Putting Social Back Into Social Media
We want to start off by saying that we believe in social media when it is done correctly. We specialize in working with B2B websites and local B2C sites that are not well suited for most traffic that is generated through social media sites. The sites that we work with don’t use AdSense. However, we are still big promoters of social media.
Social Media has been the Holy Grail for marketers for several years now. The trick, from the marketer’s perspective has been to capture this audiences attention and thus drive traffic to their websites or blogs. In SEO we attempt to do this as well. But at this point this process hasn’t really become social.
The social part doesn’t come into play unless the visitor actually begins to interact socially. The Wall on FaceBook is a good example of where social media can become interactive and actually social. I believe this is where most small business owners miss a wonderful opportunity. They are only focusing on making a sale and on the bottom line.
I am guilty of this as well, and have written often about the dismal Return On Investment (ROI) from social media sites. There are numerous stories floating around the blogosphere about huge amounts of traffic created from Digg that resulted in very few conversions. The writer usually concludes that at least they ended up with a couple of hundred links.
The lesson here is that while it is possible to generate huge increases in traffic from social media sites it is very difficult to turn this group into buying customers. That’s where we, as website owners, must become social and a blog is a wonderful tool to accomplish this. We caution clients, potential clients, and anyone who will listen to avoid social media if all they want to do is sell.
Driving social traffic just to sell your product or service is a waste of time. This traffic has come to you as curious window shoppers looking to be social. If you don’t have a vehicle on your website that allows them to interact then this isn’t a social experience for them, after all social requires interaction.
Our blog accomplishes this for our B2B website. We create these articles, and then we submit them to Digg, Stumble and the like. Hopefully someone that visits creates a social experience by leaving a comment. We then take the time to personally respond and do not use an auto responder. If the commenter makes an unusually good comment, we will take the extra time to respond on the blog and by email.
Thus we create a social experience on a business website. Many businesses wrongly think a video accomplishes this for them. But there isn’t anything social about a video if you can not interact with the website.
I see so many blogs were the owner presents their topic and never engages with their responders. I have always seen this as rude and anti social. Like being at a dinner party someone starts a conversation and walks away not caring about your option or to answer a question. Never to be heard from again.
I’m writing this today because Nicole commented that we had a great “Do Follow List” but that it would be nice if we listed PR as well. So I took the time to email her to thank her for the comment. I took it a step further by explaining why we thought PR and link building had lost their relevancy to each other.
She wrote back today and thanked me for taking the time to send a personal reply. She also noted she would put me on her sites and social bookmark the site. So if you have a blog (a very good social tool) don’t forget to be social, interact with your commenter’s on your blog and by email. Sure it takes time but it also shows that you truly care. Social media requires interacting with others and giving freely to strangers.
Are you ready to put social into your media efforts?
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or maybe even social bookmark this article, give it a Digg or Stumble it.
To learn more about our services please check out these links:
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If your business is located in the US, Canada, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona or beyond and would like to learn how your website can benefit from a blog,SEO or Internet marketing. Please call Tucson SEO at 520-777-6479 or 1-866-512-1230 Now!
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