When creating a website, one of the most popular questions we are asked is whether to display social media directly on the website. In most cases it is a resounding YES!

There are many reasons, the order of priority will change for each website development project, but here are our top three reasons to include your social media on your website;

Search Engine Optimisation

Search engines love websites that are maintained and kept up to date. Imagine if you bought a newspaper one day, then bought another a few days later but the content was all the same. You would probably leave it a while before buying again. Search engines are similar, they will visit your website and index your content. When they return, if the content is the same, they will visit less frequently. If however your content has changed, it will return more often.

Having your content crawled more often means that your new content will be picked up faster and your search engine rankings improve. Displaying your social media content on your website ensures your website is updated, as long as you update your social media of course.

Cross linking material

Content is found from a whole variety of places these days, social media being one of the main sources. Your website and social media should compliment each other, for example, when you write a blog post for your website, mentioning it on your social media with a link to the full article will drive visitors to your website. Of course, not every post on social media needs a blog post, but when it makes sense to do so, linking the two provides superb exposure for each channel you have.

Brand brand brand

Brand awareness and recognition is so important. When someone thinks of a product or service, you want your brand to pop in to their minds first. We received a phone call just the other day which went something like “we need a website for a new product we are developing and your came to mind…” which is excellent. By putting your message out there, your brand is being recognised and remembered.

Team this brand awareness with an awesome product or service and your business is unstoppable.

How to display social media on your website

There are two main methods to displaying social media on your website, using one of the social media pre-supplied widgets or via their API.

Widgets

This is a quick and easy way to display your social media feed on your website. Simply choose a widget style, select how many posts to show and paste the code it provides in to your website. The drawback of widgets are that the design is predefined by the social media company and look clunky and out of place on your own website. Also, the content is provided by the widget, it doesn’t sit on your own website so search engines cannot see it.

API

The most complete method is via the API. Utilising the social media API, we have access to your actual data, meaning we can display your content however we like. This let’s us fit the information perfectly in to your own website. It also means that search engines have access to this content, so by maintaining your social media you are also populating your website automatically. Check back to our first point above about the SEO benefits of social media integration 😀

Contact us to chat about adding your social media feeds to your website, there’s no reason not to.