Social sharing is still a thing.
Social media platforms will come and go over time. However, people are social creatures and love to tell ‘friends’ what they are up to. Social media is great for marketers, but should your business join in the fun?
Everyone online knows that social media has maintained its popularity despite some hiccoughs around privacy and political use. Three of the top ten most globally visited sites are social media platforms. This is according to the company which ranks all traffic on the internet. Alexa.com list video sharing site YouTube at #1, Facebook at #6 followed by Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn further down the list.
Building a business brand online.
Okay – so your business website displays your business logo, product and services and contact information. What else do you to need to consider? Well – there’s a lot of things but let’s assume for this article that you want them to promote your site to their social contacts. Make things easy rather than expecting them to copy and paste a link and opening their email client.
Add easy-to-use social sharing buttons.
Even if you don’t have an overarching social media strategy using sharing is a great start. Share buttons are added to pages as well as posts so you don’t need to be a blogger to take advantage of them. Here are some do’s and don’ts to make sure you use them effectively on your business website.
Button placement is critical. Where you put the buttons is one of the most important considerations. Positioning share buttons on a post or page can make or break their effectiveness. Popular positions include at the top, in the sidebars (if you use them) and in-line on blog posts or page sections. Top of the page is ideal because they’re more visible and don’t require scrolling to be seen. I prefer to have them at the bottom because I want readers to finish the article before choosing to share. Not everyone actually reads entire articles so this is a risk. My recommendation is that you test the placement options to see which one works best on your website. The second best place to include share buttons is in the post’s text which allows readers to pin images as they go. This option works because it doesn’t require people to leave what they’re reading.
Less is more. Don’t go button-crazy!
Too many social sharing buttons is bad practice. Not only does it create a crowded and confusing user experience, but it may also slow your site down. Limit your buttons if you want to enjoy the benefits of social sharing buttons without negatively impacting your site. Facebook and Twitter are by far the most popular choices, but some websites may also consider LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest.
Monitor their effectiveness. The intention of social sharing is to build trust for your brand/website. This ‘social proof’ can deliver huge benefits when done correctly but watch out if you get it wrong. Poor usage or lacklustre results may actually deliver negative social proof. Continually keep tabs on your buttons to see if/how they’re being used. If you notice one button is being used, but others aren’t, don’t be afraid to keep the effective one and jettison the underperforming ones.
Don’t Ignore Share Buttons.
Are there more pressing aspects of your social media strategy than share buttons? Certainly – but you can’t afford to ignore them. Share buttons like these can be the difference between success and irrelevance for many business owners and online marketers.
Like to add social sharing buttons to your site but don’t know how? Get in contact with us soon to find out how we can help get your business sharing on social media platforms.
