Internet Marketing Makeover: Tracking & Optimizing Visitor Profitablity
Welcome to Day 18 of the Internet Marketing Makeover!
Throughout this process, we’ve optimized our site for popular keywords, created content, and implemented a lead generation funnel, among many, many other ways we’ve streamlined and revamped.
The end goal is, of course, to make some money. Tweaking plugin settings (as fun as it might be) doesn’t make us a dime!
And we need to know where are conversions are coming from to do so.
Today we’ll start the process of tracking where our visitors come from and which of those convert to email subscribers or product buyers so we can better optimize our site for those profitable visitors.
[The rest of this post is for members only. The good news? Membership is free. Sign up here or log in here.]
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Stuff Your Buffer with Reeder & Flipboard
Here’s how to rock out with your _____ (ahem, “socks”) out when curating c ontent
on the iPad.
Sign up for Buffer here, whether you’ve got an iPad / iPhone or not. I use it on my desktop all the time.
iPad folks, do yourself a favor and spend the $ 2.99 on Reeder. It’s an app you’ll use every day. Then grab Flipboard as well – that one’s free.
Save your Buffer email address into “Contacts” and you’re golden.
Twitter’r LorenzoR asked for this video and I thought there would be a few more interested – thanks Lorenzo!
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Get A Top Google Ranking – See the Proof
seoexciter.com Do you want to understand search engine optimization for free and make your website Search engine optimization friendly? Find out Search engine optimization suggestions and Seo tactics from our professional and enhance your website rankings.
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Read MoreTop 10 Facebook Apps for Fan Engagement and Building Community
Are you looking for ways to better engage Facebook fans and build your community?
These top 10 Facebook apps are, in my opinion, some of the most useful ones for pages when it comes to encouraging fan engagement and giving value to your community.
They are also very easy to use. Some may be familiar to you, but you may find some new gems to try out.
By the way, check out Top Ten Facebook Apps for Building Custom Tabs & Pages. If you are looking for a more comprehensive list, check out the one by Mari Smith: Top 75 Apps for Enhancing Your Facebook Page.
#1: Fan of the Week for Pages
Your fans like to be recognized. This application keeps track of participation on your Facebook page and then automatically posts a “shout out” to your fan of the week.
The application is free for the basic message, but in this post, Club D’Ville has upgraded to the paid version to post a custom message that rewards the fan of the week even more with some free passes.
Reward your fans with recognition or go a step further and give them some free goodies.
The fan of the week application also adds a custom tab to your sidebar that features that week’s fan on the tab.
To add it to your page, just go to http://apps.facebook.com/fanofthe/ and then choose the page to add it to. The app will automatically post to your page wall at the same time every week. Make sure you add the app to your page at the exact time you would like it to post.
Enabling the Fan of the Week for Pages app is easy.
#2: Booshaka
Booshaka is another application that will highlight the fans who are participating on your page more often. When you install the application, a custom tab called Top Fans is added to your page.
Fans get the most points for posting to your wall and they also receive points for comments and likes.
Booshaka gives points for participation.
You can view the stats of each fan listed to see how they have participated. The app gives a complete history of the fan’s activity on your page.
To install Booshaka, just go to www.Booshaka.com and click the blue Install button. They also have a Top Fans Pro version that rewards the top fans with perks.
#3: NetworkedBlogs
Facebook has changed the news feed algorithm, so it can be hard to keep track of what’s working and what’s not.
But in recent news, Facebook appears to have changed its algorithm again so that third-party posting applications such as NetworkedBlogs, HootSuite, TweetDeck and others will not be hidden in the news feed.
I have done my own research and have not found any collapsed posts from these applications, which is good news.
Even though it’s always best for engagement and EdgeRank purposes to post manually on Facebook, sometimes a little automation can be helpful. NetworkedBlogs is an application that automatically posts your new blog posts to your Facebook wall. You can use it to post to your personal profile, your Facebook page and Twitter accounts.
The application will pull in the title of the blog post, the first picture in the post (or a screen shot of your entire blog if there isn’t a picture) and the first few lines of the post. When someone clicks on the post, there are Share buttons at the top of the post to allow readers to easily share it with their networks.
NetworkedBlogs automatically posts your new blog posts to your wall.
I find the setup and navigation of NetworkedBlogs a little challenging, but there are help files. The easiest way to add NetworkedBlogs to your fan page is by going to http://www.facebook.com/networkedblogs and clicking on the Add to My Page link on the left sidebar.
