Connecting Social Media Networks to Your Website

So now that we’ve run through the gamut of popular social media networks, it is time to look at a few reasons why it is useful to incorporate them into your website or blog. Firstly, making your profiles accessible through your website or blog increases the chance that someone browsing through all the text-heavy content will notice the distinguishable icons, show interest, and click on one that leads them to the respective site. From there it is up to your profiles, which you’ve hopefully put some time and thought into in terms of design, making sure you’ve shown a bit of your personality and creative effort to capture viewer attention.

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Notice the difference just from adding a few icons?

Another reason why it is beneficial to highlight that you are a part of certain social networks is that it helps with branding; it is important to let people know what networks belong to. Advertising the fact that you’re a member of a particular social network allows website users to connect with you on an additional platform. For instance, if you have a Facebook Fan Page, those visitors who also use Facebook (and there are many!) may find it more convenient to keep up with you by joining your Fan Page. If they do, they can opt to receive your wall posts and updates, or send you private messages. Depending on the settings you allow, fans can even post on your wall and make comments on your posts. Out of this transaction you’ve gained a person’s valuable contact information. Now you can begin the fact-finding song and dance of determining if they are ready to be considered as a current lead, or as a potential future prospect.

Tools such as AddThis.com offer a unique option. Once embedded into your website, they allow a user to select a platform, such as Twitter, and publish comments and a link back to that page. When in use, you’ve added another level of interactivity that allows anyone to share pages of your website, further increasing your online presence and your chances to be found by the ‘right’ person. Virtual word of mouth can go a long way these days! Plus for the more tech savvy crowd, you can use Google Analytics to help monitor the feature’s statistics.

See how it looks with and without:

(Red arrow not part of AddThis.com code)

Twitter your forte? Want more people reading your tweets? Use the Twitter Profile Widget to display your most recent messages directly on your website. There is also a Search, Faves or List Widget. Click ‘My Website’ on this page for descriptions of the various widget types. You can change the appearance or dimensions, and/or reconfigure the default preferences.

Use empty space to your advantage by filling it with useful components that enhance your website, but won’t detract from its primary purpose of being the go-to place for property searching.

Linkedin is the “Facebook for Businesses and Professionals”. Add your profile through several convenient means, one of which is through a Pop Up. Simply by clicking on my name, or the small Linkedin icon to the right, you’ll get the following --

Check out other useful Linkedin Widgets

My final words on the matter are that, just like your phone number, without someone knowing it, without you making sure that it is readily available for people to know, you’ll never get a phone call. It is the same thing with your social media networks. As the famous tagline of “Field of Dreams” reads, “If you build it, they will come.” The same holds true for social media networks – if you build and bring awareness to your online presence, people will eventually come. Now it is time to do your part and begin building!

Authored By: Bryan Coughlin, Client Relations