Learn How To Make Your Website Social

Should Your Site Be Social-Enabled?

There’s no doubt that social media is a powerful marketing and communication tool for businesses and non-profits that have embraced it.

Yet, for most of us, our websites are still where the rubber meets the road. It’s where you turn visitors into leads and prospects into customers. It’s where you build your lists and sell your goods.

Can you inject some of the “humanness” of social media into your website without compromising its ability to sell? Can you use social media to drive traffic to your website for conversion without alienating your community?

More and more businesses are showing us that this is an achievable and worthwhile goal; that the two together can foster improved communication, build brand loyalty and create a better, more responsive, more profitable company.

Here are nine examples of how you can integrate your social media activity into your website for maximum results.

#1: Add social media buttons to your home page

A few years ago, the idea of sending people to another site from your home page after you had worked so hard to get them there in the first place seemed boneheaded. However, many companies now see the long-term benefits of gaining a follower, fan or subscriber on a social media platform, even weighed against the short-term risk of sending them away from the website.

Businesses commonly link to their social media profiles, even from their home pages.

By getting someone to follow you on Twitter, become LinkedIn with you or subscribe to your YouTube channel, you have the opportunity to keep the lines of communication open long after they’ve left your website.

Unsolicited Advice: If you’re concerned about losing that prospect, consider having the site open in a new tab or window, keeping your own website available for later viewing.

Also, make sure you have a social media profile that will engage your audience. You can borrow ideas from these 10 top Facebook pages, read up on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and put into practice Darren Rowse’s tips for improving your Twitter profile.

#2: Connect your blog with your website

The line between blog and website has never been blurrier, with many businesses choosing to build their entire site on platforms that were traditionally meant for blogging, such as WordPress.

Whether your blog shares a domain with your website or not, you can improve the interactivity of your website by teasing your blog posts from your home page.

For example, Harold Night, an improv show out of Boston, uses the Posterous platform to blog, and has successfully integrated the blog into their website, both in the navigation and by pulling the recent posts as links onto their home page.

 

#3: Embed videos on your website

There are few things as engaging as a well put-together video. Imagine adding a how-to or explanatory video to your product or services pages… How much more compelling would they be? How much could you increase your conversion rates by showing examples of other customers finding success by using your products?

Embed a video on your website to bring your offerings to life.

#4: Make your website shareable

Retweet buttons and Facebook Like buttons aren’t just for blogs. You can add them to any page of your website to get visitors to share the content more easily with their networks.

#5: Add your presentations to your website

If you market your business through public speaking, you can maximize your results by putting your presentations on your site.

The best way to do this is to set up a free account at SlideShare (think YouTube for PowerPoint). Once you’ve uploaded your slides, SlideShare will allow you to embed that presentation back into your website or blog. This creates an interactive experience for visitors who can now click through your slides.

Maximize the reach of your presentations by embedding SlideShare into your site.

#6: Socially bookmark new content

As you add new articles or archive your email newsletters to your site, make sure that you add them to appropriate social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit and Delicious. These popular sites can drive huge amounts of traffic to your website in a short period of time.

Unsolicited Advice: It’s always best when someone else bookmarks your content, so it might make sense to have a small “bookmarking club” with friends where you promote each other’s work. This “seeding” will often encourage others to bookmark your content.

#7: Add a Facebook Like box to your website

It's easy to like I Love to Gossip with a Like box on their page.

We’re all influenced by other people, a concept often referred to as “social proof.” When we see our friends or people we respect liking, supporting or promoting something, we’re more open to liking it ourselves.

Adding a Facebook Like box to your site adds accelerant to the idea of social proof. Visitors can quickly see how many people have liked your business on Facebook, get a sense of your level of commitment to social media (by the posts you’ve added to your wall), and may even spy some of their friends and connections through the Like box.

Further, you make it easy for your site visitors to like your business without having to leave your site.
For more on Facebook and social proof, be sure to check out Are You Using Social Media as Social Proof?

#8: Feed your website

Websites tend not to get updated as often as they should be… something that has probably been exacerbated by the rise of blogging and social media.

If the framework of your website is fairly static, you can still keep it fresh by adding feeds from your blog, Facebook, Twitter and just about every social media platform that generates an RSS feed.

