extension of their company page.

Benefits

• Showcase Pages are extensions of your Company Page

If your business has multiple products or services, each with their own unique customer segment, then Showcase Pages allow you to separate your communication for each audience without cluttering up a single Company Page. At the same time, customers will visibly see the link between the service or product they use and your business’s company as a whole, allowing them to explore other products or services your business has to offer.

• Showcase Pages have some similar features to a Company Page

You can post updates, feature LinkedIn groups connected to your product or service, and see detailed analytics on your updates. Unlike a Company Page, businesses cannot add any “specialties” of their product or service, or allow team members to connect their personal LinkedIn profiles to a showcase page.

• You can engage with specific customer segments

If you have clearly defined target audiences or are trying to encourage particular customer behavior, the ability to segment users and the messaging your business delivers to them on LinkedIn can be a big help.

Problems

• No more user recommendations

A benefit of the products and services tab on a business’s Company Page was that LinkedIn users could “recommend” the business’s service. User-generated content like that is gold for marketing your business online, as it can increase your business’s credibility and demonstrate that your business isn’t the only one who thinks highly of your services.

• Starting from the beginning, again

Another obstacle with creating a Showcase Page for your business’s product or service is the one you had when you first started your Company Page—you have no followers. This is particularly problematic for small businesses who are already strapped for time and resources.

• Reconfiguring your content strategy

Creating Showcase Pages creates the need to reconfigure a business’s online content strategy. If a business was regularly posting updates on their Company Page to an engaged audience, it would now have to consider what that looks like going forward. Having multiple Showcase Pages means there are now more channels that require their own messaging.

The email metrics your business should be tracking

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how optimised your business’s emails are if you can’t track the results of your efforts.

Before sending an email, businesses should review the purpose of their email marketing and figure out which metrics they will need to track to determine how they’re progressing toward their overall goal.

Since the goals of email marketing campaigns will differ from business to business, here are three basic metrics every business should be paying attention to, regardless of their overall goal:

Click-through rate (CTR)
An email’s click-through rate is the percentage of email recipients who clicked on one or more links contained in an email. To calculate an email’s CTR, businesses need to divide an email’s total clicks by the number of emails delivered e.g. 500 total clicks ÷ 10,000 delivered emails = 5 per cent CTR.

CTR lets businesses quickly calculate the performance of every individual email they send. CTR is an important metric for all businesses engaging in email marketing to track, as it provides a direct insight into how many people on their email list are engaging with the email’s content and are interested in learning more.

Conversion rate
An email’s conversion rate is the percentage of email recipients who clicked on a link within an email and completed a desired action, such as downloading a newsletter or purchasing a product.

An email’s conversion rate is tied to the email’s call-to-action, and since the email’s call-to-action is linked to the overall goal of the email campaign, the conversion rate can help determine the extent to which a business is achieving its objectives.

Bounce rate
The bounce rate is the percentage sent emails that could not be successfully delivered to the recipient’s inbox. There are two types of bounce rates businesses should track; “hard” bounces and “soft” bounces. Soft bounces happen due to problems with valid email addresses, such as an inbox being full or an issue with a recipient’s server.

Hard bounces happen due to invalid, closed, or non-existent email addresses. It is critical that businesses immediately delete hard bounce addresses from their email list as internet service providers (ISPs) use bounce rates to determine an email sender’s reputation. A sender with a high hard bounce rate will look like a spammer in the eyes of an ISP.

Elements of modern website design

Modern website design is made up by various elements, styles and designs that change over the years to keep up with user wants, needs and expectations.

Some elements of website design help to explain what a business is and what it does; others serve to improve how a website looks on a specific device.

While it is not necessary to keep up with every trend by including it on your business’s website, many do have the potential to improve a visitor’s experience and keep them coming back for more.

However, with so many options of website design to choose from, it can be difficult for businesses to know which ones are worth considering and will set their website apart from others.

Here are three elements of modern website design that businesses may want to consider including on their websites to improve the site’s performance:

Unique typography
Using a unique style of typography can help customers immediately identify your business against competitors. The typography your website features can indicate subtle hints about who your business is. But make sure you choose a font that is supported by common browsers and computers; not being supported could result in your website displaying awkwardly on different devices.

