Twitter’s latest feature, a button that enables users to send direct messages from whatever website it’s embedded on, is an exciting upgrade for companies. It means an extra channel for customer accessibility, giving customers the ability to send direct messages without even having to hop off the company’s site.
It’s a pretty obvious win-win, but there’s much more to harnessing the power of social media. Tying all your company’s accounts to your website is a no-brainer; at this point, we can all agree that not having a presence on social media is a death sentence for a brand. As Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes put it, “For businesses today, the best way to keep your company successful, in my estimation, is to fully embrace social media.”
I was fortunate to become an established domain owner before the social media revolution. None of my businesses would have thrived had I not made it a point to understand the role of SEO. There was no “liking” and “sharing” on social media, but the concepts used to master SEO translate across social platforms.
Getting Results From Social Buttons
Social media features -- like DM buttons -- promise all the social media functionality you could want just by adding a code to your site. But the implementation process may not be so smooth. Differences in performance and functionality need to be considered. I've found four key steps to efficient social button use:
1. Limit Your Options
Narrow down which platforms your target audience uses most, and limit your website to those options. For example, B2B companies not using LinkedIn are missing out. It beats out Facebook by a large margin for business use, and along with increased visibility for business professionals at any level, a joint study by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs showed that LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform for content marketing.
My company stripped its social share icons down to Facebook, Twitter and an email option after discovering that almost all of our social media interaction was occurring on Facebook. But more interestingly, the most-clicked button was actually email. While shares were most likely on Facebook, an astonishing number of users emailed themselves helpful articles or calculators as a method of bookmarking them.
2. Optimize Your Social Presence
Never discount the amount of engagement that can be created through Facebook, but ensure that you're leveraging it properly. It’s possible to get a large number of likes and comments, but if you haven’t reached the right audience, you’ll be no better off than if you had bought fake likes.
While many companies have deftly maneuvered their way pop culture history, many others are inadvertently running themselves into the ground with some major mistakes. Likes are useless if they’re not from an engaged audience, just as an embedded Facebook feed does no good if you’re not leveraging your viewers.
The key is in the metrics: Conversions are a great way to gauge your social media campaigns. For example, we create daily social media posts as a form of branding, and ad campaign posts that run usually every other day. The goal is to gain followers who are comfortable with the content we share and foster a true relationship -- not bombard them with advertising.
3. Understand The Technology
Whether you’re using a third-party script, WordPress plug-in, or even just linking out to your brand’s social profiles, do your research. Once you have a grasp on what kind of social media functionality you’re seeking, find the route that meets your needs.
GetSocial, for example, lets users customize buttons, and SumoMe’s app suite includes must-haves like email collection. If your site uses WordPress and you’d like to keep things simple, you could try using Social Warfare and Easy Social Share Buttons through WordPress. These plug-ins are all simple to implement, and many service offerings overlap, so compare the impact of each and use the ones that make sense for your business.
Every time my team considers acquiring a domain, part of our assessment includes evaluating the content portion of the domain. Our design and content strategists are responsible for ensuring our existing domains have the most up-to-date design, placement, prompters and social media buttons to maintain a fresh, engaging experience for visitors.
4. Test Continuously
Don’t just go with your gut: Test out which social icons you like, and compare them. In most cases, browser testing is taken care of, but don’t be afraid to spot check. Use Google Analytics to compare the impact of different icons on aspects like bounce rate and time spent on page.
With so many platforms and services to choose from, always ensure that what you’re using not only works on all browsers, but also continues to work. Sometimes all it takes is an API change for something to stop working altogether. My team’s developers have perfected their own specialized testing methods for our domains, so ensure that your team is powered by developers who can do the same for your business.
As social networks continue to grow, it’s important to be smart about how you use them. With each platform’s continuous improvements, like Twitter’s new DM button, there’s never been a better time to delve into your favorite platforms and make them work for you.
