In this second part of Integrating Social Media into your Website, we want to share some top methods for you as a website owner to integrate most effectively your social media. Previously, we discussed the value of social media for your website: to promote you and your business to the online world, to reach more potential consumers, to network with a larger, more directly-related group and for advertising or referral. These are definitely reasons to have and maintain social media.
The goal now is to direct viewers from your website to your social media pages.
How?
Tip #1: Visible Buttons
Display your linked social buttons on your webpage. The best place is on your homepage either on the top, bottom or side of the page. Most websites choose to have these buttons included as part of the navigation bar or footer bar of the site. These are optimized to be easily located on each page for the user. Also if your website is responsive, the buttons location will be consistent viewed across multiple devices.
To ensure users aren’t exiting your website, you also want to create the links on the buttons to open in new tabs within the browser. Decide which of your social media to link to, which do you keep updated regularly? Which do you preferably use on a daily/weekly basis? Remember from part one of this article, people are going to be drawn to your social media pages based on how fresh and exciting your content and posts are there.
Tip #2: Social Plugins
Showcasing your Twitter or Facebook feed within your site is a great way to attract attention to your social media channels. Social plugins from Facebook and Twitter can display your recent activity within your website. Your comments from these sites and also your posts will be shown. More recently, the Like button used for Facebook allows your web visitor to express their interest in different content on your website and lead themselves back to your social media pages. Other social sites use the similar system, Google (+1 button), Instagram (heart symbol), Twitter (heart) and Youtube (Like/Dislike).
Tip #3: Share Links
With the explosion of Pinterest and Instagram, it seems everyone is sharing everything! Incorporating the share buttons for these websites on images, blogs, articles etc. within your site will lead your users to not only see your web and social media pages but likewise add theirs to the mix. It will also encourage them to share, link, post, comment and link their social with yours.
Some words of caution though before we close, keeping up with the ever-changing forms of integrating social media into your website is all good and we commend you for doing so. However be careful to be balanced and tactful in your use of social media in your website. Include only your favorite sites and those which you and your business keep up with on a regular basis.
As a result of integrating social media into your website, you will attract more traffic to your website and business pages. Join us again as we talk further about these benefits…
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Article by Zipporah Schumaker