{"id":11765,"date":"2018-02-14T10:08:41","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T10:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobhouse.com.gh\/web-design-and-web-services\/?p=11155"},"modified":"2018-02-14T10:08:41","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T10:08:41","slug":"4-strategies-use-social-media-drive-engagement-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobhouse.com.gh\/ghana-web-design-company\/4-strategies-use-social-media-drive-engagement-website\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Strategies to Use Social Media to Drive Engagement on Your Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every effective website starts with a strong design and\u00a0quality content<\/a>. However, if you really want to maximize the effectiveness of your site, you\u2019ll want to use social media to drive engagement. If you\u2019re only providing opportunities for passive consumption, you aren\u2019t tapping into your visitors\u2019 desire to participate in your content.<\/p>\n

The good news is that you\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0use social media to drive engagement. After all, that\u2019s what social networks are for \u2013 enabling people to interact with content and spread it to their friends and contacts. By leveraging these existing tools, you can create more participation on your website and see better results from your marketing.<\/p>\n

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In this article, we\u2019ll explain the importance of engagement, and discuss why social media is such a crucial tool on your website. Then we\u2019ll show you four ways to get the ball rolling. Let\u2019s begin!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Why social media engagement is so crucial<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When you first create your website, you\u2019ll likely put a lot of effort into its design and functionality. This is an important step, and will start you off on the right foot. However, your work is far from over, even when your site is looking great and running perfectly. If you see your site as a passive marketing tool, you won\u2019t get the best results from it.<\/p>\n

After all, your audience will largely be made up of internet-savvy visitors who expect more than just quality content from you \u2013 they\u2019re looking to be engaged. In fact,\u00a080% of marketers<\/a>\u00a0consider engagement to be the most vital metric for evaluating marketing success online, rating it as more influential than audience size or website traffic. Treating\u00a0your audience<\/a>\u00a0as passive consumers means you\u2019re missing out on opportunities to see how they\u2019re connecting to your brand, and to foster stronger relationships.<\/p>\n

Just what is engagement in this context? In a nutshell, it\u2019s anything your audience does actively to communicate with or respond to you. This can be leaving comments on your blog posts, sharing your content, participating in surveys and giveaways, asking questions, and so on. While some of this can occur through your website or other channels, the most effective method is to use social media to drive engagement.<\/p>\n

About 30% of both millennials and Generation Xers\u00a0engage with a brand on social media<\/a>at least once a month \u2013 yet 89% of social media messages to brands go unanswered. Audiences are clearly interested in engaging with you through these platforms, but not all companies answer back. If you not only respond, but encourage that engagement and foster real conversations, you have a chance to stand above the crowd.<\/p>\n

64% of marketers<\/a>\u00a0have reported that increasing their audience engagement through social media played a vital role in the success of their marketing strategy. If you want to do the same thing, you\u2019ll need to find ways to use social media to drive engagement.<\/p>\n

How to use social media to drive engagement on your website<\/h2>\n

You can view your website and social media accounts as separate channels \u2013 or you can integrate them for a stronger effect. This way, you\u2019ll be able to funnel audience members back and forth between your company\u2019s site and profiles, increasing the amount of content they view.<\/p>\n

Plus, adding social elements to your website makes it easier to use social media to drive engagement. Let\u2019s talk about four ways you can get started with this approach.<\/p>\n

1. Add social sharing buttons to your content<\/h3>\n

\"Use<\/p>\n

The first method we\u2019ll introduce is the simplest \u2013 adding social media sharing buttons to your website. This provides visitors with an effortless way to spread your branding and content to their own networks. It\u2019s a method of offering engagement opportunities without getting in your audience\u2019s face about it, which many will appreciate. After all,\u00a0too much aggressive promotion<\/a>\u00a0is the biggest reason people stop following brands on social media.<\/p>\n

Social sharing buttons can drive quite a bit of traffic to your social media accounts from your website. In one analysis, it was found that\u00a0up to 20% of tweets<\/a>\u00a0to large media companies such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal came from their Twitter share buttons. These buttons tend to perform best when placed on individual content people might want to share, rather than on general website pages. So they\u2019re most effective when used in combination with a company blog, updates, or news articles.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there are plenty of easy ways to\u00a0add this feature to your website<\/a>. If you\u2019re using WordPress, many plugins will get the job done (and some themes include this option as standard). We\u2019d recommend giving\u00a0Social Share Buttons<\/a>\u00a0a try, since it\u2019s free and quite customizable. Just remember to look out for users who are sharing your content, and respond to them when possible. This way, you can keep the conversation and engagement going.<\/p>\n

Related Article:\u00a0The Best WordPress Plugins for Social Media Auto Posting<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Share your posts on social media sites<\/h3>\n

\"Use<\/p>\n

Along with enabling your audience to share your content, it\u2019s a smart idea to distribute it to social media yourself, as the WordPress team does in the Twitter status shown above. That way, you can reach a far larger audience than simply those who come to your website. You also get extra mileage out of your content, leveraging the same pieces to use social media to drive engagement across multiple platforms.<\/p>\n

Finally, sharing your content on social media is a smart way to encourage participation and conversations.\u00a071% of those<\/a>\u00a0who have had a positive experience with a brand via social media will likely recommend it to their friends and contacts. The more content you put out, the greater number of opportunities you\u2019ll have for these kinds of connections.<\/p>\n

Frankly, if you aren\u2019t sharing your blog posts and other content on social media, you\u2019re missing a valuable opportunity.<\/p>\n

The way you go about sharing your content may vary, but in general you\u2019ll start by choosing a few key platforms to focus on, then\u00a0setting up a schedule<\/a>\u00a0for posting. There are lots of tools that can help, and you can even automate the process to save time. For more information, you can check out\u00a0our previous guide<\/a>\u00a0on the subject.<\/p>\n

3. Create more \u2018shareable\u2019 content<\/h3>\n

\"Use<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve enabled your visitors to share your website\u2019s content themselves, and have set up a schedule for posting it to social media, it\u2019s time to think about creating pieces specifically for social platforms, like the\u00a0video shown above<\/a>. After all, long blog posts are not always the most effective type of content to share. If you have any experience with social media, you know that most lend themselves to much shorter fare.<\/p>\n

Some of the best types of \u2018shareable\u2019 content include (but are not restricted to):<\/p>\n