#4: Post Planner
Sometimes you need to schedule your posts to your Facebook page. There are some scheduling tools such as SocialOomph, HootSuite or TweetDeck, but none has the capability to schedule posts with pictures or video. Post Planner can help with that.
The tool does cost $ 4.95/month to post to pages, but having some peace of mind that you won’t forget to post at the perfect time can help. Always make sure you are engaging and checking back into the conversation.
Post Planner also has a White Label version so you can customize the app name and send people who click on it to your website instead of to an application.
Post Planner can schedule posts with pictures.
The easiest way to install Post Planner is to go to www.postplanner.com.
#5: YouTube
If you have a YouTube channel, I recommend integrating it into your Facebook page so that people who come to your page can easily access your videos. There are many YouTube applications, but my favorite is YouTube for Pages by Involver. It’s easy to install, the layout is nice and it offers easy sharing.
Your most recent video is automatically displayed as the largest. The application will not automatically post your newest video to the wall, but you can easily post it with just two clicks.
The YouTube for Pages app prominently displays your most recent video
The application is easy to install from http://www.facebook.com/YouTubeApp and then click the Add to My Page link on the left sidebar.
#6: Livestream
Livestream is a great way to bring live video events to your Facebook page. The chat feature can make it more interactive with the audience. You can record the events for later viewing.
Mari Smith's recent Livestream broadcast.
To add Livestream to your page, go to http://apps.facebook.com/livestream/ and click the green Get Started button.
#7: ContactMe
Make it easy for people to get in touch with you with a contact form on your Facebook page. With the ContactMe app, you can add many different fields and customize the form to suit your needs. Install the ContactMe form at http://www.facebook.com/contactforms.
Customize the fields or just keep it basic with a name, email and message.
#8: Constant Contact
Many people wonder how to add a newsletter signup to their page. There are lots of ways that include iFrame apps and design.
What I like about the Constant Contact application is that it is very simple to use. But it doesn’t allow for a lot of bells and whistles. You can add text to talk about your newsletter and even a picture as shown in the figure below.
But for people who are intimidated by code and too much customization capability, this application can be just the ticket to add a newsletter signup if you use the Constant Contact email service.
The Constant Contact Join my List app is easy to use.
Get started at http://apps.facebook.com/ctctjmml/.
Note: MailChimp also has a Facebook app for newsletter signup if you use their service: http://apps.facebook.com/mailchimp/.
#9: Scribd for Pages
Scribd is a document-sharing service that makes it easy to upload and share PDF, DOC, XLS, JPG and PPT files. People often want to be able to share a document with their Facebook community.
While you could upload the document to your website and share the link, the Scribd application allows people to easily view the document right in the tab and download it if they wish.
Involver also developed Scribd for Pages, and the easiest way to install it is to go to http://apps.facebook.com/involver_epdmxwnq/. You can also access it by going to www.Involver.com.
Add PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, pictures or Word documents that your audience can download.
#10: Ecwid
To open a storefront that operates within Facebook, add Ecwid to your page. Ecwid integrates with PayPal, Google Checkout, Authorize. net and several other payment processing options.
Setting up a store is a little more involved than the other apps listed here, but can easily draw attention to your products and services. Ecwid has forums and very good customer support to help you on your way to becoming a social e-commerce pro.
To get started, go to www.ecwid.com.
Easily create your own storefront that integrates with your Facebook page.
Applications can and should enhance your community’s experience with your Facebook page. They can also make your life easier with a little automation.
What do you think? Have you tried these applications? What has been your experience? Share your questions and comments with us in the box below.
Read MoreNominate Your Favorite Social Media Blog: 3rd Annual Top 10 Social Media Blog Contest
It’s time to open up nominations for our 3rd annual Top 10 Social Media Blogs contest—the blogosphere’s biggest contest for social media blogs.
We’re looking for your nomination for the Top 10 Social Media Blogs. The winners will be promoted in our 120,000-reader newsletter and announced on Social Media Examiner.
How to Nominate
Please make a single nomination of your favorite social media blog by commenting below and including why you like the blog (only your first nomination counts). Be sure to include a link to the blog.
To make the cut, a blog must be nominated by multiple people. Make your nomination by 1/5/2012.
The Judges: Our judges include Andy Sernovitz (author, Word of Mouth Marketing & CEO, SocialMedia.org), Rick Calvert (CEO, BlogWorld), and Michael Stelzner (author, Launch & CEO, Social Media Examiner).



