Findability Makeover: I'm on Twitter... Now What?
More and more of my
clients have jumped
on the social media
bandwagon but have
no idea what they
should be expecting
from their efforts.
Patricia Fripp, a well-known
speaker and executive speech
coach is asking herself this
very question. In March, 2009,
Patricia decided to join the
Twitter community and has
since grown her “followers” to
more than 3,800 as of June,
2010. She is diligently tweeting
and doing everything right, from a Findability/Twitter
standpoint — if you search using search.twitter.com you will
see her using her main keyword “executive speech coach” in
her tweets. But the effort is not matching the results.
“I have bursts of enthusiasm about social media. I assume
keyword-rich tweets are not going to hurt but I am not
aware of any booked business from Twitter.”
— Patricia Fripp
This Findability Makeover is about taking Twitter efforts
and turning them into real results. Whether it’s cash
business, sale leads, networking or just fun; as a business
you cannot just throw yourself into social media without
understanding the end game.
Objective: Get more clients from Twitter by driving traffic
to the main website (www.Fripp.com) and incentivizing with
articles and giveaways. Hook users in and keep them hungry
for more Patricia Fripp insights.
Problem: Patricia Fripp has a large and growing following
with lackluster business results. How does she turn this
community of “followers” into new clients?
Twitter Action Plan:
1. Check The Fundamentals First
2. Analyze and Make it Better
Step 1: Check the Fundamental Elements of
Your Twitter Account
Before looking ahead, we have a solid foundation. Check
these fundamental elements of your Twitter account first.
(1) Professional-looking Background
Patricia’s background was great a year ago, but I recommend
she update it with a call-to-action, statements of
clear benefits of working with her, and a prominent
phone number and website address. Think of a Twitter
profile page as a mini website — a professional look with
calls-to-action are very important. Also, testing different
looks and feels can go a long way in this forum.
(2) Time Management Tools are a Must!
Set up a tool for monitoring and conversation management.
I recommend a few free tools — Ping.fm, SocialOomph
and Hootsuite. Remember, taking an hour
to program 30 tweets for the next month can save
several hours of social media updating in the future.
(3) Set Up a Measurement System
Choosing a measurement system will depend on the
goals you have set for your Twitter account. In Patricia’s
case, this means driving traffic to her website then converting
those visitors into leads. For this type of measurement
Google Analytics is the best tool. In addition to
setting up tracking codes for each link, extensive
amounts of data can be collected and measured. For
example, in Patricia’s case, she found:
i. 57 visits to her website from Twitter
ii Average time-on-site from Twitter visitors is 1
minute, 26 seconds
iii. Average visitor sees at least 2 pages
iv. 60 percent are first-time visitors
Of course, one of the pieces of information missing in
this data is conversions –— how many people who
visited Patricia’s website took action (filled out a form
or made a purchase)? By tracking conversions, Patricia
will be able to start measuring what tweets were more
likely to drive converting traffic.
(4) Tweet Twice Per Day, Testing Calls-to-Action,
Keywords and Links
Every Twitter follower wants different information. It is
very important to try different tactics (calls-to-action,
keywords, links, etc.) to determine what your target
audience wants the most.
Step 2: Analyze and Make it Better
Now that Patricia has been tweeting for a while, it’s time
to start analyzing what updates are the most successful. Patricia’s
main objective for Twitter is to get leads, yet her selfidentified
success metric with Twitter seems to be re-tweets.
A big reason her enthusiasm may wane with Twitter is
because her updates are optimized for re-tweets instead of
bottom-line results.
Before analyzing an account, it’s very important to
determine the metrics that demonstrate success of the business
goal. In this instance, we want to measure traffic
received from Twitter to Fripp.com (as tracked by Google
Analytics) instead odd re-tweets. As such, we are measuring
the tweets that included a link to the Fripp.com website
to determine their success in driving traffic to the main
website. This will provide insight into how to optimize the
account for better business results.
(1) Measure for the Right Results
Hootsuite will measure the number of clicks you receive
on links in tweets. However, it is important to note that
Hootsuite only measures clicks, whereas Google Analytics
can measure a great deal more — pages per visit,
unique visitors and conversion metrics (if a visit resulted
in a sale or lead).
(2) Analyze Updates to Take Tweeting to the Next Level
Let’s take a look at the most successful Tweets in Patricia’s
account, based on traffic sent to Fripp.com. Based on
click counts and the content in these tweets we can determine
successful elements to continue incorporating.
a. Include Links as Much as Possible: The best way to track
success is by measuring the next step people take after
seeing a tweet — accomplished by including links and
tracking user clicks. Also, consider building specific landing
pages for Twitter clicks based on the tweet.
b. Use Popular Keywords: “Marketing for Speakers,”
“Speaking Skills” and “Speaking School” seem to be very
effective Twitter keywords for Patricia’s audience. We
recommend using them more.
c. Refine Subject Matter: “NSA” (National Speakers Association)
is included in each of the tweets that generated
zero clicks. If you are tweeting for a specific event such
as “National Speakers Association Winter Conference,”
check for an associated hashtag (i.e. #NSA10.) It is possible
more clicks could have been generated, as Twittersavvy
event attendees knew to look for that hashtag for
information about the event.
d. Don’t be Too Sale-zy: Try a softer sales approach, a few
more calls-to-action or even a free giveaway. Based on
clicks, 12 free podcasts is much more compelling to this
audience then a direct speaking pitch.
Findability is about being present when the community
searches for you, but it also means giving them a valuable
interaction once they click. Tracking and market intelligence
can go a long way in delivering your target audience
the information they find meaningful in your Twitter
account. Being able to connect meaningfully with your audience
by producing targeted, well-crafted updates is the
best way to optimize your Twitter account to not only attract
followers, but drive conversions.
About the Author: Heather Lutze has spent the last 10 years helping business owners get their enterprises noticed on the Web by their target audiences. She is the author of “The Findability Formula: The Easy, Non- Technical Approach to Search Engine Marketing.” by Wiley & Sons. She is a Social Media Speaker and runs a Denver Internet Marketing agency. Visit FindabilityFormula.com for tools and resources to increase your site’s findability.


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