Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Drive traffic to your website--Twitter; Tweetdeck and TweetLater

Checking those website stats
Thanks to the email reminder from our webhost, IGD Solutions, (www.igdsolutions.com) I reviewed the latest website tracking reports. (I appreciate the email reminder--even though I KNOW I should look at the website stats at the first of the month, it isn't on my radar until I get that email.)

July continued the trend for growth in traffic to the Chamber's website. We are now averaging 375 unique visits each day--11, 627 per month. That represents an 11.5% increase from June.

Over 80% of our visitors type in our URL directly. Which means, we are either Bookmarked in Favorites, or visitors already know about us and how to get to us. (www.clarkston.org) By the way . . . have you ever typed in www.clarkston.com? That takes you to one of the many other Clarkston's in the United States. That one happens to be in Washington.

TRIVIA INFO: Clarkston, Washington is right across the river from Lewiston, Idaho. Get it? Lewis and Clark?

Back on task . . . The next thing I look for is what websites are providing referrals to our website? Where's the click-thru traffic coming from.

Big surprise . . . the top referral site is Google. Next--Yahoo. Then--Bing. Now seriously, were any of you surprised by that?

What was of interest, however were the referral links coming directly from Twitter.
Our website stats also show that traffic that comes from Twitter DOUBLED from June to July.

This is an intentional strategy--to use Twitter to drive traffic to our website for more information.

What's working for us? Including hotlinks to specific pages on our website with a teaser tweet helps a lot! (I know . . . DUH)

I have found these Twitter applications very helpful in implementing this strategy.

How Tweetdeck can save you time and increase your productivity
Setting up Tweetdeck (at Jason T. Ryan's suggestion--Thanks Jason www.twitter.com/VirtualJason has been a huge timesaver.

For those of you familiar with the Twitter home page, you see that you have one listing of feeds from all the people you're following. You have to click to a new page to see direct messages (DM) or replies (when someone references you in a tweet using the @ sign in front of your name--eg @CACOC)

Tweetdeck allows you to have multiple columns on view. If you looked at my Tweetdeck you'd see: ALL friends; Replies; Direct Messages: Clarkston (anyone referencing "Clarkston" in a tweet shows up here) and Chamber (Chamber members who are tweeting are in this special "call out" column.)

This has really helped me respond better to direct messages and replies. It helps me keep track when people Retweet a message (RT) so I can thank them.

However the most convenient part of Tweetdeck is that you can do your tweet postings from the same page--AND you have the ability to shorten urls or add a tweetpic without moving to a new screen/website.

Being able to shorten URLs allows me to put in specific links for our webpages (or other resources) without losing valuable space in the tweet. (There are only 140 characters, so you have to use them wisely).

TweetLater covers for you when you get busy during the day

The next terrifically helpful tool that works for me is TweetLater.
This application allows me to preprogram in Tweets that will be sent at a later date and time (I pick the day and time.)

It occured to me pretty early on that most people know the Clarkston area because it is the home of DTE Energy Music Theatre (Pine Knob Theatre . . . I know, I know).

Since we are known by this--we can capture tweet interest and website traffic if we can connect ourselves to DTE. We want the traffic, particularly for restaurant and retail businesses who might be able to pick up additional customers who are visiting our area. (It's not just about website numbers--we also want to increase real business for our members!)

With Tweetlater I was able to preprogram tweets for the entire DTE season. The tweets go out the morning of/or night before a DTE Concert. They state the concert info, time concert starts so it will be captured by anyone searching for band or concert info. The tweets also include rotating message reminders like "Check out your dining options in the Clarkston area." (and a link to our website)" or "What else is in Clarkston? (and a link to our website)" "We invite you to check us out. (and a link to our website.)

To follow up with this--you will find our website homepage message includes "Home of DTE Energy Music Theatre" and quick links to restaurants.

Tweetlater can also be used to set up rotating welcome messages for when people sign up to follow you.

You can preset your messages to tweet early in the morning, then repeat at 11 and 2 and 5 pm

This is a very helpful tool if you're trying to promote a sale, a product, a general message.

I will admit, it is hard to be creative 24/7. It's hard to get through all the "to dos" during the day, especially if something unexpected comes up. Tweetlater has your back. You pick the time when you ARE feeling creative. Preprogram the tweets and then . . . forget about it.

FEEDBACK: If you find this information helpful, shoot me an email or leave a comment on this blog. (Penny@clarkston.org)



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