Winners will be selected based on the quality of their content, the frequency of their posts, reader involvement and their blog’s ranking (in that order). Think part readers-choice and part Oscars.
The winners will be announced here in January and also in our newsletter. Click here to see our 2011 top 10 blog contest winners.
Note that our judges will decide the final winners.
Go ahead and enter your nomination right now in the box below and be sure to let your friends know about this contest.
Read MoreLearn SEO Live Tips & Techniques Video#1
Discover Seo Live with Garrett Pierso.
Guidelines for Maury Wilks Group. Locate out more at www.LearnSEOLive.com
Search engine optimization Suggestions
Read MoreArticle Marketing DEATHMATCH – Follow Up
I run tests all the time – you should too! – to find out what’s working today, what’s devalued, and what’ s ju
st plain hype.
A lot of the time, the test results aren’t surprising. But sometimes, they are – as they were in a recent test I ran I lovingly referred to as the “Article Marketing DEATHMATCH!”
Here’s the results from that test I published on 11/1:
Article Marketing DEATHMATCH – Results!
Which article marketing service produces the most backlinks over a 2 month period?
URL 1: Unique Article Wizard
URL 2: Build My Rank
URL 3: Article Samurai
Backlinks on 8/26
0
0
0
Backlinks on 9/22
11
30
1
Backlinks on 10/2
11
28
3
Backlinks on 10/10
11
32
4
Backlinks on 11/1
14
38
10
I poked in again today and saw that they haven’t changed much – Build My Rank has gained a few more, while Unique Article Wizard and Article Samurai have lost a few.
What surprised me so much? That Article Samurai came in last in the results. And I wasn’t the only person surprised – several folks noted in comments that they’ve seen much better results than I did with Article Samurai.
Eugene Ware, Noble Samurai CEO and delightful young lad, wrote me to point out a few reasons why Article Samurai may have underperformed in my test, and I wanted to pass them along to you, as several of them apply to any backlinks technique you’re testing:
- SEOMoz & Majestic SEO crawl higher authority sites first when discovering new links. This may skew the results towards Build My Rank, according to Eugene. While Majestic & SEOMoz will eventually find all the links, the BMR links may have been found sooner, and thus skewed the results.
- Eugene recommends searching for a unique keyphrase or fingerprint found in your article to determine how much it was distributed instead of looking at backlinks. For example, one of my articles came up with 1100 results when Eugene looked for a unique string in Google.
- The category an article is submitted under will affect article distribution (in almost any service). With Article Samurai, Eugene says, “With broader categories you get wider distribution, but a lower hit-rate with web-site acceptance, while narrower categories have higher acceptance rates but lower distribution.”
Since Google doesn’t reveal all the backlinks they “count” in their algorithm, it’s impossible to defeintively say that one article marketing service outperforms or is better than another. We have to go off the metrics we can measure, such as links found in Majestic or, as Eugene suggested, searching for a unique string to check article distribution.
As I encouraged in the original article, you can and should run your own tests, and I’ll keep running mine and sharing the results with you.
There were quite a few other backlinking services folks wanted me to check out, and I’m putting together my next test right now so we can get some more data!
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SEO Tips & Ideas For Beginners – Urdu
how to boost your internet targeted traffic.and make lot income.the Very best way to discover
Video Rating: / five
The Plugin That Sent Me On An Emotional Roller Coaster
(Be sure to see new updates / edits below!)
Since it’s been the rage this week, I had a look at Auto Traffic Buddy to see what it was all about.
I had a roller coaster of emotions.
First, like most of you (I’m pretty sure) I don’t actually read every word on a salespage. So upon skimming and deciding to purchase, my understanding was that AutoTrafficBuddy is a WordPress plugin that was supposed to get links to inner pages, not just the homepage.
Sounds delightful. In fact, sounds like something very much needed. Homepage links are wonderful, but for each of our individual posts to really shine, we’ve GOT to be building deep links to the individual posts as well.
I was excited.
Once inside the member’s area, I watched the first “Overview & Intro” kind of video. That video talks about using feeder blogs – blogs you set up – that’ll automatically post backlinks to your post pages.
I was super, duper bummed.
One of the reasons I don’t care for plugins like Backlink Energizer (which also builds deep links) is that I’m required to set up (or buy a pre-set up package) or a ton of usernames and passwords at all the sites the plugin posts to. Juggling a zillion usernames and passwords, for a zillion sites, niches, pseudonyms, etc. is hardly my idea of a good time. You with me on that?
