We might as well accept it, social media is taking over the web.  As of December 2011, 64% of all internet users in the US are on Facebook, which boils down to 50% of the US population as a whole.  It’s a powerful thing, and is changing the way we use the internet.  While Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform, its still just one among dozens of others.  If used wisely, social media can be an invaluable tool when partnered with your website to expand your web presence.  Best of all, its free!

Small businesses can be one of the largest benefactors of social media.  Social media is free to setup, and instantly gives businesses the ability to provide real time news and updates through their social media followers.  We will elaborate on how to utilize social media more in future posts, I am going to focus briefly on how social media can be utilized on your website.  When a small business has their site up and running, one goal for the business should be to attract visitors to their social media pages.  If you can get someone to ‘Like’ your page, you instantly have direct real-time communication with that person (and often the people in their network).  We want to encourage visitors to connect with your business on social media.  Having a facebook feed in your website is an option, or simply putting Facebook share icons, or ‘like’ buttons in your website’s posts can get your content on social media without people needing to ‘like’ your business.  Any way to get people to share your website content, or mention of your business on social media is beneficial.  Think of social media as a pond or a spider web.  Getting your content shared on facebook can cause a ripple effect  carrying your content to each visitors unique social spider web.  It’s only one click from the visitor.  Getting interesting content on your site, and making the social media sharing options visible (and not intrusive) should be a goal. Continue reading →