The advent of social media is changing the face of brand marketing. Now, whenever you are going to purchase online or following a brand, the first source to rely on is obviously social media. It was anticipated long before that social media will be a game changer in the marketing world. But today’s scenario is beyond that anticipation. In such a scenario, if you are set to design your website and ignoring the integration of social media, then you are on the verge of committing a serious and fatal mistake for your brand.
You are living in an age when Like, Share, Follow, Tweet, such words have become the part of the daily lives. In this era, if you are going to sit ideally and think that people will come to your website, read your content, increase your traffic and turn into your potential customer then you are seriously mistaken. You need to fix this yourself if you want your website to appear at the top of search results.
If you integrate social media in your website, it will give your website a vast opportunity to appear in the top of the search results. Just a few share buttons or a link to follow will do the trick. Your motto is to engage your visitor in social sharing, if not conversion. If they follow your website and share your link, then it is more likely that many will end up coming to your actual work front – your website. It will contribute to the ranking of your website on the Google search results.
Let’s take a look at some astounding stats:
- People who use social media is 62% of global population.
- 86% of the web users prefer to log in to some website via social profiles.
- According to the study conducted by HubSpot, company pages in Facebook that have 1,000 likes have received an average of 1,400 visits to their website a day.
- 36% of the marketers have found their potential customers via Twitter according to HubSpot.
- According to a Nielsen report, 46% customers trust social media while making purchase.
From the above facts, you surely have got a very clear idea how important it is to integrate social media into your website design. Now, the question is how will you do that.
#1. The Baby Step: Strategy
Any new venture starts with a necessary step – strategy. Make a strategy of your social media integration venture. Make a plan in which social media platforms you want to get visible. To decide that, do some research. Obviously your brand has some target audience. Research on which social media they are most active. Create your profile there. You don’t need to create too many profiles to handle. Make sure you maintain the profiles that you have created. Focus on where your target audience frequently visit.
#2. Show Off
Now it’s time for a little show off. Let your visitor see which social media you are in. Your website should have the visible Like, Share and Tweet button at the header or the footer. Make sure Follow icon is on every page of your website. At the end of every content and blogpost, there has to be a Facebook Share button that will make your content shareable.
If you upload any picture, don’t forget to provide a Pin button. Your website must have a call to action plan. Ask your visitor to Like your page on Facebook and Follow you on Twitter. It is a necessity, as most of the users are adverse to like or follow until you directly tell them to do so.
Design these icons, so that they synchronize with the design of your website easily. Your job is to make your visitor take a notice that you are socially active. So, focus on that.
No matter whether your website is a general one or an eCommerce one, a Share button is a must. If you have not included it in your product page, then you will miss out on some great chances. Share button is the easiest way to market and spread the news of your product and your content as far as possible. It should allow people to share and recommend your brand or your insightful contents to be visible to a wide range of viewers.
#4. Integrate where Applicable
Integrate sharing where it is applicable. Otherwise, it is going to irritate your reader like anything. If a user is going to fill up a form and the icon of sharing pops up right in front of him, there is no way he is going to stay there. Obviously, what use of sharing a form in social media! It is not only useless but annoying too. Make sure that you leave a Share Button in the pages where it is relevant.
#5. Use Analytics
To evaluate the result of integrating social media in your website, use Google analytics. You want to know how many people are clicking on the link of your social media icons? You can explore it with the use of Event tracking with Google analytics. By evaluating your results, you will be able to decide if your web design needs any more moderation.
Website design is a tricky business. It just takes a little focus to get the idea of which social media is the most popular one among your target audience and an appropriate action to drive them to act. And your website is ready to go.
Images: ”People Connecting and Sharing Social Media/ Shutterstock.com“
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