If we were, to sum up the secret to social media marketing success in three terms, it would be "social media integration." All successful digital marketing strategies include effective social media integration. Why? Since it elevates website & social platform engagement, offers reliable data collection, increases brand recognition & eases KPI tracking.
As CEO of ComScore Bryan Weiner puts it - "Social marketing eliminates the middlemen, offering brands the unique way to have direct contact with their customers.” Social media integration functions similarly, allowing users to engage with your firm in the latest possible ways.
And the best part? It makes it easy to do so. Indeed, with the correct tools, you can combine social media with your website, email, and other channels today.
Let’s know more about it!
Some of today's most profitable companies, large and small, have perfected the art of posting on social media to increase their bottom lines.
Take Wendy’s, for example.
Why would a large corporation like Wendy's take the time and effort to troll people on Twitter?
Because tweets like this one go viral, get reposted, and provide the company with heaps of free attention. Corporate leaders may only sometimes see the immediate benefits of employing social media staff and investing in costly analytics software.
However, social media is about more than just making a quick transaction. As Wendy's (and many other companies) have demonstrated, merely communicating with customers online can be a tremendous victory for any business.
It’s exactly as Bonnie Sainsbury, Founder and CEO of Social Media Smarter, says - “Social media can help you increase the loyalty of your current clients to the point where they will voluntarily tell others about you, for free.”
So, where does social media integration come into it?
First, a little definition: The process of incorporating social media accounts into your marketing plan is known as social media integration. It can be met in 2 different methods:
Imagine the social media buttons you see on blog articles and websites. It makes it simple to share fascinating stuff without copying and pasting the URL. That is an excellent demonstration of social media integration in action.
Social media integration aids in achieving several essential objectives, including improving brand reach and recognition. It also stimulates website interaction and contributes to your social media following growth.
Today, every company relies on social media to reach a large target audience online. It is sometimes the only method to engage clients on a broad scale.
Modern customers, particularly millennials and Generation Z, are extremely conscientious. They want a personal connection with the products they buy, just as they want to know that their cosmetics are cruelty-free.
Social media contributes to developing trust, credibility, reputation, and awareness. When done correctly, this leads to significantly increased sales and profitability.
Sprout Social reports that 55% of customers find new businesses on social media, and 68% stated social media allows them to communicate with brands. Furthermore, 91% of executives want to boost their social media spending over the next three years.
So, what benefits do social media integration bring?
Social media algorithms are like small data riddles ready to be solved for certain marketers. However, if you're like most businesses attempting to tackle social media, they're a boogeyman. The enormous "unknown" that is smothering your content.
By default, social media algorithms decide which content to display depending on your activity. Understanding how these algorithms function can help you enhance your reach exposure & interact with your target audience more effectively.
Let’s go over some ways.
Implement Collaboration & Cross-Promotion - Collaborating with other content producers or businesses can dramatically boost your reach and engagement. Consider that as well.
Janet Benson Amarhavwie, Social Media Manager, said - "When it comes to social media marketing, you don’t have to post 3 times a day. It is never about how frequently you post, but about the quality of your content."
And because social media presence only sometimes converts into engagement, incorporating social media into websites and emails is critical. However, marketers must do so easily without sacrificing the User Experience (UX). Here are some ideas to get you started!
Even in this day and age, no marketing tactic is more potent than word of mouth. The method may have developed to be more computerized, but the premise remains the same. By including social network connections on your product or blog pages, your customers may easily share your content with their friends and acquaintances.
Take Mashable, for example. It has a prominent 'Share' button within each post to make it easy for visitors to share any page on their social channels, increasing website conversions.
Including social widgets on your website is an intriguing approach to interacting with potential clients. They allow customers to share items & services they wish to save for later or promote to others. Social networking widgets make your website more attractive and give clients a better brand experience.
Look at this example. Typically, these are real-time feeds of your social media updates. However, a branded hashtag may display posts from your followers and fans.
One of the most typical ways businesses combine their customers' social networking with their website experience is to provide a social login option. In fact, according to one LoginRadius research, 73% of users prefer to log in with their social network accounts. It can help you optimize the user experience depending on their likes and dislikes as determined by their social media activity.
Take Goodreads, for example.
Embedding social media videos on websites is another excellent strategy to drive traffic to your social media channels. The procedure is very straightforward; nevertheless, you must ensure that the video is not unique but simply accessible and shared. It will not only enhance interaction but will also help your Google rankings.
Like this company, which features client testimonials in an interactive video stream with textual summaries beneath each video.
