We’ve all heard the debate before… Can you measure the return on investment with social media networks?
One of the easiest places to start is to capture leads and then measure your results. How do you lure those prospects into your web?
How do you tempt them into your list building trap?
There is an easy and affordable way to capture leads through a social media application builders. Using these tools will enable you to retarget your brand message to the exact demographic in which you desire. You’ll be kicking yourself for not implementing this social marketing strategy sooner.
Regardless of the size of your social media following, you should be capitalizing on the fact that there is an audience listening to your message. You can send the social browser visitor to your website and track visits and conversions this way.
Why not try and capture their contact information via social media and retarget them with precise messaging that can result in more sales and business?
What are the best social media app building tools?
A tool for getting started
The Facebook app and promotion designer that I recommend for starters is ShortStack. You can test this out for free ($25/month for the most popular package) and will be able to build an application in Facebook and capture data without requiring assistance from a developer.
ShortStack has nearly 80 custom templates that can help bolster any sort of Facebook promotion. Their customer service is top notch and will reply to any inquiry in an extremely short time frame. Many reputable brands have utilized the ShortStack application including Black & Decker, Cinemark and SafeAuto Insurance.
A social media tool for the more advanced
There are numerous social media marketing software services that will help you build custom applications. Wildfire by Google will help fuel your social marketing engine.
Wildfire targets medium to large size businesses with subscription plans, which start at an average of $3,000 to $4,000 per month. While you can build a custom Facebook application through Wildfire, they offer many additional features that may be unnecessary for a smaller business.
How do I get started?
Let’s have a look at how we can use ShortStack to add widgets to your promotion.
Once you decide upon the template that bests fits the needs of the promotion you’d like to run, there will be numerous widgets (located on the left hand side within designer) that you can easily insert. For instance, if you are looking to add a social sharing element to your contest/promotion, you can drag the widget that ShortStack provides into the desired position within your application.
If you are looking to add a video that explains your promotion, simply drag the YouTube integration into your custom app. In the beginning stages it will take some trial and error to perfect. Overall the process is extremely easy to pick up on and you can be an application-building expert in no time!
Once you are done building the application, you select which Facebook page you’d like for the app to appear on. There is a “Quick Publish” feature that you can choose which will instantly add the application to your page. It is that simple!
What results can I expect?
I’ve been able to effectively capture 5% of several of my client’s Facebook and Twitter followers contact information through the ShortStack application. This has enabled me to retarget their fans through email and text message marketing while building up their database of email addresses and phone numbers.
For instance, if you are a dry cleaning company, you can run a promotion on your Facebook page (through ShortStack) for a free alteration. Your customers will appreciate the offer and in return, you will be able to capture your target audiences contact information. In the near future, you’ll be able to inform all of the news leads that were captured via social about offers and news taking place at your dry cleaning business!
There is potential to capture more than 5% of your social media followers contact information. This is certainly a good benchmark to set when you begin your social marketing campaign. All of the data that is captured will be stored within your ShortStack account. You can view the entries at any time or export them to a .CSV file for organizational purposes.
Who should be utilizing custom application builders?
Whether you are a local business managing your own social page or an agency running multiple large social accounts, a custom application builder will solidify your social strategy. Collecting fans contact information is much more valuable than just receiving solid interaction through a Facebook post. The application through ShortStack is mobile friendly and compatible across all devices and can make your business a trendsetter in the social frontier.
What are you waiting for?
Come up with a clever promotion for your brand that your followers will be interested in. Within no time, you’ll be capturing leads and truly valuing the time and effort that you are putting into social media marketing.
Guest author: Jason Parks is the Owner of The Media Captain, a Digital Marketing and Video Production Company in Columbus, Ohio.
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