And yeah, of course it can be outsourced, and I have two dedicated link builders who can do it for me. It’s just that I’ve not found those kinds of links to be valuable enough in the past to even have my outsources spend a lot of time on them.
So I’m looking at Auto Traffic Buddy, and I’m thinking I’ve now got to create 20 or 30 accounts somewhere – wherever the plugin posts to – and that this idea has been done before a few different ways and ugh, I don’t really care to put in the time and effort.
I’m a lazy marketer.
Ok, maybe I’m not lazy, but I do like things simple. I’m not one of those people you’ll find happily pouring over a multi-tab spreadsheet, glistening with excitement over the data. I like things to “just work” as add as little friction to my (and my outsourcers’) workflow as possible.
Truth be told, I almost shut the whole thing down right then and there.
But I figured I’d dig a little deeper before I gave up.
And then, I was thrilled.
As I watched the rest of the training videos, I realized that the Auto Traffic Buddy crew realized what a lazy pants I am (ahem… I mean, someone who likes things simple) and built in to their system a way to create all the external sites – the places that link back to your blog – with about 3 clicks. No passwords, no usernames, no various URLs to sign up. It takes approximately 10 minutes to make them all, after watching the training (18 minutes). I did it myself. It was beautiful. Your AutoTrafficBuddy plugin is then installed on your WordPress blogs, pulls in the info it needs to post to those external sites all on it’s own, and poof – deep links are being built for you.
(This reminds me of something else I HATE about creating a zillion accounts at external sites and then trying to get them INTO some kind of software. There’s text files, or maybe CSV’s, and you have to format them just so… or everything borks. If you decide to add a few new external sites, you have to re-upload, some solutions don’t know to check for duplicates. Point being, it’s a MASSIVE headache. Because I’m into laziness simplicity.)
Needless to say, this isn’t the case with ATB. Loved it.
So now it’s out there building links to my blog posts – deep links, at that.
It’s not tough to get links to one’s homepage, but getting internal links, to each of your articles, can be quite a bit more tedious, so I really appreciate that about Auto Traffic Buddy.
WHO THIS ISN’T FOR
- You must have a self hosted WordPress blog to use the ATB plugin
WHAT AUTO TRAFFIC BUDDY WILL DO FOR YOU
- Setup should take you about 1 hour – including the training, creating the external sites and installing the plugin
- Automatically links from the external sites to your individual blog post URL’s – not just your homepage
- I’ve already seen an update pushed through and it downloads and installs directly in the WP Dashboard, no downloading from their site and re-uploading to all of your sites (a real time suck, and a problem a lot of plugins have)
- It’ll build links to past posts (those already published) as well as the new ones you publish going forward, so it’a good match for old and new blogs
I’m not going to tell you this is the answer to all your link building prayers – no one service will be (see Link Mixology for more info on mixing up the kinds and sources of links for best results). It is, however, a smart and simple (yay simple) solution to getting links built to your internal pages, automatically.
It’s being installed on all of my niche sites, and I recommend you look into is as well. I’m getting trackbacks and am able to see the URL’s my backlinks are posted on, which is a level of transparency you won’t find in many systems.
While there are a lot of products and solutions for homepage links, there isn’t a whole lot out there that is so easy to get started with for deep links as Auto Traffic Buddy.
Even if you’re not particularly interested in having your inner pages rank for a given keyphrase (i.e. you focus your efforts on just having your homepage rank for one “big kahuna” keyphrase), having links pointing to those inner pages makes you sites link patterns look more natural to the search engines. Do most sites (real, natural sites I mean!) have 10,000 links pointing to their home pages and none pointing to their inner pages? NO! Most sites have the majority of links pointing to their homepages, sure, but they also have some links pointing to their internal pages. Using the ATB plugin helps you emulate that kind of natural, normal internal backlink pattern.
Take a peek at Auto Traffic Buddy and see if it’s right for you.
Edited 4:39 p.m. – The ATB team just sent a message I thought you’d want to know about – and I’ve got a HUGE tip for you too:
With an Auto Traffic Buddy Purchase, you also get access to “Traffic Launch Pad,” a Mac & PC compatible software that gets you links with just the push of a button. It’s one of those submitter softwares – nothing that’ll rank you on your own, but something to add to your arsenal. These kinds of softwares DO produce links, and they can be one branch of your plan to get all kinds of links from all kinds of sources.
