Is your website social?

Silly question, you might think- isn't everyone doing social media these days?
After all, with 500 million users on Facebook and Twitter growing at an exponential rate, you'd think most people who own a website would integrate it with social media so people can easily tweet/like their content or add them to their 'likes' on Facebook.

At a social media event the other week, I was astounded to hear that only 33% of businesses are using social media. When I look at any website, I instantly look for social buttons, either to follow the company/person or to share their content.

You want people to find your website right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have one. Your website is your shop window, a way to showcase your product, service or talent.

Why wouldn't you want people talking about that?

You may need to revamp your website to include social media buttons. I like ones that are prominent and are visually striking, rather than the small, discrete ones nestled away at the bottom of your pages.

Don't forget, social media is a marketing tool- so the more prominently you have your social media buttons, the better.

For encouraging users to follow you, I like the Social Media Widget Plugin (for Wordpress). You can have the icons in a sketch, cut out, heart or default shape- very pretty for putting at the top of your home page!

Of course, it pays to have at least a couple of pages on your site that people want to share, too, and tell their friends about.

Don't worry if you dont offer articles, podcasts, blogs on your site- your visitors may want to tweet your product page, your about page, anything.

The easier it is for them to share your pages, the more likely they are to do so.

My personal favourites (and the most popular) are:
Tweetmeme: You've probably seen this. One click easy share, with a counter button to show how popular you are ;). Twitter have just launched their own version, but I think they're a bit late!


Of course, the latest big thing is the Facebook 'like' button. Let your visitors easily share content by 'liking' your page, posting it to their profile on Facebook and showing up on their friend's newsfeeds.

Of course, you need to adequately assess what types of social media networks are relevant to your visitors- maybe its Bebo or Linked In.

I'll cover that in another blog, but for now, go back to your website and have a look- is your website allowing users to engage?