The Perfect Landing

“Most people focus a great deal of time on keyword and phrase selection...ensuring their organization ranks highly...But most organizations are terrible at building a landing page—the place people go after they click on a search hit” (Scott, 2015).

Everyday the Internet transforms, social media platforms introduce new trends to reach consumers and websites become more user and device friendly. For any brand it is important that they stay ahead of trends pushing their innovation and creativity, being leaders in their markets.

Landing Page vs Home Page

A brand’s landing page is the “next step” in which they must “generate and develop consumer interest and conviction” (Scott, 2015). The page should quickly inform consumers who have clicked on your site from a search engine and provide them with the brand’s story, new product offerings and call to action content, essentially turning their sites into leads.

A homepage is for consumers to understand a brand’s mission and what services they have to offer. Most consumers spend an average of 10 seconds on a homepage which doesn’t give the brand much time to make a big impact. Brands need to quickly show how they are different from competitors and they must “take note of the language: Your home page needs to be about your prospects, NOT about you” (Lieberman, 2016).

The Big Mistake

Brands invest a lot of money into search engine optimization, buying keywords and phrases that send all of their clicks straight through to their website's homepage instead of their landing page. A homepage serves to make first impressions to a more general audience and typically doesn’t have as strong of a lead conversion rate as landing pages. “There can never be enough information [on a homepage] for search engine terms” (Scott, 2105).

Landing Page Guidelines

➤ Keep it Simple. Make the landing page content short and the graphics simple.

➤ Keep it Consistent. Stay true to your branding, maintaining a consistent voice, image and style throughout the entire site.

➤ Point of View. Speak directly to the visitors of the landing page, proposing solutions to the problem they are looking to solve.

➤ Do Not Advertise. Advertising is what led the viewer to your site, now inform them on your values and offerings.

➤ Add Testimonials. A positive brand review can go along way. Consumers value thoughts and opinions of others and often look for reviews before making purchases.

➤ The Self-Contained Unit. You do not always have to link back to your main website or homepage. “The goal of a landing page is to get buyers to respond...so you can sell to them...make your landing page a unique place on the web” (Scott, 2015).

➤ Create Clear Call to Action. Provide easy actions for consumers to sign up for brand newsletters-remembering to keep forms short and sweet, an email address and name is just enough information-, make purchases or express interests.

➤ Follow Up. Follow up on any engagement consumers had on the landing page, send an email if they signed up to follow our brand or if they took interest in a product or service.

(Scott, 2015).

References

Lieberman, M. (2016, June 6). Website Home Page Vs. Landing Page – What's The Difference? Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.square2marketing.com/blog/bid/120572/website-home-page-vs-landing-page-what-s-the-difference

Scott, D. M. (2015). The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

How to Outsmart the Hackers

In today’s society social media is becoming an important tactic in the marketing field. Brands are creating social platforms to encourage consumer engagement and to create two-way conversations will strengthen loyalty and relationships. When creating new pages that represent a brand it is important to understand how to keep your profiles private.

Passwords

It is important to always create a strong, complex password that is unique to each account. These passwords should be a mix of numbers, letter (upper and lowercase) and characters and have no relation to any of your personal information such as your birthday, hometown, maiden name or answers similar to your account's security questions. The more characters in your password, the harder it is to hack, so try and keep your passwords to a minimum of 8 characters. “An eight-character password with numbers, symbols and mixed-case letters is harder to guess...it has 30,000 times as many possible combinations than an eight-character password with only lower case letters” (Google, n.d.).

Safety & Security

With all of the posts showing up on newsfeeds it is important to watch what you click on. It is important to note that “social networking sites don’t have spam filters” (Readability, 2013). Never click on any suspicious advertisements or links, even if it is from someone in a private direct message. Links that are engaged with may infect your accounts and even devices letting hackers gain access to your personal and “private” information.

Policies & Practices

Upon hiring a new employee or launching a new social platform brands should create a social networking policy or guideline. It should not only explain how employees should engage with consumers on their platforms but also how to maintain brand pricy and deal with any crisis issues that may arise.

They Were Hacked, You Can Be Too

In 2013, Jeep’s twitter account was hacked and had posted a tweet “WELCOME BACK CADILLAC #300,” claiming they were sold to Cadillac along with statuses stating that Jeep employees were taking part in illegal activities. Hackers were posting images, spam links and statuses that were damaging the brand image and changed their background imaged to a car painted with McDonald's colors and logo. Jeep reported their issue to Twitter right away and luckily regained access and control to their account soon after (Grandoni, 2013).

References

Google . (n.d.). Creating a strong password. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32040?hl=en

Grandoni, D. (2013, February 19). Jeep Twitter Account Hacked Day After Similar Attack On Burger King. Retrieved February 21, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/jeep-twitter-hack_n_2718653.html

Readability. (2013, January 27). Social Networking Security Information Security Guide. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from https://www.readability.com/articles/n9zxcx3x

Thinking Like a Consumer

“All you have to do is stop thinking like a marketer and start thinking like your consumer” (Kerpen, 2015).

