Social Media. By now, you are probably sick of hearing those words. The fact remains that social media can make or break your business.

One of the most important things to do when launching your website, or even if you have an existing website, is to make sure you are integrating social media appropriately. Here are a few tips to help you integrate successfully!

1. Make Sure Social Media Buttons are Visible

This might seem like common sense, but the truth is that many businesses miss the mark when placing their social media buttons. Media buttons should be displayed on the top, bottom or along the side of your home page.

Links or buttons that remain in your navigation as the user moves from page to page are important. Always offer them the opportunity to check out your social media! Be sure they are set to open in a new window so the user doesn’t exit your website.

2. Don’t Overdo It

Don’t get engaged in social media that you aren’t interested in. You will be more successful if you focus on a few outlets and make them spectacular rather than having twenty outlets and nineteen of them are ignored. By this, I mean if you prefer Facebook over Twitter then just stick with the Facebook.

Overwhelming your viewers with icons for too many social media outlets will turn them off.. instead just focus on the main players such as Facebook and Twitter to start. Before you add buttons to your site, ask yourself, “Is there information here that people would be interested in?”

3. Integrate your Social Media Feed

One of the easiest ways to get your fans engaged is to have your social media feed directly displayed on your site. If you use Facebook often then add the code right into your sidebar! Show your fans that you are engaged.

Twitter also helps you display your tweets fairly easy by providing their own slew of widgets you can add to your site. You can add them to your website, blog, and even add the integration to your Facebook page. Click here to view all the goodies.

4. Include Share Buttons

If you sell a product or run a full-fledged eCommerce site and you haven’t added share buttons to your product pages, you are missing out on a whole host of potential social impressions. Share buttons should enable website-goers to seamlessly share or recommend a product. Let your fans do the advertising for you!

If you have a WordPress based site or blog, make sure you visit your plugins section and do a search for social media buttons. Obviously, there are many to choose from and we’re sure you’ll find something to your liking. Lastly, take a look at how this website adds share buttons to the side of their posts.

Finally, follow these steps and watch how your website and social media will work seamlessly!