Maryland Website Design

Using Social Media in Maryland Website Design: What Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube Do for a Website

Over the last few years, the growing popularity of the internet has been responsible for the rise and fall of many companies, notably Barnes & Noble not being able to touch Amazon, Netflix dominating Blockbuster, and Skype’s services valuing approximately $2.5 billion total as of last year. No one can deny the internet’s affect on business models, and now, Social Media is changing things up again. The internet is enormous, and with no way to read every blog, page, or post no matter how valuable the information, businesses are relying on social media to add visibility to websites, provide links and traffic, and to achieve web success. Coupled with traditional SEO, these efforts are worthwhile.

Social media, when incorporated into website design ensures that your website doesn’t remain static. The future of Social Media is still unclear but the rules are already changing—we encourage you to establish a social presence on the web and not get left behind.

Let’s take a look how Twitter can help your website. Zappos.com owes their success to their Twitter presence, which drives organic search performance and has assisted them achieve excellent customer service as well as a high volume of sales, pulling in approximately $1 billion dollars last year. Sales aside, Twitter is useful in that it can help direct people’s attention to good things about your business. What do you want people to know about you? You can develop your public image and the way you’d like to be viewed in the public eye. For Twitter success, give advice, post blog posts, pictures, and any other information you perceive as interesting. Use Twitter as an opportunity to share an important side of your company, the “human” side. You can use Twitter as social media value for human connections. Twitter can also help with business development, if the majority of your prospects are online, and can even cause the “meeting of great minds”, providing daily learning opportunities. That is, if you’re following the right people.

Facebook has grown into a powerful tool for businesses. When used correctly, Facebook can direct your website, business, and brand to the target audience—your existing and potential customers. Facebook pages serve as part of your identity on the internet. You have the opportunity to carefully cultivate a profile, image, and brand and then present it to individuals who can then “friend” you if interested. If so, your information will be shared with their friends. You can show images, videos, company information, and even choose applications and other customizations to personalize your page. Advertising is gold on Facebook. You’ve got the opportunity to select and specify the demographic you’d like to show your ad to, then display your ad content directly to that targeted audience. Use Facebook polls to ask for judgment and reviews and discover the opinions and information you deem necessary for your business. Facebook’s business tools are still a work in progress, though.

Many small businesses (and larger ones as well) have discovered the value of YouTube. YouTube is free, easy to use, and has a huge audience behind it. YouTube is a fantastic marketing channel for any business. For your company’s YouTube account, take the time if possible to customize your YouTube channel and distinguish your company and your company’s image. Use their looks, branding, and colors to achieve a unique look. Interact with other YouTubers—comment on websites, friend people, engage in dialogue with others. Keep up to date on current related videos.

Group together content for easy viewing and create relevant playlists. You’ll be helping your viewers find the content they need. Tag your videos mindfully and provide descriptions that are relevant. Tags should be on point and SEO friendly. YouTube makes it easy to promote videos anywhere! Link them around the web, to your blog, website, or any other platform. Upload new videos, keep on top of comments, accept or deny friend requests as frequently as you can.

When used correctly, social media can change your business. You can learn what your consumers are saying about you online, communicate with customers, receive valuable feedback on products, personalize your company, share information, and build a customer base that’s enthusiastic about your product. Social media is important because the power is shifting into the hands of the consumers, who are blogging, tweeting, and posting videos of what they learn, see, buy, and do. Get involved… or you’ll have to play catch up later.