Facebook #1 Referrer to my site???

[Marc McGurren]

One of my normal end of month duties is evaluating and going over my google analytics for all my sites. One thing I haven't not been doing over the past few months is taking a look at who are my top referring sites.

We have a decent following on our facebook fan page but nothing crazy like some dealers. What i discovered today truly shocked me. Facebook beat autotrader for the first time ever as my top referring site!!! I know - I am just as shocked...

So to those who think social media is just a shiny object - think again. Granted our bounce rate it higher and pages per visit aren't great on FB compared to autotrader - it still shows you facebook WILL drive traffic to your site...even accidentally!!!

Just gotta figure out a facebook experience for the folks that come to my site from FB....hmmmm...wheels are a turning...

 

[Chip Grueter]

I think that bounce rate from Facebook is an easy thing to fix with a specialized message when you detect facebook as the referer. The hardest and most important step is getting them to pageview #2, so just think about what would get you to click through to another page having come from Facebook....."Check out our Facebook Fan specials:".

Chip-

 

[TuneyFish]

nice work! Is the traffic evenly spread throughout the month or are there any particular days where you saw a significant spike? If you see some spikes then ...

Was it on a day you posted a large number of photos?

Were more referrals sent when the number of comments were higher on facebook?

Are you replying to every comment made by your fans, how quick within hours, days?

Is any of the content you're posting actual UGC (user generated content - ie. your fans photos), professional photographers, dealership employees?

How often are you posting a link to your website, is it in the comments or just on the info page?

Are you tracking which source has the highest conversion rate?

 

[TuneyFish]

Marc, I found some things on your sites you might want to look into, not sure if you knew about these. Was going to PM you with them but thought it might be useful for others to see how these issues can be viewed by a potential customer and what that would do to their willingness to browse the inventory on a regular basis.


Page not found - 404 errors (these were vehicles found in the inventory section on facebook)

jerryschevytexas.com
http://thedealerblog.com/files/2010/10/404.png

duranttoyota.com
http://thedealerblog.com/files/2010/10/404-toyota.png

jerryscadillac.com
http://thedealerblog.com/files/2010/10/404-cadillac.png

Blog tab - alignment issue pushing center content down the page
http://thedealerblog.com/files/2010/10/blog-tab.png

Before i noticed you added the blog tab to the about us
http://thedealerblog.com/files/2010/10/blog-under-about.png

Another option would be to change the padding from 16px to 10px in your CSS and it would bring the tab back up.
http://thedealerblog.com/files/2010/10/padding-left.png

 

[Marc McGurren]

@Chip - that's where my mind was going. I was thinking of even creating a unique page that in essence tells the facebook visitor how the site is structure, almost a facebook skinned page that gives the visitor a very brief overview along with fb specials.

@Tuney -

Is the traffic evenly spread throughout the month or are there any particular days where you saw a significant spike? There was one peak after we had a "Ladies Day Event" at the dealership - but it was 2 days after the fact...but the same day after posting pics of the event"

Was it on a day you posted a large number of photos? Yup

Were more referrals sent when the number of comments were higher on facebook? Not that I can see

Are you replying to every comment made by your fans, how quick within hours, days? I personally check it daily and answer immediately as soon as I see anything posted.

Is any of the content you're posting actual UGC (user generated content - ie. your fans photos), professional photographers, dealership employees? For the ladies day and soccer event we had a photographer who is a customer help us out. That's where the pics come from. No luck with UGC yet. Still working on that...


How often are you posting a link to your website, is it in the comments or just on the info page? Just on info. Never post it in links - well, maybe once or twice over the past few months - but it was to drive them to specific information

Are you tracking which source has the highest conversion rate? Nope. Not yet.

 

[Marc McGurren]

Marc, I found some things on your sites you might want to look into, not sure if you knew about these. Was going to PM you with them but thought it might be useful for others to see how these issues can be viewed by a potential customer and what that would do to their willingness to browse the inventory on a regular basis.

Thanks for the catch! I will look into it asap.

mm

 

[joe.pistell]

One of my normal end of month duties is evaluating and going over my google analytics for all my sites.

We have a decent following on our facebook fan page but nothing crazy like some dealers.

The quality of the visitor is more important that the quantity of visitors. Look at those stats and you tell me who is more "in the market".

What ever you do to tweak the FB visitor experience, let these numbers be your score card.

KEEP US UP DATED!!

 

[Marc McGurren]

I concur Uncle Joe! The autotrader quality is far superior for obvious reasons - but I think we can improve the experience to get more conversions and less internet tire kickers. I will keep everyone updated on what we will do and see what we can do to improve this....

Case study here we come!!! Anyone want to join with me to prove facebook is no longer a shiny object? Shoot me a pm and maybe we can come up with some basic guidelines and keep the refresh community up to date between now and the first of the year.

The quality of the visitor is more important that the quantity of visitors. Look at those stats and you tell me who is more "in the market".

What ever you do to tweak the FB visitor experience, let these numbers be your score card.

KEEP US UP DATED!!

 

[joe.pistell]

Marc,

The FB audience is not in the 11th hour of auto-buying decision making. Careful, if you work FB audience and use conversion rates as your measure of success, you'll get frustrated.

IMO, don't over look % New Visits.

 

[Marc McGurren]

Marc,

The FB audience is not in the 11th hour of auto-buying decision making. Careful, if you work FB audience and use conversion rates as your measure of success, you'll get frustrated.

IMO, don't over look % New Visits.

Great point - hence why the statistics look better on autotrader vs facebook. Autotrader referrals are much further down the buying funnel. FB - crap - not sure where they are at in the funnel. Just as long as the funnel keeps funneling to me....