Are you looking for a quick, low to no cost way to beef up your internet marketing campaign for your website? The answer can be found in integrating your website with social media.
There are over 2.5 million websites integrated with Facebook and other social media sites and with good reason; with nearly 1.4 billion people logging on to Facebook alone – spending an average of 15 hours a week reading, hitting “like”, and sharing content – it’s an internet entrepreneur’s dream come true. Social media is tantamount to having someone else do your marketing for you and not having to pay them a dime; you simply provide engaging content and let your readers do the rest!
So how do you get started integrating your site with social media? It’s pretty simple really and that’s what today’s post is all about.
Why Social Media?
If you think of your website as your internet “home base” and your social media pages as an extension of that; it’s easy to see why this type of networking is so important. With social media you’re able to increase your engagement with customers as well as build customer loyalty, and grow your brand recognition. The more you can engage and interact with your readers or customers, the more likely they are to give you their repeat business.
Also, social media has a definite effect on SEO rankings. Social shares are quickly becoming the new form of link building. When your original content is shared across social media, you’re creating links without having to spend time building them yourself.
The more social shares, the more opportunity your site has to rise in the search engine rankings. I don’t need to tell you how much your search engine ranking contributes to new users finding and using your site. Any opportunity to raise your search engine rankings the right way should be taken.
Let’s look at a few ways you can accomplish this …
Know Which Pages Attract Your Customers
There are so many social networking platforms out there; there really is something for everyone. Some of the most popular would include: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, tumbler, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.
It’s important to do your research and decide which social media pages your customers are more likely to visit. If you’re catering to a younger, hipper demographic, something like Instagram or Twitter may be where you need to focus your efforts. A more mature crowd might frequent sites like Facebook and Pinterest. You will max yourself out if you try to keep current content on all of them so start with focusing on what your customers or readers use.
Once you’ve got your information, create accounts with your chosen social networking sites in the name of your business and start posting content to them. Fresh, engaging, content is the key to the success of any website these days so write or blog about as much as you can having to do with your niche without drowning your readership in the trivial. Your content is what draws readers to your site, be sure it is rich and informative enough to make them want to share it with friends and come back later for more.
Incorporate Social Media Buttons
These are the little buttons you see floating or static on the sides or bottoms of websites you visit. Your social media buttons should be linked to the pages you created in the step above.
There are numerous widgets and plugins available for this; a simple Google search will reward you with tons of choices and WordPress has many options available too.
The placement of the buttons is important as well:
- Make sure they are easy to see.
- Large enough to attract attention but not overwhelm your content.
- Place them strategically. Either on the left hand side of your page or at the top under your header.
- Place them on home and landing pages but try not to overdo it.
Don’t let your social media buttons become obtrusive. You want to enhance your visitor’s experience not intrude upon it.
Feature Share Buttons on Content or Product Pages
Social networking share buttons are fantastic. They enable your visitors to share your content they find interesting on their own social media pages. Once a visitor has shared your content, all of their friends see it as well which will attract more visitors to your site.
Share buttons are another reason why great content is important. The more you can get your visitors or customers to share; the better chance you have of generating new leads which hopefully turn into new customers.
Like social media buttons, the placement of share buttons is important. You want them on blog posts and product pages so that your readers or customers have a chance to share your content throughout their entire site viewing or purchasing experience. It’s a bit like peer pressure. You can’t underestimate the power of social pressure in marketing. When friends see someone purchase something, they want it too.
Facebook and Other Social Media Login Comment Boxes
Login comment boxes posted on your site allow visitors to post a comment after they log in to their respective social media pages to your site. Once they have posted a comment on your site using the log in box, their comment is posted in their feeds.
Their friends will see the comment along with your site link and hopefully have their interest peaked enough to click on over to your site and check out what their friend felt compelled to comment on. You have a new lead.
This is also a fantastic way to control comment postings on your website. People are more compelled to leave an honest, thoughtful comment if their name is attached to it.
Hopefully I’ve given you a few reasons and ways to jump into integrating social media with your website. It can be a bit daunting at first, but once you establish a good social media audience – your readers will do the work for you!