Aaron Goldman is the founder and principal at Connectual, where he puts lessons learned from Google to good use in digital marketing consulting and matchmaking.
This post is part of a blog tour celebrating the book launch, which has Aaron “appearing” at 30 blogs in 10 days.
In a post last week titled, “Don’t Make This Mistake: Social Media in Advertising,” Samir points out the challenges with using Facebook URLs as calls-to-action in TV and other ads.
As Samir wisely observes…
“Users with the intent to find you on Facebook could just as easily get lost into their Farmville game or peruse their photos before ever reaching your fan page. Instead of driving consumers to connect with you, you’re actually increasing Facebook’s bottom line.”
But that’s only for the people that actually type in the Facebook URL. What about all the people that didn’t notice or can’t remember that pesky Facebook.com-slash-whatever you used?
The ad that Samir uses as the example is a Unilever brand called Lynx and the URL listed (in all-lower case small font at the bottom of the page, mind you) is www.facebook.com/lynxeffectuk.
As my bubbie would say, “Oy vey!”
Would anyone remember that URL unless they, like Samir, had taken a picture of it?
And, then, when they went to type it in, would they be able to spell it correctly? That brand name has a lot of weird letters already without adding in the double-f in “effect” and “uk” at the end.
In my book, Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned from Google, I share 20 “Googley Lessons” from the world’s most ubiquitous brand to help marketers better engage their customers and prospects.
One of these lessons is “Keep it Simple, Stupid.” Looking at Google’s homepage and its lush white space, you can appreciate how little distraction there is from the task at hand.
As a marketer, you have to make it super easy for your audience to interact with you. That means not sending them on a Facebook scavenger hunt to find your brand page.
In Chapter 9 of my book, I share the lesson, “Track Everything.” I talk about how easy Google makes it for you to track all the ads you run though its system.
I also cover ways to track offline ads. One of those is through unique URLs. The key, however, is keeping it simple, stupid, when creating and promoting your URL.
On GoodURLBadURL.com, I cover best practices for choosing and displaying a domain name.
I won’t recap all of them here but let’s just say that http://www.yourbrandinalllowercase.com/withslashesandrandom but http://www.evenworseisfacebook.com/yourbrandwiththoseslashesandrandomwords.
Wouldn’t you agree that ThisIsBetter.com? And 411.YouCanEvenIncludeTracking.com.
Too many marketers overlook the URL itself in the obsessive quest to create an engaging experience.
Don’t wait for your audience to find their way to your house before planting a K.I.S.S. Make sure the address and directions are clear. Otherwise they may end up on the Farm(ville) or, worse, they might Google it and visit your competition.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of Aaron’s book which I quickly finished and heartily recommend you read.
