If you’ve created a Facebook page or Twitter account for your business, chances are, you’ll already have linked to your website within your profile. After all, you don’t just want your followers to simply check out your status updates and call it a day — you want them to click through to your website, and hopefully convert into a paying user.
What many business owners neglect, though, is linking to their social media profiles on their website. Why is it important to add social media links on your website, and how do you go about adding these links? In this article, we explore all that, and more.
Quick aside: just so we’re clear, we’re talking about social media links, not social media share links or sharing buttons. If you want to learn more about utilizing social media share links to promote your content, we’ll be sharing an article about this in future.
Here’s Why
At the most basic level, adding social media links on your website helps you grow your followers. that aside, you’ll also be able to achieve other goals and objectives by featuring your social media accounts on your website. Read on to find out more!
1. Nurture website visitors
Say you get 100 visitors who land on your website, every day. The average website conversion rate is a low, low 2.35%, so this means that approximately 2 of your visitors will convert as paying customers, and the other 98 will churn away into oblivion. Such a pity, huh?
Now, adding social media links on your website is a great way to keep in touch with these consumers, and stay at the forefront of their consciousness. Assuming you have great content on your social media platforms, and your site visitors decide to follow you, you basically get a chance to nurture them through your content (both organic and paid). The goal is to achieve top-of-mind awareness, and convert them further down the road.
At this point, you might be wondering: can’t I do the same with an email list? Yes, that’s true, but most consumers don’t sign up for a mailing list unless you’re dangling a carrot in front of them. If you’re a SaaS business, you might have to give away a free eBook or trial. If you’re in the eCommerce line, the standard practice is to offer a promo code when someone signs up for your mailing list.
The bottom line? All things considered, there’s less friction associated with a consumer following a brand of Facebook, as opposed to signing up for their mailing list. You can still offer a newsletter sign-up, of course. But for your site visitors who aren’t comfortable with joining your list or parting with their email, take the conversation over to social media instead!
2. Build trust and demonstrate authenticity
In this day and age, authenticity is everything. 90% of millennials and 85% of Gen X consumers say that authenticity plays a key role in influencing which brands they support; data has also shown that authentic brands tend to attract more “high-value” customers.
While many companies do have an “Our Story” page that details their CSR initiatives or how they give back to society, you can go one step further and demonstrate authenticity via your social media posts. Here’s an example: if your brand’s selling point is that all your products are made in the USA, posting weekly #behindthescenes photos and videos (and encouraging your website visitors click through and view this content!) will make your story more convincing.
At the end of the day, consumers are no longer looking for a well-polished brand that says all the right things. Instead, they want to put their money behind brands which are authentic, meaningful, and transparent. By guiding your site visitors off your corporate page, and to your social media profiles, you can connect with them in a more meaningful way, and show them who you truly are.
BONUS: Improve search rankings
Interestingly enough, adding social media links for websites may increase your website’s visibility on search engines. Google has previously stated that companies should link to their Google+ page on their website because it “provides Google with information (…) to help determine the relevancy of your site to a user query on Google Search.”
Full disclaimer: we don’t have a ton of information on how this works, and if you do a quick search, you’ll see that a good deal of the online discourse revolves around how Google+ is useful for promoting content that you post on the platform itself (NOT how it gives your website SEO juice). That said, it’s simple to add social media links on your website, so if there’s even a small chance that this can improve your search rankings, why not go for it?
How to add social media links for websites
Want to get your social media links up and running? These guides will help you out!
- Add A Social Links Menu [WordPress]
- Adding And Setting Up A Social Bar [Wix]
- Add Social Icons [Weebly]
- Add Social Media Buttons [Shopify]
