Below are some common mistakes that could be hindering your landing page conversion rates from reaching their true potential.

Your Landing Page Does Not Explain The Value of the Offer

Remember that people’s attention spans are short. What this means is that you need to ensure your offer can be understood by your visitors in less than five seconds. In order for people to understand your offer within five seconds, you have to keep your landing page simple and clear. Use the title, text, and images on your page to ensure your visitors easily grasp what you are offering.

Your Headers Do Not Align with your Calls-to-Action

Keep in mind that your headers need to match your CTA text. If your visitors click on a CTA to download a freeguide, then they are expecting to be directed to a page where they can do that. Strive to be clear that they are in the right place when they get to your landing page by keeping your copy and page title consistent.

Your Form is Too Long

Another factor you need to consider is the length of your form against your prospect’s willingness to fill it out. If your form is too long, prospects might not fill it out and evaluate whether filling it out is worth their time. Many companies request too much information and ask tons of questions to their visitors without realising that asking too many questions may significantly lower conversion rates. Try to use shorter forms and only ask questions that are really necessary.

Are you making the following mistakes on your landing pages?

To ensure your business is using social media appropriately for lead generation efforts, check out the list below to make sure you are not making any of the rookie mistakes that can be detrimental to your business.

Not Being Where Your Prospects Are

Don’t just maintain presence on any social media network. You have to be where your target customers are. If you are posting great content on Twitter but your target market isn’t there then it’s a complete exercise of futility. Before you choose any social media network, it is important that you first research which social media sites your target market frequent and from there share your content and promotions.

Useless Content

Don’t just put content about your product. People do not like when it you promote your products and services too much. What you want to do is write informative content and focus on tips and tricks that can help solve the problems of your customers. You may also want to write persona-based content and target different marketing personas. By doing so, your prospects will be more likely to engage with your brand and therefore more likely to complete your lead-capture form.

Not Using Calls to Action or Sharing Targeted Links to Landing Pages

Remember that the most effective use of social media for lead generation efforts happens when people share links to your content, blog, and promotions. Keep in mind to always have a clear CTA and link to a targeted landing page where your visitors can register. It would even be better if you can designate specific to different platforms. For example, you may want to create a different offer for your Twitter followers and another different one for your Facebook fans.

How do you use social media for lead generation?

Integrate Videos

If you want your reader to stay engaged for longer periods of time, it will be a good idea if you can integrate a nice video of yourself and the kind of topics you will be covering. By doing this, you quickly gauge your audience’s reactions to video content and then as you go on, you become familiar with the mechanisms for creating and posting video on the web. Remember that you don’t need a fancy video, just record something simple and you should be good to go.

Conduct Interviews

Once you are used to creating and posting videos on your blog, consider interviewing thought leaders, industry experts, and ask their opinions on pressing issues concerning your industry. When conducting an interview, make sure that you avoid scripting all your questions. Though scripted interviews are definitely faster to produce, they are not as interesting to watch and they hinder free-flowing discussions. Don’t be stiff when conducting your interviews, be natural and run it as a conversation.

Don’t forget Humor

Since you are already mixing up different types of content, try to insert a funny blogpost relevant to your industry at least once a week. You may want to look for a funny news story and write a blogpost about it.  Though this may not be focused on thought leadership, these posts are still interesting and may be shared more often than your serious posts which in turn may lead to new readers and visitors to your blog from social media.

How do else do you keep your blog content interesting and exciting? Share your tips below!

Below are some marketing personalisation you need to implement ASAP!

Segment Your Email Database and Personalise Messaging

According to a recent study, 14% of marketers said that personalised email marketing campaigns get a better response rate compared to mass market campaigns. If you want to generate a better response rate, you will segment your list by marketing persona then personalise your messages according to language your persona uses and responds to.

Create Targeted Landing Pages Designed for Different Marketing Personas

You may want to create and customise the language and content of landing pages according to their specific needs and interests. If you think your site cannot handle the bandwidth that comes with creating different landing pages for each customer persona, you should at least create targeted landing pages for your various offers.

Use Recipients’ Real Names in Email Messages

“Hi Friend” or “Hi Customer” are not acceptable greetings if you are doing an email marketing campaign. Your prospect’s name is one of the easiest piece of information you can gather. If you are just going to use a generic “Dear Friend” then don’t bother emailing them. Most email marketing tools will allow you to customise your email messages with the recipients first name so make sure you personalise!

How else do you personalise your email marketing campaign?

For instance, Foursquare works in such a way that it gives the title of “Mayor” to customers who are frequenting a particular shop or establishment. To cut it short, with location based media like Foursquare, you will be able to further engage consumers with your brand and do a check-in campaign. However, before you carry on this kind of campaign, make sure that you keep in mind the following:

Make An Effort to Stand Out from The Crowd

Though every business can offer 20-30 percent off their products, it would be better if you can create a check-in promotion that make your customers feel special. You may want to do a monthly celebration for your “Mayor” or give your “Mayor” a special token of appreciation that will make others want to follow his footstep. What you will give does not need to be expensive, but it needs to be memorable and fun.

Connect Your Check-In Campaign With Your CRM

The results  of a check-in campaign are as valuable as the results of other marketing campaigns. You may want to tie in your check-in promo to the rest of your inbound marketing programs so you can analyse the results and see if they are significant.

Offer Rewards

Remember that Foursquare is also a social networking site. You may want to use check-ins to multiply the number of people visiting your establishment and reward people who bring their buddies. Not everyone needs to check in, but they have to show up with someone who does.

How do you use location-based media to increase your customers?

Even if you are not new to the social media marketing game, you may also want to do a quick audit of all your accounts and evaluate if you have the essential characteristics of an effective social media account.

