Revealed: The Secrets Of Creating A Social Media Friendly Website
The use of social media has exploded in recent years! Most of us have a profile on networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We even use social media to find jobs (i.e. LinkedIn). There’s no denying that social media is an important aspect of today’s digital society.
If you run a business, chances are you have a website to promote your brand and its products and services. You may also have social media profiles for your company. But, is your website a social media friendly one?
If it isn’t, or you aren’t sure, this blog post is for you. Today, I will teach how you to make sure people can share content on your site with their followers and fans. Here is what you need to know:
Make sure you’ve got content people want to share
Before you do anything, you need to ask yourself one question. Does your website have the kind of content that people want to share on social media? Or, put it another way. If you stumbled across your website, would you share its content?
If you’re unsure, or the answer is “no”, you need to rectify this issue first. The good news is that it’s straightforward to resolve content quality problems. All you have to do is post fresh, dynamite stuff on your website!
The easiest way to do that is to set up a blog. WordPress is my preferred option for blogging as it’s simple to setup and free to use. You can install WordPress on your Web host, or you can use the free hosted version with your domain. I recommend the former option as you’ll have more control over it.
If you’re thinking of revamping your website, why not use WordPress for all of it? You might not know it, but many people use the platform as a CMS (content management system). WordPress has now evolved into a fully-fledged publishing platform. It’s a far cry from its early days as simple blogging software!
Why am I recommending WordPress? It allows you to update your blog or site fast and without any hassle. What’s more, your new content will get indexed by search engines quicker if you use WordPress.
So, you’ve got the software side of things sorted out. How do you go about creating decent content to put on your site? Most people tend to use a copywriter to create compelling material. After all; you need to create content that grabs your audience’s attention.
Of course, you could write the content yourself and save some money. But, if you haven’t got a natural flair for writing, it’s worth paying a professional to do the work for you.
Once you’ve got your text content sorted out, you should also incorporate some multimedia. In other words, add some photos and videos relevant to your topic. It’s always a good idea to break up large sections of text with photos or videos.
Add social sharing buttons
No-one is going to copy a link and paste it into their social network of choice. Your job is the make the lives of your audience easier. One way you can do that is by adding some social sharing buttons on your website.
Most sites have buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Avoid having lots of sharing buttons as they can make your web pages look messy and unappealing. Just stick with some common social media platforms.
You should make sure that people can share your content from any page on your website. So, how do social sharing buttons work, I hear you ask?
Well, the code behind the button connects to an API (Application Programming Interface). Each social network has their own API. When you click on one of those buttons, a dialog box usually pops up and gives you sharing options.
For example, let’s say that one of your website visitors has clicked on a Facebook sharing button. The box that pops up will ask them who they wish to share the link with. If the visitor manages a page or group, they can choose to share your URL with those audiences instead.
Once the user selects the ‘Post’ button, a preview of your web page appears on the timeline.
There are many ways to add social sharing buttons to your pages. If you use WordPress for your website, you can install one of many available plugins. For static pages, you can usually add social sharing buttons from AddThis, for example.
Use a fast web host for your site
You might think that hosting is an odd topic to associate with social media friendliness. But, it should be a relevant part of your strategy! The thing about websites is some people overlook the hosting options available to them. Often, people will use hosts that boast things like unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Or they just select hosting based on price alone.
There are many reasons to select a fast web host for your website. First of all, what happens if your server is unreliable? Your site will go down more often than it will stay up. Your audience can’t share your content if they can’t access it.
Second, a fast and reliable host is a must for SEO (search engine optimization). Google, Bing, and Yahoo rank websites based in part on site speed. Why does SEO matter for social media friendliness, I hear you ask?
Well, many of your site visitors will come across your content by searching for a keyword or phrase. If they feel the content is relevant to their needs, they will want to share the URL on social media.
If you visit VPS Server, you can see an example of a hosting company that offers a fast and reliable service. Avoid providers that claim to offer the Earth and deliver nothing. I recommend doing some research before selecting a new host if yours isn’t good enough.
Invest in a kick-ass design on your site
Last, but not least, you need to make sure the design and layout of your website works. Are you still rocking a site design from 2006? Do you have to zoom in on your site when you use a mobile browser?
If the answer to either of those questions is yes, it’s time to upgrade your site design and layout. There are many options you can choose; it all depends on what your site uses and what you wish to invest.
For example, WordPress uses “themes” that you can upload and activate in seconds. You can use free ones from the WordPress repository, or you can pay for premium ones from ThemeForest. It’s also possible to buy HTML and CSS-based themes if you aren’t using a CMS on your website.
In general, themes are easy to customize. If you want a more bespoke solution, I suggest hiring a web designer. They can build you a site design and layout according to your needs.
Prefer a more hands-on approach to web design? If so, you could always use some web design software such as Adobe Dreamweaver. Another option is to use a web builder service. This is where you design the layout of your site in your browser.
Whatever method you’re planning to follow, be sure to do some research before buying. That way, you can be sure that you’ll end up with a solution that best meets your needs.
I hope that today’s blog post has been of help to you. Thanks for reading it!