Anyway, the version of the software they’re working on right now, “Pro” will submit to 400 sites, auto ping after submission, save a history for you, has proxy support and a scheduler, will re-try timed out submissions and will let you import a list of URL’s.
I’ve been using the “Basic” version and it works as smoothly as they say – you really do just click “Go” and it submits. No filling out forms or CAPTCHA’s. This “Pro” versions sounds great – I’m really looking forward to it, and, of course, you can get your hands on it too as soon as it’s out as an Auto Traffic Buddy user.
So here’s the tip: Of course you’ll use the TLP Pro version you get with ATB to submit your sites, duh! But ALSO use the software to submit the URL’s of your external sites – the ones that you are getting Auto Traffic Buddy links from!
(Thinking deeper, this goes for all of the places you get links from – submit them all with TLP Pro to ensure your backlink sources are getting indexed and have a couple of links themselves.)
The TLP Pro bonus add-on is available for a limited time, and they haven’t specified how long, so you should probably just go for it now if you’re at all interested.
Enjoy some new links (all automatic – woo-hoo for the lazy!) from Auto Traffic Buddy and your freebie TLP Pro!
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- Here’s How To Get 25 One-Way Links
- WP Adsense Auto – Magically
- Link Mixology: The 12 Kinds Of Links Your Site Needs
3 Ways to Use Social Media for Product Research and Development
Are you looking for creative ideas for your next product or service?
Have you considered the wellspring of social media conversations as a source of product or service innovation?
Keep reading to discover how you can tap social media to enhance the development of your next great product.
Social Media for Product Research?
Yes, that’s correct… you can use social media-based conversations, feedback, comments, complaints and more as a source of research and development! This can be especially handy for smaller businesses that do not have big budgets for R&D.
Social media is not as planned or controlled as a focus group when it comes to research and development; however, with concentrated time and dedication you can use these channels to your company’s advantage. And, ultimately, you can benefit the very people you’re polling about improved and new products and services.
Innovation does not have to be limited to just within your company walls, so consider getting started with the following three steps.
#1: Establish your roadmap
Ask yourself what you want to accomplish. Are you looking for feedback on how to improve a customer-service process within your company? Does an existing product have flaws or need a new look? Are you looking to develop an entirely new product or service? Do your customers have a need for a product or service that you have not thought of?
Establishing your goals before you begin the research will allow you to develop a roadmap for success. If you know what you’re hoping to accomplish before you start, you’ll set yourself up for keeping on track, correcting if you steer off track and of course restructuring or closing down the research if you’re coming up with nothing in the area you’re seeking.
Part of the roadmap of goals will need to include the arenas in the social sphere in which you will be conducting the research. Not every social channel may be the right avenue.
- YouTube may come in handy if you want people to watch a series of new product demonstrations.
Cisco is one of many companies using social media forms, including YouTube to spread the word about new products and services to not just customers, but their large workforce as well.
- Twitter may be useful if you need to reach larger numbers of your audience and receive quick feedback.
In 2008, Zappos asked their Twitter followers to help them rewrite the confirmation email customers receive upon placing an order with the company. They wanted to add more “pizzazz” to the piece, so they held a contest to encourage their followers to participate in the rewriting process.
The company’s CEO prioritizes deep connections with the customers as a way to provide the products and services those individuals want and need.
- Creating a Facebook app would permit you means for social co-creation with your fans.
VitaminWater sourced their latest drink flavor from participants on the company’s fan page. They offered fans the opportunity to combine their favorite flavors into a winning idea that would benefit the company with low-cost crowdsourcing and product development, and the fans with not only the chance at the $ 5,000 prize for the winning flavor, but creative input into a brand they value.
Jonathon Meiri, creator of Superfly.com, shares how his business discovered they could harness the power of social media for product innovation.
“Around the time that we launched (mid-May), we set up Facebook fan pages for Superfly as well as for various elite flier groups. We wanted to facilitate interactions among users of a particular frequent-flier program and get a sense for where their pain points would be. In our case, it’s like being invited to one of the elite airline lounges and sitting in on a conversation between two elite travelers, understanding their pain, and then building the products to solve it.”
Superfly takes pride in actively driving their new product and service development from customer feedback on social sites such as Facebook.
And Shashank Nigam, of Simpliflying.com, points out that many nontraditional businesses are employing social media and harnessing the power of their audience’s innovative insights. “Airlines, airports and hotels are increasingly seeing social media as an inexpensive and easy way to seek and incorporate customer feedback,” he said.
