Add THIS to your to do list!

Below you will find just what you need to boost your business, in this social media age.

So you have a business, and your business has a website. If you have a website, you’re no doubt familiar with search engine optimization, right?  Well, optimization is certainly the way to greatly enhance your business!

Now, add “social optimization” to your to-do list.

Social Media Tips and Tricks - Optimization?

"Why," you ask?  Because a website that’s optimized for social media sharing attracts a lot more traffic! It sparks more engagement with customers.

But what EXACTLY does social optimization mean? Is it simply a matter of adding social sharing buttons to pages? Actually, no.  It encompasses everything from encouraging more sharing to seeking more feedback from visitors.  That sharing and feedback is what is going to get you that boost.  You need these social media tips and tricks!  So let's do it!

How To Get That Traffic: Do These 5 Tricks!

To make your website more social, consider these five social media tips & tricks from entrepreneur.com for going beyond buttons:

1. Encourage a more social experience.

There is a belief that people either share or they don’t. Not so. You can encourage sharing and engagement on your website by choosing “Emotionally Intelligent” words. This means you select words that represent the personality of your brand.  You want to appear conversational.

Here is an example - change a “Try it now” link to “Ready to give it a whirl?”

This evokes an action.  It also makes the click more of a personal experience for the user. Making it personal, in turn, can help users feel more comfortable about leaving a comment or sharing on your site.  Now how's that for one of the best social media tips and tricks?

2. Raise the bar on content quality.

Creating distinctive content that your customers find interesting and useful is, of course, key to any successful online marketing strategy. Without it, there are far less chances that your pages will be discovered.  Your pages won't be linked to by other sites.

Improving the quality of your content is one way to make your site more social. Think about it. Are you creating articles, blog posts or videos that are worth sharing? For example, make sure your titles are enticing. Be sure to integrate your sharing buttons closely with the content of your message.

Content format and length are also important. Infographics, videos and concise blog posts are generally shared often.  And certainly shared more often than long, in-depth pieces. This is because they’re easily and quickly digested. That’s especially important with the growing number of customers using mobile-device.

3. Incentivize when possible.

People want to compete.  And win. So one of the best social media tips and tricks is this - incentivize!

You can incentivize your visitors with gaming features.  Include badges, counts and stars on your website. Ask yourself what can be tweaked.   What incentives can you give to cause people to share on the social media platforms? An incentive can be something as simple as ratings or voting!

One example of this is ModCloth’s “Be the Buyer” program. The online vintage clothing retailer invites shoppers to vote on which outfit the company should sell next. Customers are also encouraged to promote the outfit to friends to get more votes. If an outfit gets enough votes, ModCloth will carry the outfit.

This program encourages shoppers to check back often, increasing site visits and potentially boosting sales. The shoppers are rewarded by being able to buy an outfit that isn’t carried anywhere else. It’s a win-win.

4. Actively seek customer feedback.

When was the last time you asked your visitors what they wanted to see next? Ask them to vote on the next feature you build. Or to choose a product they’d like to see you sell. Don't underestimate the power of feedback.

So here's one of those important social media tips and tricks - crowdsource.  Crowdsourcing on your site can help encourage users to be social both with you and each other.

An example comes from conversion and retention analytics company KISSmetrics. Kiss metrics spent its first year asking customers which metrics they needed and where they should go with the app. By relying on customer feedback, KISSmetrics was able to meet customer expectations throughout its platform. This approach helped increase customer retention. And the likelihood of future feedback.

5. Track diligently and make adjustments.

You might believe that some brands are just more likely to win in social engagement than others, but that is rarely the case. Success often comes down to a more strategic process of testing and making adjustments - it comes down to social media tips and tricks!

To boost engagement on your site, test such factors as where sharing buttons go and which kind of messages encourage customer interaction. Most sites have Google Analytics or other research tools, but few are using them to track social media traffic and better understand how people are engaging on their site. Simple changes such as using more direct language can often boost social activity.

Businesses that refuse to test and adjust their social optimization strategies will find that engagement can quickly fizzle and competitors will gladly connect with their former fans.

Related: Social Media Keeps Business Marketing Fresh!

What are YOUR social media tricks? What's on YOUR To Do List?

I'd love to know!  Tell me in the comments below - your thoughts are like GOLD to me.  Seriously.  I use the information gathered here, when writing articles, creating webinars, and doing TV segments.

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