Large and responsive hero images
A hero image is a large banner image that is prominently placed, usually front and centre, or a website. Responsive hero images can create a strong visual experience amongst readers, encouraging them to scroll down to read more. Ensuring your website’s images are responsive makes for a good user experience. Website visitors should be able to look at different images and get the same experience no matter the device they are using.

Card design
Using individual cards on a website distributes information in a visual way so visitors can easily consume bite-sized pieces of content with feeling overwhelmed with information. Breaking up different pieces of content into cards means users can pick and choose which articles they want to expand. This helps keep a website’s homepage feeling clean and organised.

Card design is becoming more popular across websites because it delivers chunks of information for users that are easy to read and understand. The design can help highlight multiple products or solutions.

Driving traffic to your blog using Facebook

Facebook remains one of the most popular social networking sites of our time. However, while it is an effective platform for businesses wanting to share information with others, the site’s popularity can make it difficult for businesses to capture their audience’s attention among the rest of the Facebook noise.

But there are ways businesses can utilise Facebook beyond simply updating a status when a new blog article goes live. Here are five suggestions:

Vary your posts
Sharing content from your business’s blog on a regular basis makes it easy to slip into the habit of sharing all of your posts in the same manner. Businesses should try playing around with wording posts in different ways to see which resonates most with their audience.

Experiment with simple, direct statements that leave the reader wanting to learn more about what has been introduced, or provide a bit more detail in the post to highlight the main takeaways of the content.

Use different types of questions
A common tactic on Facebook is to ask questions; but what kind of questions should your business ask to grab reader attention? Metaphorical, hypothetical questions allow readers to think about topics in a new way, potentially making them want to learn more about what is proposed by the post’s question. Another option is to ask for audience feedback on something, and then provide solutions in the blog post you’re sharing.

Use excerpts as quotes
Using quotes to create engagement is a great way to re-share the same article on Facebook multiple times without coming across as being too transparent. Pulling various excerpts from your article and quoting them allows businesses to diversify the messaging of their blog posts which may assist in reaching people with various interests, too. A great way to select quotes to use for your post is to locate the ones that apply directly to readers’ needs.

Regularly recap blog posts
Sharing blog recaps can help obtain some additional leverage. Recaps can help readers gain a comprehensive view of the latest news surrounding a specific topic and they also provide businesses with an excuse to link back to previous posts, thereby leveraging content that may have otherwise been forgotten.

Optimise posts for SEO
Since Facebook posts can show up in Google Search results, another useful strategy for garnering additional traffic from Facebook is to optimise post content for SEO purposes. Include phrases that people might search for in a search engine in your Facebook posts and make sure your posts contain primary terms for which you’d want your post to be found.

The importance of user reviews for local SEO

Online reviews now play a very large role on the Internet and are therefore essential for every business’s website.

Online customer reviews are one of the most powerful ways to attract new and local business. When users search for products or services online, the best organic search engine results are taken by websites with good reviews.

Businesses who want a prominent position in their local search engine results page (SERP) need users reviews. And if those businesses want to increase their website’s click through rate or physical visits, they need good reviews.

Reviews are powerful because of the social proof they provide other users on the Internet. Many online users need reassurance and confirmation that the action they are going to take is the right one.

When potential customers are considering purchasing a produce or service, seeing an average review rating of 4 stars online, or reading positive reviews on your website, may provide the extra push they need.

How to attract reviews

Businesses who want reviews need to concentrate on providing the best possible customer experience. That is the most important thing every business can do, as most customers will only feel compelled to leave a review when they’ve had either a great or terrible experience. It is important businesses make sure it is the former.

• Ask customers when they’re visiting your business

Hand out a review questionnaire or ask customers as they’re paying the bill.

• Email customers asking for reviews

Sending customers a follow-up email can be effective. If they’re on the Internet to answer your email, it is less effort for customers to head over to your business website to leave a review online.

• Use your business’s social channels

Occasionally posting or tweeting to ask for customer reviews can work. Just be careful not to overdo it.

• Don’t expect overnight success

If your business receives a few reviews a month, you are doing well. Continue focusing on making sure that they are positive. Remember, a steady flow of reviews looks more realistic to others. Having lots of reviews appear overnight gives off a strong signal of suspicious activity.

Offering great customer service through social media

Offering customer service through social media can be difficult. People are used to speaking to a real person, and since social media is all online, businesses cannot add a personal touch to what the customer wants to be addressed.

