How do you Get Free Marketing?

Make your Website Social.

The 7th Element of your Online Foundations is one that often gets missed or just misunderstood.

Social Share Options and Buttons

You always want to have a way for people to share your website content – whether a page or a blog post – on social media.

This means having buttons that people tweet your page, or like a blog post, or even share a blog post on Facebook or LinkedIn. Sharing an image on Pinterest.

Now, for those of you who just said – I would never use Pinterest or Twitter… I would say, “okay fine but you still need to include them on your website as an option.”Most times the answer I get is, “You can tell me it’s a good thing all you want Kathy but I will never use Pinterest.”

Okay fine… and then my response will always be the same…
“So you won’t use it but what if your website visitors do, and what if one person had 10,000 followers on Pinterest? Wouldn’t it be cool if they could share your content with their community of 10,000 people? And share it with a link back to your website?”

That is when the light bulb goes off and the misunderstanding goes away…

“Ohhhh now I see what you mean.”

YES!!!!!

Social Sharing buttons are about people on your site sharing your stuff to their friends. It’s not about whether or not you use those networks but if they do.

These are different from Social Media Links – which are buttons that open up and take people to your profiles online so they can connect and follow or friend you.  There is a difference between these buttons, one is for connecting and one is for sharing. Big difference and you should have both on your website!

So, now that you understand why it is important, how do you make this happen?

First… Ensure you include your links to social media channels on your website and have social sharing tools. My favourite tool for this on a WordPress website is a plugin called Simple Social Icons. (Note: all my ideas and tools are generally for WordPress websites, which are the type we build and maintain for clients for non-WordPress ones I am sure there are options, I just do not know them enough to share.)

Simply download the plugin and configure it in a widget area so it shows on your main site page as well as possibly on your sidebar area as well.

With Simple Social Icons, the steps I take to configure it are:

1. Install the plugin.
2. Drag the icon to a widget area where you want them to show. (I like sidebar for inner pages and header or footer area on homepages)
3. Tick open in a new window. I say this because if you are planning to give someone a link to you on social media, be prepared for them to get lost online and not click back instantly to your website. Most people will click the link and open your Facebook page, then they might like it. But then they notice they have 2 friend requests, and answer them. Now they see some notifications and it is someone’s birthday… now they go add a birthday wish, more notifications come on… all of a sudden it is 15 minutes later and they forgot why they were on Facebook in the first place. So they close Facebook in their browser and get back to work.
   If the link opened in a new window, your website is still an open tab on their browser. If you did not, then when they closed Facebook they also closed your website.
   It may take them a while to remember why they were there, what they wanted and how to get your link again… and they may never get this!
   Opening the link in a new tab ensures a better chance they finish their website visit with you.
4. Customize the colour of the icons in the widget … I like to match or use a complementary colour to one in my brand. This lets the icons match your website colours.
5. Then fill in the links to all your social media profiles. Hit save and you are ready.

There are many other ways to get links to your social media profiles on your website, this is not the only tool, but it is an easy one and very versatile. The main thing is get the links there! People want to find you and connect … don’t make them go searching for you… give them an easy way to connect with you online!

Your icons will look something like this image below … in whatever style you created them.

Now for the Social Sharing Options… there are a ton out there.

My favourite is the Sumome App. Now they offer both free and paid versions, I use the free one always for social sharing only. It works well, is mobile responsive and is easy to setup.

To get this on your site, simply add the plugin, then you need to setup a username and password and then configure the plugin.

Here is how to configure the free version of SumoMe for a social sharing tool:

1. Add it to your site
2. Go to the ‘store” and choose the “Share” option
3. Click on the free version – not paid
4. Settings in the Share part. Add the services you want on sharing tool. I like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Email. Remember it’s not what services you use – pick the top ones everyone uses! You can also pick colours, size of the share buttons, if they display a count or not etc etc… tick off what you want. Explore!
5. Layout – Check where it will show – I like the left side of the webpage – in case people do not scroll to the end they still know they can share) and then on mobile it will be at the bottom
6. Display Rules – you can choose if they show on pages or blog posts or both or only some. I leave them at default which is all pages and posts.
7. Services. This is the MOST IMPORTANT AREA. DO NOT skip this if you have a Twitter account, you HAVE to enter your Twitter username here. This is a Must. If you do not do this, you miss the chance for people to see the credit of your username with the Tweet when people share it. See the image below. If I did not do this people would be sharing my info without the via@PepperIt_Mktg … having the username there opens the door for more followers. Make certain to do this part.

So… those are my two best, and easiest ways, to make sure your website is social and that people can not only find you, but can market your business for you by having a social sharing tool on every page (well, not on thank you pages!) and blog post.

If you have any questions about making these work, feel free to connect on my Facebook Page and ask a question.