This month, I met with a potential client who was ready to drop a sizable investment on social media management. They had been in business just about as long as FBC and found that their sales cycle was extraordinarily long. The executive team felt social media would be the best option to get the word out about their services and expertise.
Ahem. Insert sound of brakes coming to a screeching halt. There’s something I needed to see before embarking on a maiden social media voyage with this awesome company.
That’s when I did an analysis of their website. Visually attractive, yes. However, it was completely devoid of searchable content. When inquiring about their web analytics, I learned that they barely had any traffic and the few visitors they had didn’t go beyond the Home page. Just as I suspected…
HERE’S WHY – Social media is merely a vehicle to attract people to your website and give them an added bonus to patronize your business instead of your competition’s. But the effectiveness of this vehicle is (please pardon the pun) driven by the people who know your business exists – namely your potential customer base.
Do you feel like I’m talking in circles? Ok, how about an example?
Cherry Chardonnay is a local wine and fine gifts shop in a small city just 10 miles south of Napa. The owner has lots of local competition (not to mention national and worldwide competition), but her unique gifts and great customer service delight repeat customers.
Unfortunately, she has never made much of a profit. Occasionally, she will get a big order once a quarter, but it’s barely enough to sustain a business for the long run. She creates a Facebook page, because she is under the impression that people who like fine wine and unique gifts will search for her business, find her and place orders with her from all over the nation.
Six months later, Cherry Chardonnay is facing bankruptcy. Based on the example above, what would you guess is primarily to blame?
A. Her location – people from the Napa Valley are not interested in her small shop
B. Her sales process – she should cross-sell products to increase her average ticket sale
C. Her branding – she isn’t attracting the right customers with her current logo and marketing materials
D. Her vendors – the wine and gift suppliers that are featured in her store have become mainstream and potential customers are looking for something different now
The truth is, no one can answer this question with 100% confidence. Any one of these options could be correct or a combination of them. The only thing that will tell her tale (and the tale of your business) is the website traffic.
HERE’S WHY – Social media will only become effective for a business if people know to look for you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like. Advertisements in your place of business are helpful, but many companies are closed longer than they are open on a daily basis. That means people who are looking for your products, services and expertise may be doing so outside of operating hours.
Will someone be more likely to type in “unique gifts for bridal shower” on Google or on Facebook?
If you said Google, give yourself a pat on the back.
People search for information on Google; they search for names of people and brands on Facebook.
Here’s what you need to know about your website traffic BEFORE committing to a social media strategy:
- Which words or phrases would people looking for your business type in the Google search field? If you don’t know, start asking customers how they found your business!
- Which words does Google see when scanning your website? If you don’t know, Google Adwords has a tool that may help.
- Which pages are the most viewed on your website? Also, which pages see no traffic at all? There’s always a reason why some pages are viewed and others are ignored.
- On which pages will most of your visitors exit? You could be losing them for one simple or specific reason.
- What is the path the majority of your visitors take through your website? Does this change from month to month? Do you have any landing pages that should direct the majority of traffic to one location? If so, are they working?
Hoping for the best doesn’t work anymore. You need to know what’s going on within your website. I know, it can be a tedious task to add to your already busy day, but you may save your business by studying these statistics.
- Need help analyzing your website analytics? Ask FBC for help.
- Don’t have a flippin’ clue what website analytics are? No worries, FBC can give you a beginner’s overview.
- Think you have analytics running on your website, but you’re not sure? FBC can tell you in 5 seconds.
