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With all of the business-related surfing I do, I notice things that small businesses could be doing to maximize the effort they are already putting in to social media. Here are a few simple tips you can implement today.
Make it easy to find your social media profiles
Does your home page have a link to your Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and e-newsletter archives? This is perhaps the most basic rule of social media integration. This inspiration for this post was a newsletter by a friend that I wanted to tweet about. Her newsletter didn’t contain a web link and on her website I had to go searching for her archives to find the link to tweet. Do you really want your customers to have to search for your information? Links to any social media you are already using should be easily accessible on the home page of your website.
Speaking of e-newsletters
The masthead of your e-newsletter (where you put all your contact information) should also contain links to your social media profiles. This doesn’t have to take up a lot of space. It can be as simple as a small logo that links to your Facebook page.
Add Share Buttons to your website, blog and newsletter.
Make it easy for someone to pay you the compliment of sharing your content. There are a plethora of sharing widgets available for your website, my favourite being Social Warfare, and they are usually fairly easy to install yourself. Remember to include this on your e-newsletters too. Most e-newsletter programs have an option for you to do this.
Logo placement and use is important
I’m sure your e-newsletter is branded with your corporate logo, colors pictures, tag lines, etc. But does your logo show up when someone shares your newsletter or website on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn? There’s only one way to find out…post the link yourself and see what thumbnail options come up. If your logo or headshot isn’t one of the options, you need to talk to your website or newsletter designer. When someone shares your content you want them to be able to show your brand alongside it whenever possible. I can’t tell you how many times I share content without a thumbnail because the graphics that display are useless pieces of “something”…sometimes not even a discernible object!
Automation is a beautiful thing
If you can, set up your blog posts and e-newsletters to automatically publish to your social networks. Mainly this will save you from having to remember to do it, but it ensures your followers are kept up to date on any changes to your website, news and announcements, on whichever social media platform they prefer. Maybe you have customers who don’t want more e-mail, but would click to read your e-newsletter when they see a tweet or Facebook post reminding them about it. Networked Blogs (which you can see in my sidebar) is one great tool for this type of automation for your blog posts.
Remember your traditional marketing, too!
Add social media icons to your printed advertising, brochures, business cards, posters, menus, billboards, bus shelter ads, stationery and packaging. Let people know at every turn that you are using these channels to communicate. You can also mention it in any radio or TV advertising with the simple statement “Find us on Facebook”. Here’s another post with ever more ideas for promoting your social channels.
Follow these really simple steps and you’ll be well on your way to growing your followers across all of your existing social media channels. Are there other rules of integration that I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments.
Very cool article. Many small business owners still don’t understand the value of social media. This is great advice and we’re big believers in integrating social media into websites as well. Thanks for good sharing
Thanks for stopping in to read. Glad you found it useful.