Social media is constantly being qualified for ROI, stickiness and reach, but how many of your indicators are looking at the destination of social media? How does your website work for or against your social media presence? Let’s look at this from the perspective of high school physics or just a need for speed.

Speed Versus Velocity

Good social media and poor social media is similar to comparing speed and velocity. Without getting into a huge physics discussion, speed is a distance traveled over time. Miles per hour, a rate of travel we’re all familiar with, especially those of us with speeding tickets. A business can pump out volumes of tweets, Facebook entries, etc. None of it will matter without a destination—a direction.

Velocity is commonly confused with speed. While speed is a rate of travel, velocity is a rate of travel and direction. This is critical to keep in mind when bringing the analogy to a business’ social media. All the social media outreach won’t convert to real customers until you give them the ability to connect with your business. The destination (direction) on your website becomes critically important. The question you need to ask: is my website ready for social media?

What Makes a Social Media-Friendly Website?

In the dawning age of social media, a website has never been more important. A website becomes the hub for your entire brand. Imagine an airport concourse or rail depot—site visitors coming in from all manner of locations. Some may come from organic searches based on your products or services, some may come from social media looking to read an entry on your blog, and some might come from email marketing wanting to learn more. All are there to interact with your business.

Interacting with your business’ website brings it back to the main question: is your website ready? Do you have an easy to navigate product or service section? How easy is it for readers of your blog to contact you to hire? How easily can that marketing email recipient purchase the widget you featured? These are questions that may be asked ahead of significantly diving into social media.

What are some recommendations associated with a social media-ready website?

• Keep your blog or news directly on your site and not on a separate domain.

• Navigation should be clear, comprehensive (don’t hide pages), and consistent throughout the site.

• Clearly show your social media connections. Give site visitors plenty of options to connect to your brand.

• Develop a keyword vocabulary and use them to tag your pages, posts and products effectively. Effective use of blog categories will go a long way.

• If you have a blog, FAQ or products—include a search box.

• Link all the time. If you mention a product or service you offer in your blog or social media post, be sure to link it!

• Be easy to contact with your phone number, email link, or email form. If someone contacts you, get back to them the same business day.

As your business begins to venture down the rewarding path of engaging new consumers with social media, don’t forget to give them a destination or a venue to continue the brand experience. Social media becomes an even greater brand force when it is given speed and velocity.

Social media is changing the way consumers buy your products or services. Savvy internet users are checking customer review sites, following you on Twitter, liking you on Facebook and may even be checking in to your business on Foursquare. How can you use these tools bring in new customers and turn current customers into evangelists?

Join your hosts, Sturgeon Bay Visitor Center at their offices on Tuesday evening for this discussion and Q&A. Social begins at 6:00pm with refreshments and light snacks. The discussion will begin at 6:30pm. SBVC members attend free of charge and non-members for only $10. All proceeds go to SBVC.

Matthew Olson will be presenting ideas for using social media during the travel season to raise awareness of your business, to keep current customers engaged, and to reach out to potential customers coming to the area. Learn how Facebook can better customer relationships. Learn how Twitter can be a listening tool. Learn why Foursquare should be on your radar. Plenty of time for questions!

Social media is changing the way consumers buy your products or services. Savvy internet users are checking customer review sites, following you on Twitter, liking you on Facebook and may even be checking in to your business on Foursquare. How can you use these tools bring in new customers and turn current customers into evangelists?

Join your hosts, Sturgeon Bay Visitor Center at their offices on Tuesday evening for this discussion and Q&A. Social begins at 6:00 pm with refreshments and light snacks. The discussion will begin at 6:30 pm. SBVC members attend free of charge and non-members for only $10. All proceeds go to SBVC. Click here to register.

Matthew Olson will be presenting ideas for using social media during the travel season to raise awareness of your business, to keep current customers engaged, and to reach out to potential customers coming to the area. Learn how Facebook can better customer relationships. Learn how Twitter can be a listening tool. Learn why Foursquare should be on your radar. Plenty of time for questions!

Matthew Olson is President of Signalfire, a creative branding agency helping numerous local businesses with everything from brand strategy to web development as well as consulting on social media. Signalfire has worked with SBVC since 2006 and coordinates event promotions. To learn more about Signalfire, visit them online at www.signalfireproductions.com, “like” them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, or connect on Foursquare!