For example, Estonian Air recently launched “My Estonian Air” project, where it invited members of the public to improve any aspect of the program.
Estonian Air is asking their audience to help them build the airline from the ground up to better match the customers' service and product wishes!
And another thoughtful example is Intercontinental Hotels Group. The company has a private community of its top guests who are often asked for suggestions as a substitute for focus groups. Such efforts are not only less expensive and more efficient than traditional focus groups; they also help build a relationship with the customers through engagement.
Priority Club Rewards undertook extensive global research to better understand the attitudes and habits of hotel guests.
These are only a few of the considerations to weigh when establishing your research plan. Goals, tactics and implementation will vary based on the company and project needs.
#2: Pose relevant questions and collect the data
Your roadmap will dictate your expectations and needs for your research and help to give shape to the questions to ask your audience. While the questions asked will need to support your overarching goals for the research, they should also serve to elicit an answer too.
Remember the medium you are working within. Asking formal or stale questions in an informal environment (Twitter, Facebook, a blog, etc.) may result in little or no feedback. A question that may work on your blog might not work for a Twitter audience.
A great example of a company crowdsourcing input for new service development was conducted by AirTran Airways in spring 2009. At the time, the airline was looking for feedback from their audience on what new service should be offered on every AirTran flight. So they posed the query via a clever website which asked one productive and meaningful question of the audience members: “What do you think should be on every AirTran flight?”
The response and feedback from fans was gangbusters and quite creative! After several weeks, the message was clear from all of the ballots submitted online. The audience wanted Wi-Fi on every flight. AirTran asked the right question, collected the data and delivered upon that request. Wi-Fi is now an option on every AirTran flight!
The answer to AirTran's crowdsourced question was clear: the audience wanted Wi-Fi on every flight!
You may not need to create the conversation. When you begin asking your questions, you may find ongoing conversations that hold the answers you seek. Don’t be afraid to join the conversation!
Organizing and recording the responses received to your relevant questions are a must. Through organization and analysis of the data, insights and trends will begin to arise and can give shape to your future product and service innovation and development.
#3: Put the data collected to work
If you have indicated to your audience that you are working on an initiative and plan to carry it out, deliver on that promise. If the audience has given their time to share their needs and wants, reward that effort (within reason).
Jonathon Meiri of Superfly.com explains how his team put collected data to use:
“Our ‘elite circles’ feature is a direct result of our Facebook fan pages. We realize that elite users love interacting with other elite travelers. Just like a social graph, we let users interact with other users in their ‘circle.’ We found that whenever you put them together, they start comparing notes—first about the specific programs, and then they start exchanging valuable information about their travel plans, destination, hotel, etc. Superfly already has that data, so we simply make it easily accessible within an exclusive environment.”
Take the data collected to your development teams. If a service can be improved upon, improve it. If you have the resources to create a new product, create it.
Alan Brocious, a consultant for United Concordia, shares how the company achieved great success by listening to the needs of their audience through social media to develop products to meet those needs.
“United Concordia needed to find a more efficient way to communicate with the internationally based military spouse community. Many military families move from base to base across the world and have to find proper dental care at each duty post that accepts the government insurance plan managed by United Concordia. This can be a very frustrating process because of getting all the proper military paperwork in order.
“By using Facebook to send targeted benefit information and answers to commonly asked questions, along with base visits, a community was created. United Concordia researched needs using Facebook and is able to help thousands of military families for a much lower cost and develop relationships with the Facebook fan page members.
“We don’t measure the number of likes and fans, but the number of ‘thank-yous‘ that are received from posts and answers to questions. This gives United Concordia insight into the success of the social networking effort because the spouses began recommending the site to other military spouses.”
United Concordia researched needs using Facebook.
The most important thing to remember when considering all of these factors is that you’ll need to invest time and energy—this process will not happen on its own. When leveraging the opinions and thoughts of the masses, you will have to interact with them on a real-time basis. Is it worth the time invested? It certainly could be, even if just for the lessons learned!
You may be surprised to learn that your customers do not just want to buy/receive products and services from your company, they want to actually participate in the process, too!
Research and development is a necessary process and essential to company growth. If you are not at least researching new opportunities, critically evaluate why you are not. Social media is a cost-effective and efficient means to get started!
What do you think? What do you use to listen to your customers? Leave your comments in the box below.
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