The Social Element of Extreme Makeover

The last several weeks I've been hard at work supporting on of my clients, Bob Cook Homes, while they go through the process that most people see in a scant hour of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. One of the big parts of making this home come together quickly was the power of social media. In fact, one of the local newspapers noticed wrote a short article about the topic.

Everyone always wants to know how you measure the effects of social media. Here are the bare numbers of this particular campaign -

From the 17th to February 24 (during the build):

• 82 Twitter posts which garnered 131 RT & 2235 clicks.

• 119 FaceBook updates which produced 329 'likes' and 199 comments.
  Plus approx 500 new fans & 3238 visits to the extreme website.

• 5 blog posts to date have had 2193 views and growing
  

• 5 email blasts that had an average of 57% open rate and 49% click through rate.

Those are pretty darn good numbers - some would question, however, is that a good measurement?

The real measure is what happened as a result of the above. With all the social we were able to get workers to the right place when needed, get fabric transported from other states by volunteers to the build in Wichita, get extra siding on the site in under an hour, deliver enough beverages to the site in a single day that the crew never had a problem finding their favorite drink from that day forward. Just to name a few real life examples.

Could the same be accomplished in other business situations? Absolutely IF the same amount of time & effort are put into it. I've had similar successes on a smaller scale, a direct correlation to the amount of time involved.

So the big reveal is over, at least for those of us in Wichita KS. Our work is pretty much done. The rest of the country will get to see the hard work of the volunteers and Bob Cook's awesome team sometime in May.

The Total Solution

I was working on the Tip of the Day and found that I needed more room that FaceBook would allow so I decided to blog on and give you the whole enchilada. So here goes . . .

When someone is searching the web, they are actively looking for the solution to their "problem." Nothing is worse than buying a widget from one place, the do-dad from another and then having to call on a third source to help you learn how to use it!

When you are able to offer the total solution you have not only solved the problem, you'll get the sale.

Here are some examples of the total solution:

• Give a beginning price but show a package price (with discount is even better) for all the elements necessary for them to be able to use your product or service out of the box.
  
• Give the visitor options for shipping or installation of the product. Use that as part of the package pricing.
• Give clear exchange and return policies - when people have this information up front it helps them trust you.
  
• Offer training, on site or virtual, to help people learn to use the product or get the most from your services.
• Have clear instructions on how to set-up, let people know the ease / difficulty to learn about the product.
  
• Sell service plans as part of a package, definitely don't make them search for it on the website. When it's included as part of the package, they are more likely to purchase. It is more difficult to sell these services later on.
  
• Do you have any guarantees? Put them up front and center - this is every bit as much of the solution as any tangible elements.
  
• If you have many locations then use that as part of the benefit to the total package solution.

Think of the times you've been frustrated going from one source to another trying to find the perfect solution. I remember trying to find one application / program / cloud source that would both do time-keeping, invoicing & project management. I still haven't found that so I am using 1 cloud app for time-keeping & invoicing, 1 cloud app for project management, and 1 program on my computer to provide full service payroll processing. I'm thinking it would be pretty great to have it all in one.

I also know that my clients really appreciate the fact that they can rely on my service as a "one-stop" shop to solve all their needs: web development, hosting, domains, search optimization, social marketing, email marketing and lots of good ideas.

Take a look at how your site is offering your featured product or service and think of how you can change the way it is all presented to give the total solution. Need ideas? Contact me!