Unsolicited Advice: Not all of your feeds may be website-appropriate. Your tweets about American Idol, your love of bacon or thoughts on Sarah Palin may not be appropriate for first-time visitors to your website who are just looking for a reliable plumber or a trustworthy veterinarian (or whatever you may happen to be).

#9: Use QR codes to drive traffic

QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can be scanned by smartphones with cameras. Once scanned, they can redirect people to a website (among other tricks). Check out QR Code Marketing for Small Business and How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business.

Whether you post QR codes on one of your social media profiles or in the real world (i.e., direct mail, a business card or poster) you can use them to drive people to your website.

Unsolicited Advice: To maximize the impact of a QR code, consider sending people to a special landing page or a mobile version of your site, rather than just the home page. This will improve your conversion rates and help build your lists.

Now let’s hear about your ideas. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Let us know how you’ve integrated your social media activity into your website. Feel free to include links so we can see how you’ve done it. Leave your comments and suggestions in the box below.

Article Source: on Social Media Examiner

Mindful Ways to Use Social Media

For the last two years, I have provided a daily wisdom quote through a Twitter account called Tiny Buddha. Since the follower count has grown by leaps and bounds, people have suggested I tweet more often throughout the day. I’ve realized, however, that the greatest lesson we can all learn is that less is enough. In a time when connections can seem like commodities and online interactions can become casually inauthentic, mindfulness is not just a matter of fostering increased awareness. It’s about relating meaningfully to other people and ourselves. With this goal in mind, I’ve compiled a list of 10 tips for using social media mindfully. 

1. Know your intentions.

Doug Firebaugh of SocialMediaBlogster.com has identified seven psychological needs we may be looking to meet when we log on: acknowledgment, attention, approval, appreciation, acclaim, assurance, and inclusion. Before you post, ask yourself: Am I looking to be seen or validated? Is there something more constructive I could do to meet that need?

2. Be your authentic self.

In the age of personal branding, most of us have a persona we’d like to develop or maintain. Ego-driven tweets focus on an agenda; authenticity communicates from the heart. Talk about the things that really matter to you. If you need advice or support, ask for it. It’s easier to be present when you’re being true to yourself.

3. If you propose to tweet, always ask yourself: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?

Sometimes we post thoughts without considering how they might impact our entire audience. It’s easy to forget how many friends are reading. Two hundred people make a crowd in person, but online that number can seem insignificant. Before you share, ask yourself: is there anyone this might harm?

4. Offer random tweets of kindness.

Every now and then I ask on Twitter, “Is there anything I can do to help or support you today?” It’s a simple way to use social media to give without expectations of anything in return. By reaching out to help a stranger, you create the possibility of connecting personally with followers you may have otherwise known only peripherally.

5. Experience now, share later.

It’s common to snap a picture with your phone and upload it to Facebook or email it to a friend. This overlaps the experience of being in a moment and sharing it. It also minimizes intimacy, since your entire audience joins your date or gathering in real time. Just as we aim to reduce our internal monologues to be present, we can do the same with our digital narration.

6. Be active, not reactive.

You may receive email updates whenever there is activity on one of your social media accounts, or you might have your cell phone set to give you these types of alerts. This forces you to decide many times throughout the day whether you want or need to respond. Another approach is to choose when to join the conversation, and to use your offline time to decide what value you have to offer.

7. Respond with your full attention.

People often share links without actually reading them, or comment on posts after only scanning them. If the greatest gift we can give someone is our attention, then social media allows us to be endlessly generous. We may not be able to reply to everyone, but responding thoughtfully when we can makes a difference.

8. Use mobile social media sparingly.

In 2009, Pew Research found that 43 percent of cell phone users access the Web on their devices several times a day. It’s what former Microsoft employee Linda Stone refers to as continuous partial attention—when you frequently sign on to be sure you don’t miss out anything. If you choose to limit your cell phone access, you may miss out online, but you won’t miss what’s in front of you.

9. Practice letting go.
It may feel unkind to disregard certain updates or tweets, but we need downtime to be kind to ourselves. Give yourself permission to let yesterday’s stream go. This way you won’t need to “catch up” on updates that have passed but instead can be part of today’s conversation.

