Name
Gender
Email address
Marital status
Birthday
Location
FIGURE 23.1 Wendy’s Facebook Social Login Confirmation. Note how it clearly explains what personal data will be shared with Wendy’s
You can request more information, but be advised that more onerous requests will result in fewer VISITORS converting into SUBSCRIBERS.
A Social Login option not only makes your company appear more “up to date” to VISITORS; it also delivers a more engaged SUBSCRIBER base. Samsung (@Samsung) found those who subscribed via its Social Login option were 34 percent more likely to open emails, 63 percent more likely to click, and a whopping 506 percent more likely to leave product reviews.4 With 92 percent of consumers indicating they will abandon a website when they forget their login credentials, Social Login has moved from a nice to have to a must have feature in very short order.5
Resource Recommendations:
Convince & Convert (@JayBaer)—www.convinceandconvert.com
Social Media Examiner (@SMExaminer)—www.socialmediaexaminer.com
Tactic #9: Social Icons
If you recall my rant from Chapter 5, you already know that I’m not a fan of plastering social icons everywhere. You should limit the use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social network icons to those places where they will inspire the SEEKER to engage—preferably by becoming an AMPLIFIER and extending the reach of your content. These are some places social icons do work:
At the end and beginning of blog posts or articles
In association with images and product photography
In association with podcasts and online videos
These are places social icons don’t work (absent additional context promoting specific reasons to engage):
At the end of TV commercial without any further context
As static-cling stickers on your mall or store windows
In the header of your website, far removed from content
In fact, I recently had a conversation with a high-volume retailer that had decided to remove social icons from their emails altogether because they weren’t being used and took up valuable real estate. If you determine that your AMPLIFIERS, FANS, or FOLLOWERS aren’t using your social icons, ditch them.
Resource Recommendations:
MarketingSherpa (@MarketingSherpa)—www.marketingsherpa.com
Social Media Explorer (@SMXplorer)—www.socialmediaexplorer.com
Tactic #10: Overlays & POP-UPS
Overlays are one of the most polarizing SUBSCRIBER acquisition methods in use today. These opt-in CTAs are deployed on your website or blog and encourage VISITORS to subscribe to email, download your app, or engage with you. (See Figure 23.2.) To many SEEKERS, they are annoyances that interrupt the browsing experience.
FIGURE 23.2 Overlay on Motley Fool (@MotleyFool) Homepage
To conversion-minded marketers, however, overlays are often worth the risk in order to convert SEEKERS (who can appear and disappear at will) into SUBSCRIBERS you can reengage. Overlays are not for everyone, but they are worth testing to see if your immediate engagement losses are more than covered by your SUBSCRIBER gains and returning traffic.6
Resource Recommendations:
Conversion Voodoo (@ConversionTips)—www.conversionvoodoo.com/blog
Which Test Won (@WhichTestWon)—www.whichtestwon.com
Tactic #11: Signage & DOOH Advertising
Take stock of your company’s Owned Media signage and then put on your PAD Team hat. Signage in stores, restaurants, and offices can promote the SUBSCRIBER relationship via calls to opt-in for email/SMS or to download your Mobile App. Waiting rooms may be the perfect place to showcase the benefits of becoming a Facebook FAN or AMPLIFIER. Fleet vehicles make for the perfect, mobile CTAs that attract FOLLOWERS seeking company information.
The options to build proprietary audiences through signage only increase when you examine Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising solutions. Billboards, bus stops, concerts, elevators, escalators, malls, sporting events, and taxis are just a few of the places where you can use Paid Media to inspire social engagement from mobile-enabled consumers. Need inspiration? Just head to Times Square in New York City, where social media campaigns leveraging DOOH happen every week.
Resource Recommendations:
Digital Outsider (@MediaPost)— www.mediapost.com/publications/digital-outsider
The Web Outside (@TheWebOutside)—www.theweboutside.com
Tactic #12: Cross-Channel Promotion
As you grow your SUBSCRIBER, FAN, and FOLLOWER audiences, you gain the ability to use each audience to build the other. Emails become opportunities to encourage social engagement on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook posts and pages give you the ability to integrate email opt-in forms. And tweets let you promote both email opt-in and Facebook engagement.