Social networking as an incentive to convert on a landing page

After our post the other day on 7 reasons for social networking on landing pages, our colleagues over at PPC Hero were kind enough to include us in their PPC News Roundup for this week.

Amber Benedict, who posted the roundup, raised an excellent question:

I see where Scott is coming from with these 7 points, and yes, connecting your audience with themselves can constitute trust with your site, and eventually lead to qualified leads, but I’m worried that your audience will connect with each other and not with you (i.e. never converting).

To recap my reply in a comment on their blog:

Definitely a valid concern. I’d be the first to agree that the point for most landing pages is to keep people focused on the goal — and the goal is the conversion (usually).

That being said, I think there are creative ways in which social networking might actually be able to help achieve that objective.

One way would be to move the social networking component to be after the conversion. And to actually promote that as one of the bonus reasons a respondent should convert.

The offer becomes something like: “Sign-up to download our free white paper on [topic] and network with other professionals addressing this challenge in their own companies.”

In this scenario, the social networking interactivity exists on the fulfillment page. It’s no longer a distraction, because you’ve already achieved the goal. But from a branding/bonding perspective, it’s a great opportunity to reinforce your firm being at the center of [topic] in the mind of the respondent, get them further engaged, etc.

I think there could be a lot of interesting variations on this theme. Frankly, I’m as curious as anyone to see all the imaginative ways marketers might start to merge direct response marketing and social media marketing.

Social networking within an exclusive market niche as an (added) incentive to convert. What do you think?

Comments

[Megan Leap]

I think there is potential for social interaction to be before a conversion as well. Let's set up an A/B test to find out what scenario achieves a higher quantity and quality of conversions!

[Make Money Paypal]

"One way would be to move the social networking component to be after the conversion. And to actually promote that as one of the bonus reasons a respondent should convert." i really like this sentence. thanks for your article, nice post it is

[Tom Chandler]

Great post. I love the subject matter.

Still, I think viewing social media as simply another conversion incentive misses the point ever so slightly.

Instead of one sale right now, social media could be a hugely effective tool to get multiple conversions over time.

One of the selling points of engagement marketing is simple. Sell somebody something, and you've made that profit. Engage them (around brand, shared passions & values, etc), and you've made the profit on a lifetime of sales.

[Scott Brinker]

Thanks, Tom.

I definitely agree with you that trying to mesh social media and conversion marketing too much is a bad idea. Social media marketing is broader than that, and very much thrives on conversations and lifetime relationships that defy individual campaigns.

That being said, companies run a lot of conversion marketing campaigns. And if they can boost both the performance of those campaigns and their participation in the social sphere by cross-pollinating between the two, all the better!