The number of communication channels is growing at a fast pace. Living in the era when customers use social media to communicate with brands, more and more companies doubt whether it’s a good idea for them to run a website.
Although a website isn’t a new or trendy communication channel, it’s still an important and effective way to market your products and services, establish a connection with potential customers, understand their needs and wants, and boost eCommerce sales.
Want to know the best part? There are several proven ways to encourage your website visitors to promote your business online and we’re going to show you how to do it.
Let People Share Your Content with Social Media Buttons
The sales funnel is a complex process from learning about your business to making a purchase, so it’s important to hook the attention of your audience during the brand awareness stage.
This means you need to know customer pain points and help them solve these problems.
No matter what your website niche is, whether you promote eCommerce products or offer traveling services, publishing informative blog posts that provide readers with actionable tips on solving their problems is an important part of an effective content marketing strategy.
Do you know that people love sharing content they find useful? But writing handy content isn’t enough to encourage your website visitors to promote your business online.
It’s also important to make it easy for visitors to spread the word about your content with social media buttons that allow them to repost content to their profiles with several clicks. Moreover, most people have a loyal following on social media which means these reposts help to promote your business faster.
Check out how Neil Patel uses social media buttons on his blog to let visitors share useful content with ease and therefore promote his website online:
Organize a User-Generated Content Contest on Your Site
If you’re good at understanding consumer behavior, you know that people tend to imitate others. That’s why the popularity of user-generated content is on the rise. When they see user-generated content on your website, it serves as a signal for your visitors to trust your business and create visuals for your company to show their appreciation and support. As a result, you can get social proof for your website and reach a wider audience of potential customers who follow these consumers on social media.
But if you’re just starting and your customers don’t create fan-made content for you, it’s a good idea to organize a user-generated content contest that is aimed at gathering visuals from your visitors in exchange for a chance to win something useful from your company. For example, you can give away free trials, branded freebies, or gift cards to encourage people to participate in your contest.
Share Exclusive Deals and Offers
Who else loves deals and offers? Practically every person wants to feel special, so we often look for exclusive deals and offers that help us get something valuable from the company. Once we get these offers, we are more likely to tell our community about luck. Why? It’s about the psychological phenomenon when people want to share useful information with their friends and family.
For example, if you organize a paid webinar that can help your target audience get useful information, you can offer several tickets to your website visitors, just like in the example below:
Invite Website Visitors to Join Your Referral Program
Word-of-mouth marketing has always been the most effective way to attract more customers to your business as people trust other people more than brands. To encourage website visitors to promote your business online, you can create referral programs that allow both parties to get something valuable from your business.
As an example, you can share a referral coupon on the website that lets your visitors share this code with their friends and therefore reward the referrer and referred user when they sign up for your email or buy with this code.
Not only does this strategy motivate people to promote your company within their community, but it also improves brand loyalty and trust that motivate more and more visitors to spread the word about your business online.
Feature Positive Customer Testimonials
It’s no wonder that modern customers seek out peer recommendations before making a purchase. Most people pay close attention to customer testimonials when visiting your website.
When existing customers write something good about their customer experience, it serves as social proof that encourages people to buy from you and it also sets an example for new consumers to share their reviews with you. As a result, not only do you get customer testimonials, but you also motivate people to promote your business online.
If you use customer loyalty software, it’s easier for your business to collect and manage customer data that allows you to contact paying customers who can write product reviews for your website.
Turn Website Visitors into Brand Ambassadors
Have you ever heard about brand ambassadors? Working with loyal customers who can promote your business among their friends is a good eCommerce marketing strategy for businesses that want to grab the attention of potential customers. More and more companies reach out to their customers and invite them to become brand ambassadors.
When people get an invitation to become brand ambassadors, they feel closer to your company, it increases brand loyalty, and it motivates them to tell their friends about your company. To make the most out of this strategy, you can write a blog post on your website that invites visitors to fill out a form and become brand ambassadors.
Use Popup Surveys on Your Homepage
Doing business can be hard. But if you take care of your customers, you let them feel special and therefore you motivate them to come back for more and tell their friends about the positive customer experience.
When you ask customers to share their customer feedback with you and you constantly implement these reviews to make your business better, you give your customers another solid reason to promote your business online.
Salesforce has a separate website page that helps the company gather customer feedback with a simple customer survey form:
To reach a wider audience of potential customers, you can include a survey popup on your website that appears when your visitors are about to leave your website. Not only does it help to understand your visitors better, but it also creates an emotional bond with people who are more likely to tell their friends about this experience. Win-win!
In a Word
If people visit your website to learn more about your company, its values, and its products, that’s amazing. But if your website visitors are motivated to spread the word about business online, that’s even better! Since modern customers trust their peers more than brands, it’s important to encourage your website visitors to promote your business online and the above-mentioned tactics can help you achieve that business goal.
