Let’s get social.
Optimizing your website for social media can benefit your business tremendously. If you’re not doing it, you are missing out on a huge chunk of the pie. Certain sites are now receiving more traffic from social networks than they are from the search engines. People spend a lot of time browsing Facebook, and virtually everyone is liable to check out some content they think is interesting if their friend shared it.
The bottom line is that social media is a very real traffic source that can yield you business. While everyone pops open Google to research their problems and needs from time to time, most people spend even more time on Facebook or Twitter, where they are not exceptionally busy and can afford the time to check out some cool content- if they see it. And this is where you come in with your site/brand, because optimizing for social media is all about making sure people see your stuff.
Optimizing your site for this all comes down to two basic concepts: having quality, interesting content that people want to read and setting up your site so that it is easy for people to tweet, share, and like your stuff.
First things first, let us talk about the content. Quality content really is king here because your readers need to be interested in what you are putting out. Nobody is going to share a crappy article that does not help them with their friends on Facebook – and even if they did, people coming to your site through the share would not have any reason to stick around and become interested in your business! The list goes on and on with reasons why you need to have good content, but just know that it is crucial to marketing yourself online – especially if you want people to freely promote it on their social profiles.
Once you are consistently producing quality content that engages people, you need to set up your site so that people can interact with it socially. The goal here is to make it as easy as possible for people to click one of your social action buttons. We don’t want to be using a plugin with tiny “Tweet” and “Like” options (though I do see these all over the place)- the buttons need to be big and easily available to the users. One of the better options is to install a social media bar that scrolls with the reader. This allows him/her to click it at any point during the article.
Just following the basic two steps above will yield you some social media traffic. I see people all the time designing complex strategies but really, it is that simple. Create awesome content that people love and design your site so that they can easily share, like, and tweet it. Another effective strategy is using the “Pay With a Tweet” app which only allows users to access something they want on your site, by paying with a tweet. While not completely essential to your business, if you have something people would be willing to pay for with a tweet, by all means use it.
These are just the basics of social media optimization, if you would like to check out some more advanced tactics, give us a call and we’ll give you a bird’s eye view of hoe to harvest from your social media landscape.