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Increasing Visitors To Social Media And Forum Page

Posted by hannah1987 on 1/18/2013 at 11:16 AM ET 500 Points

My business was launched more than 8 years ago as an online resource for home buyers. Our qualified staffs have provided advice to millions of homebuyers.

We recently set up a Facebook and Twitter page (2009) as well as incorporating a forum which is accessed through the website. We get around 400,000 unique visitors per month to the website and have 15k registered users for the forum.

Even though we are getting good numbers through our social media pages we are focused on increasing user engagement, thus driving revenue. Can anyone suggest how we can improve communication between the business and our own social network and our forum?

Thank you

Hannah

Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/18/2013 at 11:18 AM Accepted

Care to share a few links?
Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/18/2013 at 11:24 AM Accepted

As an aside, in social media, engagement does not drive revenue.
Posted by Moriarty on 1/18/2013 at 11:40 AM Accepted

Further to Gary's points, whilst engagement does not drive revenue, it can drive *better* engagement. This can be used to feed-back into your advertising to make that more directed and stronger.

So don't try selling anything through social media. It's there for enjoyment, so keep the things that are interesting and enjoyable - and make sure it is written with this in mind. A big SEO business down the road where I live posts things like "we are really good at SEO and your business is sound with us, blah, blah, blah". (Yawn). There will be interesting things going on in your business, so make sure these get posted - not a sales campaign. A new server room? New equipment? The discovery that the lawn out the back hasn't been mown in three years ??

The sort of thing that makes people turn their heads.

So: don't expect to drive revenue. Expect to make your position in the marketplace more clear for those still in doubt. That in the end will enhance revenue, shall we say?

Oh, and well done for getting 15k on your forums. I hope you have their emails so that you can send them the occasional useful and interesting newsletter! (Which can comprise of the most liked Facebook posts!).
Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/18/2013 at 12:28 PM Accepted

You'll improve communication when you match your message to the interests and compulsions of your market.

I'll say this again: engagement does not drive revenue.

There can be no engagement until a series of related neural connections have fired in sequence:

1. Desire allocation LEADS TO > 2. Interest filtration LEADS TO > 3, Attraction decision
LEADS TO > 4. Attention percentage LEADS TO > 5. Significance selection LEADS TO > Engagement.

Revenue is the by-product of a sale that's been driven by a value acquisition decision. In turn, this value acquisition decision depends on other variables such as price, fear, resistance to change, and the search for social proof.

Social media is underpinned and driven by publicly visible validation of personal opinion and choices.
Validation of opinion speaks to our inner communal need to fit in and to be seen as belonging to a specific social niche.
Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/18/2013 at 3:27 PM Accepted

Ask your forum for their "wish list".
Post short video answers to the top 10 questions.
Have a contest.
Offer surveys (with valuable prizes).

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