When I hear a business advertise on the radio or read an ad directing people to their Facebook page, I scream, “NOOO!!”
Here’s why:
Facebook is famous for changing the rules constantly on personal and business pages. What’s worse is they do it without telling you. So you find out the hard way.
This can jeopardize the success of your campaign. Or worse, frustrate prospects enough, they leave you.
Yes, social media can help your business. But when you want to expand your online presence or use the internet to help you convert sales, you want to take prospects where you have total control.
That’s why you shouldn’t tell people to go to your Facebook page. Tell them to go to your website – but not your homepage.
I’ll explain why in a moment.
You want to direct people to your website because that’s where you’ll develop the relationship and branding with your prospect…
That’s where they’ll find all of the information they seek about you…
That’s where your marketing metrics are…
And in some cases, that’s where they buy.
Don’t point people to your homepage
When you direct people to your website, please point them to a specific landing page that’s designed to continue the conversation you started with them.
Here’s what I mean:
Let’s say you’re a lender who offers lots of different types of financing packages. And you just placed an ad talking about a killer new loan rate specifically for boats.
In the ad, you tell the prospect to go to your website KillerLoans.com to apply for a boat loan online. But you just directed them to your homepage. Here’s the problem:
The prospect goes to your site and is instantly lost. Because they expected the online boat loan application you got them all excited about in the ad.
Instead, all they see is your other general company information. Now you’re making them search throughout your site for the boat loan application they want.
Chances are, they won’t go through the extra effort and will click off your site.
That’s why you should direct people to specific landing pages that continue the conversation you started with them.
In this example, you’d direct them to a landing page that’s branded like your website, but it focuses on thanking them for applying for the boat loan and having that application right there on the page.
After they finish the application, your confirmation page can direct them to visit other pages on your website so they learn more about you. Naturally, there are several other elements to include on the landing page, but we’ll save that for another day.
The most important takeaways today are:
- Direct people to your website whenever possible.
- Direct them to a page that continues the conversation.
By doing so, you maintain control of your prospect’s experience. In turn, it helps increase your conversion rates.