Consumers are inundated with sales pitches, and no matter what they’re seeking, they encounter a wide range of options. Stand out from your competitors by showing how many customers you’ve already made happy. One of the easiest benchmarks to highlight is your social media following. Users notice when other users are popular, and that’s especially true for business accounts. By including your likes and follower counts on your website, you can boost your brand’s reputation.

Social networks also offer ways for customers to share testimonials. Don’t be afraid to pull this valuable social proof into your website. You can link Facebook and Google reviews into your site, or embed tweets and Instagram posts from supportive customers. By showing this authentic content, you increase confidence among your visitors and leads.

There’s nothing wrong with including your latest social posts on your website. Indeed, it’s a great way to show visitors that you have a social presence and encourage them to follow your accounts. However, long feeds distract from your website’s core messages and clutter up your design. Also, visitors are less likely to engage if you take up valuable real estate with social posts.

Instead, limit yourself to showing no more than 3 recent posts per social channel. Relegate the feed to a sidebar or footer so that visitors aren’t drawn away from your key website content.

Everyone likes the opportunity to contribute to their social media feed, but not all browsers and devices have kept up with demand. Make it easier with social share buttons that allow visitors to easily share blog posts, how-to articles, and product listings with their friends. (Learn how to boost sales on social media.)

We’ve yet to see a plugin that allows blogs or product listings to be auto-shared to your social channels in a compelling way. More often than not, such posts include an excerpt from the content without the hashtags or CTA you need for good results. Skip the auto-repost feature, and manually create posts that align with your recent website content.

Your CMS may have a native comments system, but with comments through Facebook or Disqus, you can demonstrate the appeal of your content and allow members of your brand’s community to connect with each other. Plus, these platforms are more reliable and user-friendly than many native options, and you can more easily track engagement and sentiment.

If you need users to register on your site, you can also allow them to login through Facebook, Google, Twitter, or LinkedIn. This approach provides more convenience for your visitors, which is crucial to overcoming their objection that they don’t have time to make an account. By getting them signed up through social media, you can also retarget them more easily.

Social media not only provides new opportunities for social proof and brand-building on your website, but it also offers valuable tools for engagement and registration. Most of your target audience has at least one social media account, which means you can tap into their existing behaviors to provide a more user-friendly experience. Plus, social media enhances the overall appeal of your site and affirms your brand’s presence across channels. Integrate social media into your website and watch your
conversions rise.

Need help figuring out how to add social media to your site? We’re here to help.