Social Engine Optimization is the missing link in your marketing plan.
Discover how to send your next marketing campaign results through the roof using the techniques I used to generate 322 qualified sales leads for a single customer in 30 days:
- Outfoxing Competitors by Building Magnetic Facebook Pages
What’s standing between you and other businesses in the same industry? They’re not as professional and yet they close more sales and gain more exposure! One rock solid way to gain more traffic that converts is to build highly targeted Facebook pages that directly address the way your product/service/brand will solve a niche problem.
Some keys to building a great Facebook page that is social engine optimized are a keyword dense URL, compelling profile picture and well designed custom tabs you can direct people to (because the wall isn’t the best place to land someone who wants to learn about what it is you do and the solutions you provide).
- Hit Your Target With a Laser Guided — and Inexpensive — Google Ad
When you can’t grab the attention of important business prospects or influencers, your brand suffers. There’s a solution though, and it’s a hell of a lot less expensive than renting a billboard or buying a TV ad.
Check out the random search I performed in the screen shot below. It’s for the incoming CEO of the General Motors Corporation, Dan Akerson. If he’s the granddaddy of all potential sales leads, why not just appeal to him directly using Google AdWords? Everyone does a vanity Google search now and then after all. The ad could be as simple as, “Hey Dan Akerson! Running GM is a great opportunity. So is working with us…”
It’s cheap to bid on people’s names and Google has no trademark policy, so this makes for an effective social engine optimized tactic.
- Build Your Own Google Place
Google Places pages are responsible for delivering business descriptions to people performing local searches. And it is a terrific guerrilla marketing tool.Let’s say you’re the brand manager for widgets and need to ensure the word gets out in the community about your kick ass product. Even in areas with small populations you’ve probably noticed how hard it is to get front and center when people search for businesses in your field.
Places lets you solve the problem by showcasing reviews and inserting keywords into your business title. When you search for terms that people are discussing on Twitter in your niche market it’s smart to add them into the title of your business (Remember, a niche is a community of people looking for a solution to a common problem).
My recommendation is to spend the $20 per month to add tags in your place that call attention to specific pages on your site, like videos, products and special incentives.
And don’t forget to respond to reviewers!
- Socialize Your AdWords Account
So you’re spending money on text ads to bring in traffic…just like everyone else.
Why not set your ads apart by making them more conversational? If you want to gain an edge on companies and brands who drop a lot of coin on search advertising then tags are a new answer you need to take advantage of.
Think of how much more effective your ad will be when it is followed by a list of your positive reviews (4 out of 5 stars? Awesome!). That’s one reason to encourage friendly customers and followers to give fair reviews. For people who love deals you can add a link advertising your ‘Special Limited Time Offer’ — but you can be more creative with the exact wording.
- Freemium Link Bait
Having trouble finding sales leads? The real problem is that people can’t decide whether or not what you’re preaching to be an expert at is worth the cost of admission. Try something really bold and give away answers for free. I’m not talking about giving away the secret formula to Coca-Cola Classic, just create something people can download free that solves a specific problem. A small but profitable percentage of people who download an answer to a product or service need will pay you to solve the issue for them.
Another side benefit of giving away answers at no cost is that you collect email addresses from people who want access to your info — just like on my Creativity Marketing page. Don’t be shy about sharing your PDF or video on Twitter and other social networks like Facebook too. Tag up your tweets and encourage people to share (Or for a reverse psychology kick, tell them not to share — sometimes this even works better).
- Contests Provide a Social Connection
We’re talking about social engine optimization for your marketing plan, not one way traditional advertising. The reason contests are so cool on social networks is because you get to learn about your target audience to tweak the offer, come out swinging with a magnetic offer and aggregate tons of data for a follow up look at how effective it was.
Twitter is great for this.
You can sum up an entire marketing effort in 140 characters, tag the note to attract specific communities and help it go viral at the same time. Make sure your message includes wording like ‘RT this message & follow us to enter’. This way you’ll add new followers and the message will be spread to every new connections friends (that’s the viral element).
Here’s a sample image of an optimized Facebook profile for your brand:
Remember to snag a custom URL once you’ve reached 25 fans. That will help you rank on the first page of Google for your desired search phrase (If you need help looking up which term is most relevant in your industry and location, check out Insights for Search).
The point of social engine optimization is using every available search resource and combine it with conversation and real-time learning to create a more effective marketing plan. In other words, find your niche where they live and speak to them in their words.
Originally I was going to share 10 tips but this post ran quite long so I whittled it down to 6. Make sure to subscribe to Social Media Commando to receive the latest guides and posts for free.