Not convinced this whole social network thing is right for your company's Web presence? Then you must not be interested in return traffic, increased brand awareness on the Web or an entire community of brand ambassadors to talk willingly and positively about your company. Think of the Web as a high school cafeteria full of like-minded youth. Absolutely no one is going to talk to the weird kid sitting in the corner keeping to themselves, only peering at people who try to engage them in conversation. Don't be the weird kid. Here are five ways you can turn your site into the cool kids table and be the center of conversation in no time.
Facebook:
Facebook is a great way to get your site started down the social path. It's a rather powerful tool to use to promote your website, products and services as well as messages. It will allow you to set up a page for your company, just like you would a personal profile. This will allow your Facebook fans - those who "like" your page - to get the most current information straight from you. Linking to your company's website from your Facebook page will allow you to interact with customers and prospects on a personal level and make your company a part of the water-cooler conversation on a daily basis.
Twitter:
If you're thinking that Facebook is not your thing, you may want to give Twitter a try. Twitter is a service that is similar to Facebook, but shares and spreads information in a much more concise message. It allows you to follow people and companies through their posts, however all posts are limited to 140 characters. This allows you to keep your message short, sweet and simple. Twitter is also a handy way to promote your brand and drive traffic to your website by re-directing followers to your site.
Wordpress:
If you consider yourself an expert in your field, you should start a blog. This is one of the more powerful ways to drive traffic to your site. Of course, it's not just as easy as stating something you believe to be true. You need to make sure you have a plan and that your blog content is aligned with your company's message. Then with solid writing, good design and a little luck, you'll start to see link-backs, comments about your posts, etc. All of this puts your brand in front of many more targeted potential customers.
Comments:
Comments go hand-in-hand with the Wordpress section. But it is beneficial to allow people to interact with each other on your blog and website. This is a great way to build return traffic with relatively little effort, which means a bigger return on investment (ROI) for your company. The goal here is to get people to interact with each other on your site rather than just look and leave. Promoting interaction is a really good way to lengthen the time spent by users on particular pages of your site as well as offer you insight into the type of content that most engages them.
Forums:
Forums are a great step to creating a community for your brand. By incorporating forums into your website, you promote interaction and create a diverse group of brand ambassadors. Although forums do require more attention and monitoring in order to make sure that everyone is following the rules and playing nice, they are worth the risk. Any time you can create real conversations about your brand, your company benefits from increased top-of-mind awareness, which is what forums are all about.
Incorporating these five social elements into your current website will help increase your brand's online presence and establish a unified message to your customers and prospects. A few tools to look for when integrating these social media staples are things like widgets, news feeds and buttons. These interactive portals are easy to work with and serve as the digital equivalent to Jnco jeans and puffy Adidas jackets in the '90s: They will help you out in the "cool kids table" department.
Author Resource:
M/C/C is a leading Dallas social media firm firm. For more information on social media be sure to check out Social Media Firms Today .
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