It is also challenging since businesses cannot see a customer’s face or their reaction. The tone of a business’s message may unintentionally come across as being rude.

But it is possible to turn customer service into a positive experience for both businesses and their customers. Offering great online customer service isn’t costly; it is purely a great sales opportunity.

So if you have customers that follow your business online, here are some ways you can use that to your business’s advantage.

Create a defined social media strategy
Businesses need to incorporate social media management into their strategy that supports their objectives. They also need to know where their customers are to properly address them. If most of them are on one platform i.e. Facebook, then businesses should focus on that platform only.  The social media strategy for that platform must be relevant and concise.

Think before you speak
Although the majority of social platforms do provide an edit or delete option, businesses need to think through how they will reply to a customer before posting anything on social media. Professionalism must be practiced as often as possible.

Fix complaints, immediately
While negative online comments or reviews from customers can be scary, businesses can prevent these, or turn them into a positive experience, by solving the customer issue immediately. Customer service is critical, and businesses need to go the extra mile and fix customer complaints as soon as possible.

Businesses could also add a personal touch in solving complaints by taking the situation “offline”. Sending a private message or giving the customer a call are also viable ways to solve the customer complaints.

Using social media to recruit top employees

Most businesses take the approach of using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter solely for marketing or sales purposes only. However, these communication channels can be just as valuable when it comes to customer service and recruiting future employees.

Using the below ten ideas can help leverage the opportunities social media offers to find new employees. Putting the effort in now to growing your network now can pay off next time you have a job opening.

Unique branding opportunities
Using social media to show off a business’s working culture and environment can help attract those looking for a work environment that looks positive and relatable. Many social platforms allow businesses to demonstrate their values and the working benefits that may appeal to future candidates.

Greater visibility
As long as businesses continue to post engaging content for their followers, their brands will regularly show up in user newsfeeds. Regularly posting means it is more likely businesses will stay top of mind in prospective employees’ minds when they are on the hunt for a new job.

Broaden the applicant pool
Businesses on social media are more likely to reach more potential candidates. The larger applicant pool, the more choice a business has over whom they will hire.

Use current employees as referrals
Since current employees already know and understand a business’s culture, they often produce the best referrals since they know what kind of employee a business wants or needs. Using social media simply makes this referral process easier, as all an employee needs to do is share or retweet a job posting on their social media profile.

Speed up the hiring process
It only takes a few minutes to post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter about a job opening at your business, whereas publishing a job listing on other job seeker sites may take a little longer.

Top five benefits of using social media

While many continue to embrace social media in their online marketing strategies, there are still a number of businesses who remain wary of using such a vehicle for networking or marketing purposes.

Social media is has become a fundamental element of online marketing. It can make other online marketing systems work more effectively while also boosting a business’s reputation and visibility.

If your business hasn’t integrated social media into your online marketing strategies, here are five benefits of using social media to help convince you otherwise.

It is an online version of networking
Social media has ultimately created a new way to connect with other industry professionals and customers (both potential and current). Businesses who use social media as a networking tool can achieve much of the same goals a business may aim for with networking in-person minus the restrictions of schedule, geography or travel arrangements and costs.

People use social media before making a purchase
The way potential customers now learn about a business before making a commitment to that business is seeking information from online sources of information, which includes social media platforms. For businesses to remain relevant and competitive, they need to go where potential customers seek information, which ultimately means participating on social media.

It helps deliver business content to a wider audience
Social media provides an easy and cheap way to promote your business’s online content to a larger audience. An additional benefit is that if a business publishes content that their target audience finds relevant and helpful, the audience is likely to share it with their own network, which in turn can attract new visitors to the business’s online profile.

It can drive traffic to a business’s website
Social media can be a significant source of traffic to a business’s website. With so many people using social media, new visitors may discover a business through the content the business publishes on social media, or any conversations they are participating in on a social platform. And if new visitors like what they see on your social platforms, they are likely to visit your website to find out more.

It can influence SEO
While social media isn’t a known factor in Google’s algorithm, sharing business content with a wide audience through social media creates opportunities for people to link to and engage with a business’s content. Links contribute to a business’s website page ranking, and social media can help this factor by connecting more people to business content and signaling to search engines, like Google, that the content is relevant.