So you’re starting to get the hang of things. You’re on Twitter and Facebook. You may have found other channels that work really well for your organization. You’re drawing support and starting conversations with your new following. What’s next? How do you continue to grow?

Here’s a quick tip: leverage what you already have.

When someone wants to find you, they’re most likely going to search for you through a search engine, like Google, and end up on your homepage. That’s great. Your site should enable a visitor to learn more about your organization, what you are about, your vision, who you help and how they can help. But then what? How do you leverage a website visit into an opportunity to engage potential supporters on social media channels?

It’s simple. Make your social media presence known to your website visitors. Use visual cues that are recognized by your audience, telling them how to connect with you.

Unfortunately, editing your homepage isn’t as easy as writing an email or a blog post, but if you have some basic resources, it can be a worthwhile investment. Luckily, you don’t need to have icons or imagery developed. A number of resources give icon sets for social networks that can be used on your website for free. Fasticon is a great example, offering a free pack that covers most social networks that you would be participating in, and you can download it by clicking here.

Now you must decide what to use and where to put it. Don’t get carried away adding icons for every tool that you have ever tried, but instead, use those that give the visitor an opportunity to truly connect with your organization. Where are you talking? Where are you most likely to see a response and strike up a conversation without a long lag in-between? It should be Twitter, and it is very likely to be Facebook or potentially MySpace. And if you offer a blog, or related feed, you can use the standard orange RSS icon to denote that there is a feed that they can subscribe to.

Where should they go? Simply: up top. It’s best if you are able to fit these icons near the top of your page, or at least “above the fold”. That means that users on a standard computer screen would see it without having to scroll down. That’s where you want your most important information to be, so it isn’t missed. Let that content draw the visitor further down the page.

Want to see it in action? View a snippet of our company’s blog directory page below which utilizes this strategy, and click here to learn more about us, our team and their thoughts. Make sure to check out Social Enchilada for more social media tips!

Now, if that logical next step is for them to connect with you, make sure you are connecting back. Follow those who are following you. Say hi. Ask them about their interests and see if you can answer any questions. Be talkative and post open ended questions that will evoke a response. Yalebot recently posted a list of ten great tips that will help you make a real connection with your followers, as well as to grow your network. They are geared toward Twitter, but many are applicable elsewhere. You can read them here.

You’re really starting to get a hang of this social media thing, aren’t you? I hope your new connections continue to grow at a quickening pace - and even more so that it translates into the help that you and your team are looking for.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment, drop us a line or you can find my information below. I’ll do my best to help.

Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Twitter:
 @At1MP
Phone: 407.756.1377

 

Comments