With Valentine’s Day recently behind us, we thought it only appropriate to talk about your social media’s relationship with your existing marketing. Being honest with yourself, how would you rate the current health of your cross-promotion? Average? Lacking? Drab? Boring? Here are a few simple ways to liven up your social media marketing integration for the most influential online presence ever.
1. Show Love for Social Media with Plug-ins
There are many ways to weave your social media platforms into your existing marketing efforts; an excellent beginner’s tip would be to at least have social plug-ins on your brand’s homepage. These plug-ins will direct consumers to the social media platform(s) of your choice – increasing SEO, and inviting consumers to join your community. If you’re concerned with losing the prospective customer, have the social media plug-in open in a separate window so that the user can continue to navigate through your website.
For our client Cuore&Pelle, we make sure to include social media plug-ins for users to visit while on their website, without distracting from the homepage.
2. Feed Your Website with Social
Often times, the upkeep of a website gets put on the back burner. We’re not blaming you. With the pressure to post daily updates to Facebook, construct optimized content for your blog, and upload your latest video to YouTube, it’s tough to stay atop of the various platforms. But just like a relationship, it needs to be constantly cultivated and tended to in order to be successful. Social media gives you an excellent way to stay relevant (if you have someone managing your social media daily), by feeding your site with posts and status updates. We suggest feeding your site with Twitter, as Facebook often changes their formatting, creating glitches for your integration.
For our client, Face Place, we feed their website with Twitter updates to ensure relevant, consistent and fresh content. Additionally, the live Twitter feed adds unique value for their users, as the majority of updates are actually skin care tips!
3. Try Something New, Like QR Codes
Every once in awhile, a relationship needs a little something new, something daring, and maybe even something a little bold. Enter, the QR code. If you’ve spotted this 
odd looking bar code lately, we’re about to tell you exactly what it is. QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that users can scan easily with their smartphone cameras. Once a QR code is scanned, it can direct users to a specific place – your website, Facebook, Twitter – the possibilities are truly endless. The exceptional thing about QR codes is that you can incorporate them on or offline. Doing so gives you the opportunity to seamlessly integrate your online presence in-store, on an invitation, even on a television screen, wherever you currently advertise. QR codes add a dynamic approach to the over-used term “a call to action.”
For our client Marina Del Rey Toyota, we created a flyer to tangibly introduce visitors to their online platforms, in-store. The purpose of the flyer was to invite customers to partake in weekly contests held on MDR’s Facebook page, giving customers an incentive to visit. To make it as easy as possible for users to engage with the campaign, a QR code is strategically placed on the bottom of the flyer, near the Facebook web address. Voilà! Your consumer can now join in on your Facebook campaign with a simple, “snap!”
QR Disclaimer: Remember that you want to constantly provide something valuable to the consumer. Simply, directing them to your website with absolutely no purpose will agitate consumers, and probably turn them off from your brand.
4. Harmoniously Cross Promote
Ensure that all of your platforms seamlessly connect to one another. All social media sites have unique purposes, and in order to give a user the full feel for your brand, you should direct them to every aspect of who you are as a business. We understand that all social media sites have different results for different brands, but Twitter and Facebook need to be staple items in your social media marketing. After all, don’t you want to be where the people are?
For this tweet on our /excelamktg Twitter page, we direct follows to our current Social Media Makeover contest where users have the opportunity to win engaging Facebook apps and more social media custom designs:
Your turn: How will you better integrate your social media platforms into your existing marketing efforts? Visit /excelamktg for further customized social media marketing ideas, innovative ideas for QR code placement, and insider tips for small business success.
Join us!
Every Friday at 1 p.m. Pacific Time we will be hosting a live Twitter Chat, where we open up the floor to you and answer your questions regarding social media marketing integration. Use hashtag “#SMoaB” to jump into the conversation!