It is important to maximize each marketing opportunity that comes your way. Identifying those opportunities and coming up with a strategy that will help your ultimate goals is something that every company should be thinking of. There are a number of ways you can improve conversions by making small improvements to a number of your social and marketing campaigns.
Lets take a look at different ways you can take advantage of marketing opportunities you may not have been thinking about.
New Newsletter Subscribers
For users that have never been to your website, they want to see all that you have to offer. If they like your content, there is a great chance they will sign-up for your RSS feed or newsletter. This is a great opportunity to provide additional value that was not necessarily found on the website. After the user signs up to receive updates from your website, send an auto-responder e-mail thanking them for becoming a subscriber. Provide them with premium content that only subscribers gain access to. This is a way to build credibility and exceed users expectations.
Some ideas for things you can provide in your thank you e-mail.
- Downloadable Whitepapers
- Quick Links to Popular Posts
- Social Media Profile Links
- Free Trials
- Discounts on Premium Content
- Links to Videos and/or Podcasts
RSS Feed
There are ways you can use your RSS feed as a marketing tool. This is a great opportunity to soft sell your most loyal readers. Adding a small ad or promo at the bottom of your RSS feed will be a subtle branding and selling tool. A plugin like RSS Footer developed by Yoast will allow you to put a customized message in the footer of your RSS feed.
E-mail Signature
Your e-mail signature acts as your virtual business card. If you are only leaving your name and business title, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to drive users into your blog, website, and social media profiles. A firefox addon like WiseStamp makes it easy to automatically add rich e-mail signatures to the end of your e-mails.
What to add in your e-mail signature:
- Blog URL/Website URL
- Facebook Profile
- Facebook Fan Page
- Linkedin Profile
- Twitter Handle
- Chat Username
- RSS Blog Feed
Blog Commentators
Readers of your blog who leave comments are potentially loyal readers or customers. Typically blog commenters have the same interests and enjoy engaging with others in the community. Usually a commenter will leave their website url and e-mail address. It may be worth it to look them up and start following them on Twitter or Facebook. Send them a personal message thanking them for leaving a comment. This can keep the user coming back and may give them enough reason to subscribe to your RSS feed or signup for your newsletter.
ReTweeters
Tweeps who RT your content are also great people to try and gain as loyal readers. You already know that they enjoy sharing other users content, so why not follow up with them by responding to them. Thank them for the ReTweet or ask them a follow up question to the post. Start following them and maybe even Tweet something on their website/blog.
You may want to respond to retweets with not only a thank you message, but also a relevant link to other content related to whatever the users was interested in. This can help to get the user to revisit your site and get them back into your blog.
404 Error Page
There is nothing worse than finding a page that gives you a big 404 error! Try crafting a well thought-out custom 404 error page that will keep the reader engage in your content. Try providing links to some of your more popular content, a video, a download, etc… At least if a user can’t find what they want, you are giving them a reason to stay on your site.