I’ve recently noticed a lot of companies making the same exact mistake in social media. They make an announcement about new content they want you to read on their website, but they forget to include a link to said content.
Look, I know no one out there is perfect when it comes to social media practices. It’s still relatively new and there is a learning curve (don’t believe anyone who tells you success on social media is instantaneous). In fact, I applaud companies for trying. But from what I’ve seen, too many companies are forgetting a basic fundamental of usability – make it easy for the user to find the content they want. The harder it is to for them to find, the less chance they will have a good experience on your website and return again.
From what I’ve seen, the offense is taking place more via Facebook Fan Pages than Twitter (although I have seen it happen more than once on Twitter). The announcement typically sounds something like this,
“We just posted a new/great/helpful article about XYZ on our website. Check it out!”.
I cringe every time I see it. No link or any sort of direction about how to find it once you actually get to the website. (Aside: I left out the annoying trailing set of four exclamation points. That’s a topic for another day.)
Here’s why not including a link is wrong:
1. No one has the time or patience to look for anything. Let me get this straight. You want me to read your update, type in your URL, then magically find the new fantastic content you mentioned? Sounds like a homework assignment. I’m out. If there is a perception that work to find your content is involved, your conversion rate will be super-low, if not zero.
2. It’s hard enough to build a loyal user-base. If you’ve been lucky enough to build an audience, treat them like gold. Don’t blow it by using social media. Make your announcement short-and-sweet and lay out the red carpet with a link that takes them right to the new content. If your content is as great as you think it is, then they will keep clicking every time you post.
3. You wouldn’t do it on your website. So why is it okay to do in a social media? Is it because you feel like you are limited by a certain number of characters. Word to the wise: something isn’t worth tweeting if you need more than 140 characters to say it. If you need more words, then you should be using your blog and not Twitter.
The solution to this problem is really simple. Just add a link to the end of your Facebook post or your tweet. Advanced users should strongly consider using a URL-shortener with tracking like bit.ly.
Here’s an example from my last blog post:
Now I’m not claiming I get 100% click-thru rates every time I tweet or post to our Fan Page, but I get a heck of a lot more people reading my content than if I didn’t include a link.
Have you seen this same mistake lately? I’d love to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.