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<div class="post-2857 post type-post hentry category-social-media tag-social-media" id="post-2857">
<h2>Why Social Media Should Be Part of Your Web Strategy</h2>
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<p>According to Greg Makuch, proprietor of a sixteen-year-old Canadian Web Hosting company and WHM reseller, simply having a website is no longer enough to build a successful web presence for your business. To see maximum benefit from taking your business online, you’ll need to master social media. This isn’t an easy task for beginners, and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available on the web. Greg recommends talking to your host to see if they offer social media consulting to get you started if you’re unsure about what to do.</p>
<p>There are dozens of social networks available for you to take advantage of, but it’s probably wise to start with the big ones and move on to niche networks as you gain more experience in the social sphere. If nothing else, get your business on Facebook and Twitter. Most of the other networks fall into a niche category; that is, they won’t be effective or even useful for everyone. We’ll be exploring why Greg, and most web professionals, think that this is such an important part of your web strategy.</p>
<h3>What is Social Media?</h3>
<p>Social media is a tough term to define, as the meaning seems to shift as the medium itself changes. Ultimately, it comes down to two things – communication and interaction. Social media is different than traditional marketing in that the goal is to develop a relationship with your customers. Rather than using traditional “push” marketing, you are aiming for customer engagement.</p>
<h3>Why You Need It</h3>
<p>With all of the information coming at us in this age, most of us have become adept at filtering out the noise – which usually means ads. We only pay attention if we register something of interest. Social media takes advantage of the old marketing standbys, word of mouth and customer loyalty.</p>
<p>Social media allows you to not just communicate with your customers, it allows you to start a conversation and ultimately, a relationship. That customer becomes more loyal and likely to spread the word about your business through tweets, likes, and other sharing systems.</p>
<p>Let’s say you’ve set up a Facebook page for your business, and just as importantly, given visitors to your site an easy way to find it (a Like button or box, for example). John visits your site and likes what he sees, so he clicks the Like button and begins receiving your updates in his <a href="../blog/category/facebook">Facebook </a>stream. When one of these updates catches his interest, he’s more likely to share that information with his Facebook network. Because his friends and colleagues trust John’s opinion, they’re much more likely to click that link and make a purchase from you than if they see a banner ad for your site.</p>
<p>There are numerous studies showing that people who are connected to a business through Facebook or Twitter are much more likely to make a purchase than those who aren’t. Connected customers are valuable customers. You can’t afford not to reach out to them.</p>
<h3>Social Media and SEO</h3>
<p>Of course, it’s not just about connecting with customers. Traditional SEO methods are no longer as powerful as they once were. Instead, search engines are beginning to use social media stats to determine ranking. You may have a great site optimized for on-page SEO, but if you ignore social media, you risk losing search engine ranking, and in turn, your exposure on the web.<br/>
How does this work? Google, for example, looks at social media to determine your authority in your field. It takes into account how often you’re mentioned or linked to, and even if you’re verified as the source through “author” tags (important if blogging is part of your social media strategy). Essentially, the more authoritative sources you have linking to you and spreading the word, the better your rankings will turn out. Ignore social media, and you risk killing your search engine rankings.</p>
<h3>Get Started</h3>
<p>By now, I hope I’ve convinced you that social media is something that will continue to grow in importance. But where do you start? If nothing else, you need to start working on developing a professionally designed Facebook Page (there is a crucial difference between these and Profiles, by the way) and create a Twitter account and start developing a following. These two are your basic broadcasting platforms. Do not use these as a soap box to shout advertisements from. People will begin to ignore you fairly quickly if your account is just a stream of commercials for your company. Instead, use it for company announcements, promotions, or even just sharing witty or useful things that are relevant to your audience.</p>
<p>Don’t forget to provide prominent links to your social media profiles on your site. There are dozens of widgets and pre-designed/coded buttons you can use to easily integrate <a href="https://www.twylah.com/laustinseo">social media</a> into your site. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, it’s a good idea to include a Google +1 button as well.<br/>
Of course, as you become more experienced in social media, you can begin to take advantage of others, such as LinkedIn, Foursquare, Quora or <a href="../blog/category/youtube">YouTube</a>, depending on your needs.</p>
<p>Don’t wait until it’s too late to take advantage of social media, or your business will get left behind. And if you’re having trouble, or just need some help, some hosting companies, such as Whatever Computes Ltd., will offer social media consulting and integration as part of your hosting services.</p>
<p style="font-style: italic;">
<p>About the Author: Greg Makuch is the publisher and owner of a <a href="https://whatevercomputes.com/canadian-hosting">Canadian hosting company</a> for over 16 years.</p>
<p>Tags: <a href="../blog/tag/social-media" rel="tag">Social Media</a></p>
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