Social Media is Here to Stay

by Sena

I have read some amazing stories this week that bring home the fact that social media is here to stay.  First, I stumbled upon this article about a hunter-gatherer from a remote village in Papua New Guinea who friended an English journalist on Facebook.  Then I read this article about Nana, the 102-year-old grandmother who has a goal of reaching 5,000 friends on her Facebook page.

If hunter gatherers in remote countries and 102-year-old women are using social media, you better believe a growing number of your customers are using social media.  Luckily for you, we recently added a Social Media Toolbar to our website building service, vSites.  Here’s an example of what it looks like on a website:

Here is a very basic introduction to all of the social media platforms you can now integrate into your vSite using our new Social Media Toolbar.

The Big Dogs

Facebook: Facebook is the leader of the pack.  With 800 million users, as well as the ability to have business pages as well as personal profiles, this is the mother load of social media networks.  Including this on your website will allow people to easily find your Facebook page where they can then ‘like’ you and learn more about your business via photos, status updates, etc.  If you are a newbie to social media, you should start your research here.

Twitter: Twitter is based on the premise of sharing “what’s happening” in 140 characters or less.  Including a Twitter icon on your website will allow users to quickly and easily follow your Twitter profile, and they can even start a conversation with you.  Here is a great video giving you the Twitter basics.

YouTube:  YouTube is the largest video sharing network in the world.  Anyone can create an account, and upload a video for the entire world to see.  Including fun, quirky or informative videos on your YouTube page and then integrating that into your website is a great way to build community with your users.

The Growing Dogs:

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a “professional network.”  It’s similar to Facebook’s layout in that you have a detailed profile, but instead of friends you have a “network” full of “connections.”  Having Linkedin integrated into your website can help build credibility for yourself and your busineses.

Google Plus: Google Plus is Google’s recently launched social network.  Many say it is a direct challenge to Facebook, and there have been many comparisons made between the two.   This is a network that has a lot of potential, so integrate your profile if you want to show that you are an early adopter.

Yelp: Yelp is one of the most popular review-based websites in the world.  I almost never go to a restaurant/hair stylist/yoga studio without checking the Yelp reviews first.  For small businesses and service professionals this can be both a blessing and a curse.  If reviews are important to your business, include it in your profile to show people how awesome you are!

Flickr: YouTube is to videos as Flickr is to pictures, mostly.  It’s not as big as YouTube, but it is a very popular photo sharing website.  Many people upload high quality pictures to their Flickr account, and share albums with friends and family.  You can integrate your Flickr profile if you want to share pictures with your website visitors.

Foursquare: Foursquare is pretty popular with the younger crowd and it’s worth knowing about.  Foursquare is most commonly used on mobile phones, and the premise is you get points for “checking in” everywhere you go. Here’s an example of how Corcoran Group, a very social media savvy real estate company, uses Foursquare.

The Blogging Dogs

Blogger: Blogger is Google’s blogging platform.  You can easily create blogs, follow other blogs, and advertise through the Blogger platform.  If you’re not sure what Blogging is, think about writing in your diary, except sharing it with the online world. Blogging is a great way to share your industry knowledge and converse with your customers, so I highly recommend integrating a blog into your website.

WordPress:  Here is an adorable example of a WordPress site. WordPress is another popular blog platform.  Both Blogger and WordPress allow you to get pretty creative with the look of your blog.

ActiveRain: ActiveRain is a professional network for people in the real estate business.  With over 215,000 users, it’s one of the largest real estate networks in the world and has information about everything you could possibly want to know about real estate.  Incorporating an ActiveRain blog into your website will show users you are knowledgeable about the Real Estate industry, and give them ways to connect with you.

This was a basic introduction of the 11 social networks you can integrate into your website using vSites, and I hope the stories about the hunter-gatherer, and 102-year-old woman on Facebook will encourage you to get out there and start being (virtually) social!