4 Essential Characteristics of An Effective Social Media Business Account

1. Have A Clear Purpose for Each Network and Maintain It

Despite the fuzziness of social media marketing, it needs to be approached with an analytical mindset. You may want to figure out how you are going to use each network and how many followers you want to attract in a specific length of time.

Do you want to use your social media accounts as a customer service channel or as a marketing tool? Ask yourself these questions before setting up an account. By doing so, you’ll be able to have a clear purpose for each account as well as maintain focus so as to avoid confusing your followers or fanbase.

2. Determine The Voice Behind Each Network

What do you want your voice to be? If it’s a support account you are establishing, you may want a friendly and helpful voice. However, if it’s an account where you are sharing your content and marketing your products, then you need to make sure that your brand’s personality shines through.

3. Publish Consistent Updates

You may want to check how often your competitors are publishing content and try to match, if not exceed their volume. To be able to do this, you need to make a firm commitment with yourself to produce great content consistently. Once you have established the proper frequency of your updates, you need to make sure that you maintain that frequency.

4. Interact with People

Remember that you are working with social media accounts so it goes without saying that you need to be social! Talk to your fans and tweet with people! Follow people back and find out what their interests are in relation to your industry.

In Summary

Though there are still lots of things you can do in order to have a winning social media presence, the characteristics we have mentioned above are crucial and should be dealt with before anything else.

What qualities do you think is needed for an effective social media profile?

Use Them at Conferences and Events

QR codes can be used by marketers at conferences, events, and trade shows. By using it, visitors can easily gather information from your business quickly without having to jot anything down. The next time you are participating in an event, make sure that you add a QR code to the content you are producing. Configure the QR code to send people who scan it to your landing page, preferably one with a form to help you with your lead generation efforts.

Use Them on Your Business Cards

It’s difficult and can be a hassle to transfer a person’s information from their business card to your contact database. You would need to manually input their name, title, email address, and phone number. However, with a QR code, all the information from your card can instantly be transfered to a database just by scanning your code. Placing QR codes on your business cards will certainly be helpful in capturing leads you get from in-person communication.

Print Advertising

When people see advertisements on newspapers and magazines, they usually ignore them. However, when it’s a QR code they see, they become interested as to where the QR code will lead. With a QR code, you will be able to gauge the success of your ad by knowing how many people scanned your code and visited your landing page. With millions of ads people see everyday, placing a QR code can help your ad stand out and make a good first impression.

What other ways are you using your QR codes?

If you think your content is not interesting enough, then you better re-think your approach. Below are some reasons why no one is sharing your blog post.

The Headline of Your Blog Post Sucks

No one likes boring headlines. Keep in mind that the most important part of your post is its headline since through it you create a first impression. Write headlines that are descriptive and one that also sparks a sense of urgency. Your reader’s should be captivated by your headline and hook them with great content behind it.

Your Timing Is Off

Do you know when to publish content in order to get the best results? You may be publishing your posts when your readers are busy with work. It would be better if you can survey your audience and ask when they are likely to read your content. Remember that planning ahead is key. Know when your audience are most likely free and not busy with other things.

You Write About Yourself Too Much

When readers read your post, remember that they don’t care much about you or your company. Readers are after news and information. They like to be fed with information that interests them. How-to articles and lists of tips and resources are good formats to begin with.

You Make Your Posts Difficult to Share

It’s sad how many blogs do not have social sharing buttons. It is quite easy to get so excited in selecting the perfect design for your blog then forget about the obvious and functional elements like social media buttons or subscribe widgets. Try to settle for a design that is simple enough to get the most important features, and plan ahead with your content.

What makes you want to share a blog post? Let us know and leave your comments below!

According to McKinsey & Co, word-of-mouth is a factor between 20 and 50% of purchasing decisions – and the influential generate three times as many word-of-mouth messages as the non-influential. However, it’s not easy to mingle with opinion leaders. Before you try to associate yourself with the influential people in your industry, make sure that you first build your own reputation. Below are some ways on how you can establish your influence online.

Write Content That Resonates With Your Audience

When writing content, focus matters. It is difficult to be the jack of all trades so become known for the subject that is really relevant to your business. It will also be helpful if you know what your readers would like to see. Try to find what their interests are and write about those in relation to what you have to offer.

Increase The Size of Community You Communicate With

Remember that the more reach you have, the better. More people will be able to read your content and the easier you will be able to establish yourself as an opinion leader.

Avoid Mutual Follow Back Schemes

Let your reputation spread and let your audience grow organically. Don’t fool yourself by engaging in follow back schemes. Instead, be active and remember to be constantly engaging with the people you want as your audience.

Interact With People Who Retweet Your Content

If the people who talk about your product or service are opinion leaders then the more you need to interact with them. Monitor your social media accounts for any mention of your brand name and content and engage with people who are mentioning your brand.

How else are you establishing your online influence?

The key is repackaging your existing content and distributing it on multiple platforms in order for you to make the most out of it. Below are some tips on you how you can extend the reach of your existing content.

Blog About It

After you have repackaged your existing content into something new. Make an effort to blog about it. Remember that your blogpost should be in a conversational tone. It needs to encourage readers to comment and start a discussion.

Publish on Multiple Platforms

Think about where you can publish your repackaged content. Try to do some research to find out the most appropriate site to feature your content. For example,  in addition to publishing your new content to your website, you can also publish your content as PDF to Slideshare. By doing so, you are leveraging another channel to reach a different audience.

Re-packaging Your Content In A Different Format

If you have some quotable quotes on your repackaged content, you can again repackage it and create a short video featuring some of your quotes. Remember that people prefer to consume information in a myriad of ways. By constantly changing your content’s format  you reach people who prefer different types of media.

What other suggestions do you have for making the most of your existing content? Let us know!