Social networking sites are like networking venues, where you connect with customers and get their attention. The people you meet aren’t necessarily ready to buy, but by sharing information you can turn them into warm leads and direct them to your website.
Think of your website as your ‘premises’ on the web – this is where you convert customer interest into sales.
To get the best results, your website needs to work with and support your social media marketing.
How can I make this happen?
The five key steps to making your site ready for social media marketing (‘optimising’ it) are:
- creating interesting content for your website that people want to share
- making it easy for people to do this
- rewarding people who engage with your content and your website
- actively sharing your own content with others
- making it easy for people to put your content on their own website or social media pages, with a link back to you
Creating and sharing your own content, and rewarding interaction with your site are largely down to you – though you could employ a social media marketing services provider to help with this.
So how can a web design company help?
A good website design company can make technical changes to your website:
- they can build a way for you to present your ‘shareable’ content (such as a blog)
- they can enable visitors to share your content on social networking sites (for example, adding a button to post your content on their Facebook page)
- they can make your content easy to ‘grab’ by others and put on their own site, with a link back to your site
A website design company can also build the pages on your site where you will direct people when they’re ready to buy. They can also develop your visual identity so that your website and social media profiles have the same look and feel. Consistency is important for building brand awareness and online reputation.
A strong brand, shareable content and the means to share your content are the tools you need to make the most of your social media marketing.
