Driving traffic to your online spaces is like planning a party
You and I both know how important your online presence is. There’s your website, your social media, and online group discussions. What’s your strategy for making that happen?
Allow me to propose a change of perspective. What if you viewed your online efforts as a party? An actual party. One that takes planning, preparation, and maybe, a professional party-planner to take things over for you.
Regardless of who plans the online party of your small business, the goal of this party is to be the talk of the town. You want guests to talk about this party long after it’s over, how great it was, who was there and all of the memories they have from it. Sounds great, right?
Sure. But to make this kind of party happen, you have commit to some serious planning. So let’s get down to the Who’s and What’s for your social media party-planning and website fundamentals, so that yours is the one they remember for months to come:
Creating your business avatar
Who are you inviting? We usually create a guest list of friends, family, business associates, or maybe a few people with celebrity status.
You can make or break a party based on who you invite to it. Think about it. You have an idea of what kind of party you want to host. From there, you should know exactly who you want to invite.
The parallel here is your audience. Who are you trying to attract to your site and you do you want engaging with your content?
Creating valuable content
What’s on the menu? What will you serve? Is it sit down, or buffet style? Many say that when it comes to a big party, like a wedding, the thing guests remember most are often how well the venue accommodated the number of people and the how good the food was.
If you’ve invited all of these important people to your big bash, you don’t want to only be serving some crackers and a sad-looking veggie platter. You’ve got to give your guests delicious and satisfying food that grabs their taste buds and has them craving more! They did take time out of their busy schedule to show up, after all.
Consider your content through a similar lens. Don’t serve content which you put very little effort into and provides little to know value to your online readers. Create amazing content that keeps them coming back for more and satisfies their sweet tooth for knowledge.
Be clear on your message
Where’s the party taking place? Where will your guests park when they arrive? Will there be directions or is it easy to figure out? What’s the location of your big bash? Is it easy to find?
On party day, your job as the host is to welcome people to the party with open arms. It’s not polite to only pay attention to maybe five of your guests, when there are over 30. You’ve got to be at the door inviting people in. Offering a drink upon arrival. Offering to take their coats, and introducing them to other guests who they may get along well with.
If customers saw your discount day advertised, but didn’t realize they were supposed to come directly into your store for the discount, then you may not have given them very good directions. Users need to understand exactly what’s going on, where they should be, and what the topic of discussion is so that they can chime in. Whether they arrived to the party exactly on time, or an hour late, it’s your job to keep them in the loop.
Your online presence is like a party. Are you social with your audience? Do you have something telling them where they need to go? Or is it simply all about you and how great YOU are? You can’t convert traffic to clients if you’re driving traffic to an empty store, a messy store (information overload or hard to navigate), or one with no service to help them. With no direction of what you do or where to go, they’ll ultimately go elsewhere.
