If you’ve created separate landing pages for social media visitors, congratulations!
You’re already ahead of the many brands that make the mistake of using the same set of LPs (landing pages) for both PPC, SEO and social entry points.
But having dedicated social pages isn’t enough. Although some rules don’t change from one set of landing pages to the next, social LPs require specific action and attention.
Here are six ways to boost conversions on social media landing pages.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
1. Consistency: Let Your Brand Tie Your Channels Together
If the landing page looks different to your visitors than the social ad that led them there, potential buyers may not be sure that they’ve landed in the right place. Make sure that your fonts, color scheme, images, logo and general look and feel are synch’ed between channels.
Your design and layout have to project your brand as unmistakably yours. This consistency has to extend to the physical world, as well. Make sure your shipping labels, invoice templates and business cards all have the same look and feel as your landing pages.
2. Each Social Network Needs its Own Landing Page
If you’re promoting, let’s say, a new infographic on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, you’ll want to develop unique landing pages for visitors from each of those networks. Sure, all the pages will have the same conversion goal — to get visitors to sign up in exchange for your killer infographic. But your ads on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter don’t look the same. For the sake of consistency, neither can your landing pages.
TIP: You can use unique URL parameters to designate which layout should be used from which network.
3. Maintain Continuity in Image Dimensions
Pinterest and Google+ like portrait images. Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, favor horizontal images. Instagram photos are square. Creating dedicated social landing pages is a good start, but go further by building a set of pages to mirror the look of your content on each individual network.
Here is a social media image dimensions guide to image dimensions on all the major social networks.
4. Your LPs Need Video
Research on video use on landing pages shows that incorporating video into your landing pages not only keeps people on your site longer, but that it can increase conversions by as much as an astounding 87 percent.
Even if you don’t achieve an 87 percent boost, it is undeniable that videos are shareable, persuasive and that they can humanize your business.
5. Repeat Your Promises and Value Propositions
Like any landing pages, social landing pages and your social media strategy should contain headlines that are short, emotionally powerful and accurate. But it is especially important with social landing pages to make sure those headlines mirror the value proposition and promises articulated in the copy. If the words “Save $20 on Shoes” appear in the social ad, the same language should welcome your visitor in the landing page headline. Consistency and continuity, remember?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
6. Know Your Audience
Most importantly, the success of your social landing pages depends on how well you know your audience and whether or not you tailor your pages accordingly. For social landing pages, that means speaking to visitors who are arriving from at or near the top of the funnel. Unlike PPC visitors, who are coming to you from closer to the bottom of the funnel, social visitors are in the discovery and brand awareness phase. They are likely to have just learned about your brand, your product or your service.
Speak specifically to the visitors you are trying to convert, build landing pages that only try to convert one target audience, and don’t try to force your landing pages to do more than they were designed to accomplish. The key is consistency.
Keep your brand identity the same, and never leave your visitors uncertain whether or not they clicked the right ad.
Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. He has contributed articles to Visual.ly, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter @NickARojas, or you can reach him at NickAndrewRojas@gmail.com