You can use it to your advantage if you are an emerging company with a small but dedicated consumer base that likes to talk about you online. Rejoice in that glory & proudly showcase to your website visitors & customers what they say about you by showing their tweets and testimonials.
Emails are an excellent opportunity to include social sharing buttons. Like your website, they might appear at the top or bottom of your email.
In this example, Jimmy John's, everyone's favorite crazy fast sandwich store, adds their three most important social media profiles at the bottom of their promotional emails.
Email blasts highlighting your social media profiles are an excellent strategy for social media integration. It is a terrific approach to encourage your subscribers to engage socially by rewarding them like New Look.
Do you run a social media giveaway or contest? Or do you want to know what people think about an audience poll? Email blasts are an excellent approach to publicizing them. When you email your whole list, asking them to perform a call to action is a blast. Here's an excellent example from Handy:
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Integration of social media is an essential component of every digital marketing plan. Here are some recommended practices to maximize the impact of your social media integration efforts:
Monitor & Oversee Your Social Media Presence: Proactively monitoring your social impressions is much needed to ensure your brand reputation positively impacts users.
By following these best practices, businesses can develop a successful social media integration plan that supports their digital marketing goals and objectives.
Influencer marketing is a great technique to increase the reach of your social content and power your social media integration. But how would you start?
Social media platforms are a fantastic avenue for disseminating and viralizing material. Unfortunately, developing viral content is not simple, especially if you still need to determine what your target audience wants to see. As a result, collaborating with influencers is an excellent method to produce unique, shareable content and promote your website.
The influencer you have chosen to collaborate with is the face of your brand. As a result, they must understand the product nuances & display it in an attractive manner that will increase buyer interest.
Unlike a spammy, sponsored commercial, your web/email content must look natural and fluid. It should be portrayed as the creator's lifestyle/personal tale to establish quick contact with the viewer.
Including influencers in your social media integrations is a great strategy to wow your audience if you want to impress them. Influencer marketing efforts can provide varying outcomes; only some campaigns result in large sales and conversions. So, look beyond the conversions and focus on the engagement rate and impressions your site makes with influencer marketing!
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Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, said, “People on social platforms are a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so make your offering more appealing than that cat. And it can be a high bar.”
Hence, while adding social media to your website is crucial, so is the quality with which the process is completed. Here are some social media integration blunders to avoid on your website.
Deploying the right social media integration methods can help you grow your reach, create relationships with your audience & achieve a good ROI on your marketing efforts.
Social media integration is continuously changing, and as technology advances, new trends emerge that organizations should be aware of. As Dave Willis said, "Use social media to impact people, not to impress them."
Hence, here are some upcoming social media integration trends to watch out for:
Expect increasingly immersive and engaging social media experiences that can be integrated into your digital assets as AR and VR technology advance. It includes the following:
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered technologies and algorithms will continue to improve social media integration by automating tasks, personalizing content, and giving more accurate insights. It includes the following:
Including short-span & engaging content such as Snapchat & Instagram Storie creates new integration options. It includes the following:
As voice assistants & messaging apps become more popular, organizations may include them in their social media strategy. It includes the following:
Social media integration incorporates social media to explore more about your brand. Knowing your social sentiment throughout your digital marketing activities is critical. You must know your social sentiment (i.e., your audience's sentiments and feelings towards your company).
By selecting the right technology to integrate, you can engage with your consumers and make it simpler for them to become digital ambassadors for your business. Pick the appropriate social extensions for your web & witness the potential conversions.
Need help in your social media integration or social marketing efforts? MarsDevs can help.
We are a one-stop shop for all your tech needs and can offer resources that can help you boost your social media marketing efforts and take them to the next level. Need help with your social media integration? Book a slot with MarsDevs today, and let us help you out!
Social media integration is a new discipline that involves expanding your marketing strategies by diverting your followers to your website and making your social media channels more accessible to your target demographic and clients.
To integrate social media into your marketing strategy, you must first find your customers and go where they are, prioritize them, and share their stories. It also means tracking metrics and using social media channels to find new customers.
Social media integration can assist a firm in efficiently marketing new goods, sales, and content. Understanding how social media integration may benefit a firm might help you enhance marketing techniques within a marketing team.
Because social media is integrated into certain consumers' everyday lives, making social media as accessible to customers as feasible helps guarantee customers remember and evaluate a company's offerings.
Finally, connecting your social media accounts to your website can boost your company's online visibility and rating in search results, allowing people to locate and pick your company - which is what a website is all about.