In order for a brand to get into the mindset of the consumer and connect with them, Meghan Richter explained in her blog post “The Golden Rule of New Marketing & PR,” that there are four rules:

“1. Define What Your Customers Like and Want

2. Realize It’s Not About You

3. Apply a Targeted Approach

4. Don’t Disrupt—Delight!”

(Meghan, 2017).

In today’s day in age, consumers are flooded with advertisements that are targeted to the mass audience. Why should a brand spend their advertising budget to contribute to this mass marketing tactic that is really just noise and annoyance to consumers? If a brand wants to stick out from the clutter they should be focusing on how to use the opportunities that new media, specifically social media, provides for interaction and engagement with consumers. Two-way communication will prove to consumers that they matter to the brand and establish trust and loyalty. Kerpen discusses the importance of getting consumers to talk and to keep conversations ongoing, a tactic called “mindshare” (Kerpen, 2015). Today mindshare is more valuable than a paid social media advertising because the posts directly relate to consumers and are frequently displayed at the top of newsfeed's (Kerpen, 2015) creating organic views for the brand.

A brand that does a great job with making it about the consumer is Nike. Take a look at Nike’s Facebook page. You’ll notice that the majority of their posts are inspirational stories and for direct product promotions, they portray the promotion in a subtle way still providing the consumer with personable messages. Nike provides followers with content that they know consumers will react to and engage with and don’t spam them with un-relatable posts. Providing this content that consumers want to share to their own profiles creates organic views and advertising for the brand itself. Consumers keep the conversation on Nike’s Facebook page going, which shows that they are in fact interested and "delighted" in the authentic content Nike posting.

References
Kerpen, D. (2015). Likeable Social Media (2nd ed.) McGraw Hill.

Richter, M. (1970, January 01). COMI_601L_751 Blog. Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://mrichter2.blogspot.com/

Week 3: Social Media Comments: How to Respond to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Week 3

Social Media Comments:

How to Respond to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This week’s post will be focused on the on how companies should engage with negative and positive feedback posted by followers on their social media platforms. Tips will be provided on how to formulate a plan of action when responding to negative comments as well as the importance of acknowledging comments that will build a stronger bond with followers.

The Bad and The Ugly

Anyone that has an account with social media platforms - we’ll focus on Facebook and Twitter in this case - is bound to run across negative social media posts. Are followers swayed by others comments? Do their bad experiences or opinions towards a product or service steer them away from the brand? The answer might be yes. A brand's first reaction may be to delete the post, get rid of the evidence, or try to ignore the situation. However as stated by author David Kerpen in Likeable Social Media:

“the do-not-delete rule states that unless a comment is obscene, profane, or bigoted, or it contains someone’s personal and private information, it should never be deleted from a social network site” (Kerpen, 2015).  

Deleting a follower’s negative comment, or even simply ignoring it, is “the ultimate screw you” towards them (Kerpen, 2015). So what should a brand's plan of action for this situation consist of?  

Responding Quickly

Taking care of a situation quickly, within a 24 hour period, and publicly will show other followers that the brand is interested in what they have to say and create a form of trust and loyalty. When you first come across a negative post on social media, begin by apologizing publicly on their post. Brands should check with their lawyers to make sure the response language doesn’t admit the company to any wrongdoing and is consumer friendly. They can post phrases such as “I’m sorry you had this experience” or “I’m sorry you feel this way” and offer assistance in solving the issue. Next, follow up with a private message further offering assistance (Kerpen, 2015). This will result in promoting strong customer service skills.

But what if the brand you're working for has over one million followers - let’s say Nike? For this scenario brands must prioritize their responses by gathering the negative comments and looking at the followers’ profiles. Do they have a lot of followers? Do they engage with their social platform constantly? If the answer is yes, they move to the top of your response list.

For a brand to go above and beyond the issue and exceed follower satisfaction, take the following into consideration. Have you ever been to a restaurant and the waitress completely messes up your order, then the manager comes over and offers you a free dessert or a percentage off of your bill? The same tactic can be applied to negative comments on social media. Brands can offer unhappy consumers a refund or a gift, such as a discount off of their next purchase, in hopes to resolving the issue.

Fixing an issue publicly on social media shows followers that the brand is concerned about their consumers and are willing to do what it takes to make them happy. Who knows - if a brand fixes the problem they just might receive a great comment from that once unhappy customer and boost your reputation and image.

The Good

While it is important to always stay on top of those who are unhappy with a brand's products or services, it is also important to acknowledge those who are posting positive comments. “Each day, millions of positive comments to and about brands on social networks go unnoticed or are given no response” (Kerpen, 2015). The best rule of thumb when it comes to responding to these comments is by first thanking them, then follow up by a personalized message portraying the brands voice. This personal touch will help the brand connect on a “more direct, more humanly” (Kerpen, 2015) level with your consumer.  

The Takeaway

When it comes to negative and positive comments on a brand social media platform it is essential to value all consumers’ opinions and voices. Positive customer service can go along way when it comes to maintaining and building brand reputation and relationships.

Points to Think About & Respond To

1. Not all brands follow the rules of engaging with negative comments. How do you think this effects a brand? Do you know of any brands that have ruined their reputation due to this issue?

2. What is your current company’s plan of action when it comes to responding with negative and positive comments?

Resources
Kerpen, D. (2015) Likeable social media (2nd ed.). M