Social media integration is a must-have when it comes to marketing strategies that work well in the digital age. It’s important to use a variety of marketing channels to reach your target audience, and utilizing the power of social media is one of the best ways to do that. Though sharing content on social media can help you increase brand awareness and drive traffic back to your website or blog, using social media the wrong way can do more harm to your brand than good. Keep reading to learn how to win over customers by effectively integrating social media into your digital engagement strategies.
What is Social Media Integration?
Social media integration is a marketing tool that allows you to use social channels as an extension of your existing branding strategies. A social media integrator helps promote brand awareness and increase the visibility of marketing campaigns by creating opportunities on various social platforms for customers to link or share information between their website and social media. Businesses that don’t utilize specific social platforms — or that don’t integrate social media accounts into their websites — risk missing out on new prospects and leveraging their online presence.
Here are a few tips to integrate your social media efforts into your overall business strategy to reach a larger audience, save more time, and promote a consistent, trustworthy brand.
Integrate Social Media to Promote Your Website
Organize your social media marketing efforts around directing traffic to your website. Think of your website as your home base — the place where all the action should occur. Include a visible social media button along the top, bottom, or side of your website. Create buttons or links that open your social media pages in new windows to ensure that visitors don’t leave your website altogether. HubSpot has an excellent guide on creating social media buttons for any social platform directly on your website. This is a surefire way to help increase traffic to your social networks and boost your brand positioning.
Add Social Posts to Your Website
Many businesses showcase their Facebook posts and Twitter feeds directly on their websites. Some businesses use these platforms to highlight sales or offers, while others provide information about recent news or events. Whichever you prefer, to utilize this method of social media integration most effectively, make sure to actively manage your social media platforms at least twice a week. Links or posts with outdated information will reflect poorly on your brand and could actually damage your reputation.
Integrate Social Media to Utilize Various Platforms
Develop your social presence across a variety of platforms to cater to customers who may prefer to use different forms of communication. Research various social media platforms to determine those that will most effectively deliver your message to your target audience. For instance, a business serving a high number of professionals may find the most leads via LinkedIn, while others may enjoy increased inquiries as a result of engaging video ads posted on YouTube. Other tactics to determine which platforms work best for your brand include evaluating the competition and deciding which platforms have the highest growth potential and audience engagement.
Focus on the Best Social Media Platforms for your Business
Once you have established a healthy presence across a variety of social channels, it’s best to begin measuring your performance and start focusing your efforts on the social media platforms that work best for your business’ needs. To do this, you will want to measure specific Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs on each of your social channels. KPIs are quantifiable metrics that tell you how well your pages and posts are performing on social media so you can determine your ROI and modify or amplify your strategy accordingly.
This article from OptinMonster goes over the top 8 best social media platforms for business and gives pros and cons for each one to help you decide which ones you ought to be taking advantage of. While you shouldn’t ignore your poorer performing social media accounts altogether, it is wise to boost your efforts on the most effective and engaging social media platforms to maximize your ROI and elevate your brand as much as possible.
Integrate Social Media to Make it Easy to Share Content
If you have a blog, sell products, or post articles on your website, make your content shareable with social share buttons. Share buttons enable customers to easily share or recommend a product from your website to their social networks. Social media integrations for sharing include Facebook, Twitter, Google, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Reddit, and hundreds of others. Plugins such as AddThis and ShareThis offer easy-to-implement share buttons for social media integrators with the added benefit of analytics so you can see how your content is getting shared.
Implement a Strong Social Media Integration Plan
A strong social media integration plan will increase traffic to your website from social media and increase your social media following from your website. Social media integration amplifies your online presence, creates more opportunities to connect with your audience and leverages your brand. To find out more about creating and following a social media integration or marketing plan, or if you would like assistance in getting started, contact Millennium Agency today.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a national award-winning digital creative, content/PR and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more! Linda Fanaras is the President and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Manchester, NH and Boston. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or lfanaras@mill.agency.
