Top tips to integrate social media into your website design
Websites evolved tremendously in the past few years, and they are no longer all about delivering information. Because social media plays such a huge role in the lives of most people, including it in website design was just a matter of time. Considering today’s advancements in this direction, web designers have to stay up to date with the requirements of the online community. Social media platforms represent a strong tool to grow audiences fast, an aspect that places it in the first position in terms of priority. This article will present several ways of integrating social media in your website design. Here’s where you can start:
Social media login option
Adding a social media login option to your website is the most convenient way to expand your audience. In a society where the most appreciated detail in the online environment is rapidity, giving users a modality to sign up to your website by clicking one single button is the option you should strive for. Instead of completing lengthy forms, users can simply use a social media login button to have their information synced. Adding this option to your website is not difficult at all, and most respectable sites adopted it a while back.
Moreover, as a website owner, you can gather social data from the user and use it to personalize the content you publish. By gathering emails, website owners can set up newsletter campaigns in the future. It is highly important to specify that users must agree to the privacy terms and conditions of your website before you can gather personal data from their social media accounts. Another benefit of using social media login buttons is that they give users a sense of familiarity. Because people are surrounded by social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, seeing an icon that is familiar to them can boost the website’s credibility. You can learn more about the latest social media integration trends in web design at cheapwebdesign.co.uk.
Contact Us forms linking to social media platforms
All websites include a Contact Us form, to offer users a chance to communicate with the support team or directly with the owner of the website. Linking this form to the official social media accounts of the company/owner of the website can be very convenient for most users. Besides, discussing through social media platforms can be more rapid. The key to success is giving the users the support they need as fast as possible and respecting their feedback. This is also a great manner of expanding the follower base on your official social media profiles. Users appreciate fast, professional responses and one of the most efficient ways to offer it is through social media chats. Of course, you will still need to be available on other means of communication (email, live chat etc.).
Social media-based commenting
Choosing a good commenting system for a website is often a problem for web designers. Why? The answer is simple: all commenting systems involve spam. There is no possible method to fully eliminate spam other than curating the comments yourself. Yet requiring registration before commenting seems to reduce the number of spam comments drastically. Social media-based systems are a popular option in web design today. Facebook Comments is a competent system that allows people to comment on any website through their personal social media profile. Other users can choose to like other comments or reply to them, thus encouraging community socialization. The major benefit of Facebook Comments compared to other commenting systems would be the built-in sharing option. You no longer have to include a separate share button for your posts if you use this system, as commenters can share the posts directly from the platform.
Using chatbots
A chatbot is a service created by following a set of rules, based on Artificial Intelligence. Chatbots can be used for both practical and entertaining purposes and they can be deployed in any large messaging application (especially social-media ones, such as Facebook Messenger). More and more websites replace the live chat function with chatbots. The best way to integrate social media into chatbots is to compose a welcome message that encourages users to check out the official profiles of the company on various hubs. Because chatbots strengthen interaction, the chances to expand an audience are bigger. The idea of automated messages can be used directly on platforms such as Facebook, for a quick response and 24/7 availability. Users can put together a series of questions that are often asked by customers and generate automated responses.
Social media live chat
Another good idea to integrate social media in your web design would be adding a customer chat plugin from a social media platform. As an example, the Facebook Messenger platform launched a beta plugin that allows users to integrate the chat window, as seen on Facebook, directly on your website. The messages can then be handled directly from the Facebook account. Social media live chats are cheaper and easier to integrate, which makes it a convenient investment in terms of time and money. Facebook made this plugin available a while back, so integration is accessible even for people who own smaller websites and don’t have much knowledge in programming or tech.
Exit-intent popups
This is a method to generate big conversion rate increases. Exit-intent popups are the messages that show up when a person tries to leave the website. Even though may users consider that popups are inconvenient and they don’t contribute to a smooth user experience, they still seem to be quite effective in web design. The displayed message can contain all sorts of information, but social media integration might be the most convenient conversion tool. Set up an exit-intent popup that asks the user to like or subscribe to a social media page. Anyway, exit-intent popups are probably the last method one should use. Whenever a user already interacted with the popup, it should be automatically disabled for the respective user next time he visits the website. Otherwise, the website might look spammy and the web design strategy won’t be as effective as planned.