Page 321 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

an impression or a single sale from your campaign. Yes, consumers will always
want those short-term deals and the back-to-school offers, but they want more.

When consumers click links today, either from advertisements or social networks,
they expect to be taken to a website that tells them everything about your product
or brand that they’re interested in. They want to be able to view your offer and
make a purchase, but also navigate the rest of your website. These consumers
want to be able to view what else you have for sale, learn more about your com-
pany, and share that information with their friends. Everything needs to be
integrated.

Today’s consumers visiting your website don’t want to just depend on your brand
or company to tell them what to buy and whether the offer you’re pushing at them
is special. They want to draw that conclusion themselves with the assistance of
their social influencers. So, as you think about social media marketing on your
website, first and foremost consider that your consumers want more than an ad
click to a home page.

Making the Campaign and the

Website Work Together

The best way to make the advertising campaign and your website work harmoni-
ously in a social world is to make sure you link the two in every way possible. In
the sections that follow, we tell you how you can optimize those links.

Treating your website as a hub,
not a destination

The first step in practicing SMM on your website is recognizing that it’s a hub that
fits into a larger digital ecosystem supporting your brand. This digital ecosystem
includes the following: your website; your ads across the Internet; your presence
on various social platforms; and the conversations about your brand on blogs, the
social platforms, in online communities, and on discussion forums. Your purpose
shouldn’t only be to bring people to your website and entice them to stay on it as
long as possible. That might contradict every traditional marketing principle, but
it’s true.

If someone wants to know everything about your company — good, bad, or
ugly — he should feel that your website is the best starting point for him.

CHAPTER 21 Practicing SMM on Your Website 305