10. Enjoy social media!

These are merely suggestions to feel present and purposeful when utilizing social media, but they aren’t hard-and-fast rules. Follow your own instincts and have fun with it. If you’re mindful when you’re disconnected from technology, you have all the tools you need to be mindful when you go online.

Article written by Lori Deschene is the founder of @TinyBuddha on Twitter and tinybuddha.com, a multi-author blog that features wisdom and stories from people all over the world.

Social Media Effects Google Search

I really enjoyed this article. Very easy read and really covers the basics on how Social Media is effecting online search engines - which ultimately effects you! How YOU drive traffic to your site. How YOU can get top placement in Google search results and other search engines.

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When people talk about the ways social media has changed the business world, the most common response is the way it has changed marketing and advertising campaigns. No longer is it 'enough' to have TV and print advertisements. 


**To be effective, being part of the social media environment is becoming almost mandatory.

Still, one area that social media is slowly becoming more and more relevant in are search results.

Gone are the days of simplicity and in are 'social circles.' If someone within your social circle has written something about what you are searching for, it will most likely show up as one of your results on Google.

What The Future Holds In Social Media

While Google 'results from people within your social circle' are still in BETA, it's only a matter of time before social circles become a permanent part of search results. To some, this is an amazing integration between social media and search engine's, but the signs were there that it was inevitable that the two would eventually cross.

One of the aspects of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook that scares search engines like Bing and Google is the amount of content that is generated on these platforms.

The advantage of these social media platforms lies in the fresh content that is constantly being updated and added, all of which search engines are trying to get a piece of.

Why Your Social Circle Is On The First Page Of Google Results

For companies and organizations that spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on search engine optimization [SEO], being on the first page for relevant keywords is as good as it gets. By being on the first page, you significantly increase your traffic opportunities. But what does it mean to be on the first page of results?

Google for example doesn't put just any website on their first page of results. They put websites that are relevant and also ones that are trustworthy.

In the same regards, your social circle now shows up on the first page of results because of the trust factor. Even though I may not have more traffic than ESPN, if I wrote an article about the Lakers and my friend is searching for them, I will show up on the first page along side ESPN. Yes, I am relevant to what he is searching, but more importantly he trusts me.

While Google and other search engines have their own secret algorithm to determine how you appear on search results, social media is changing that. How they take into account your social circle will change the way that companies not only approach search engine optimization, but also change the way they become part of your 'social circle.'

Joseph is the Director of Marketing at Viralogy.com & works in social media & sports consulting. Read more about him at http://JosephAYi.com

What is Social Media About?

Social Media is about, sharing and interacting online.

It's about giving value, being social and communicating with everybody who crosses your path through the Internet. Social media is about the people - it's about community building. It gives them a voice and grants them the power to change things and make decisions that can affect your company and brand, either in a profitable or harmful way.

In Social Media, communication is a two-way street, where public and brands interact, storing and distributing content created by all different natures. Social media's content allows you to take part, collaborate and distribute information to all.  Social Media strengthens the emotional ties that bind people together, creating fans instead of customers.

Social Media isn't ONLY about creating and sharing content. The best experiences you can achieve with Social Media is by listening, reading, discussing, blogging, commenting, and/or giving feedback to the community.

In short, social media is about building an effective communication channel between brands and their environment, helping them to merge a strategy in each social working area.

Why Social Media?

Using Social Media in business is today's reality in which today's environment demands. We're tired, we need change, we need to have fun, but above all we need brands to be authentic, reliable and truly inspiring. We live in an over-communicated society, where tones of messages try to gain a little of space in our minds, but now the wheel has changed hands. Those traditional advertising methods "I communicate - you receive" are no longer valid, that's water under the bridge. 

Social media allows companies to listen, understand and offer content that best meets their needs.

Advantages of using Social Media:

- Tapping into the younger audience to make it easier to predict trends
- Strengthens relationships between customers and brands
- Builds trust and loyalty, turning a customer into a fan
- Differs from other media reaching the audience in a less intrusive way
- Connects the brand with the immediate environment making your brand seem sociable, familiar and popular
- Goes viral: the brand will reach more people in less time.
- Increasing social media efforts raises the level of brand awareness online
- Social media is trustworthy and an efficient reasearch tool

Related Article: What is Social Media?