Website integration with social networks: how to improve interaction with users

Integrating a website with social networks is not just a fashionable trend, but an effective method to strengthen communication with the audience, increase its loyalty and engagement. Users are accustomed to quick interaction, likes, the ability to share content, so they willingly open a resource that provides such an opportunity. In this article, we will understand how to improve interaction with customers through social platforms so that customers not only come, but also stay with you for a long time.

Integration of the site with social networks - what is it?

Connecting social networks to a website is a way to get convenient and effective interaction with users. For example, it can be authorization through social networks, when a person registers on your resource in one click, using the login through his account in a social network. Or the “Share” button, clicking on which the user can publish an article in the feed.

Benefits of connecting your site to social networks

Social media on a website helps to increase traffic noticeably. When users share content from your resource in their feed, you get a natural influx of new visitors without additional advertising costs.

Integrating your platform with social networks also helps to:

• establish a quick connection with your customers;
• distribute content through reposts, likes, comments;
• simplify the process of collecting customer data;
• collect reviews and feedback directly from the site;
• run targeted advertising based on user data;
• track the effectiveness of content using analytical tools of social platforms.

Publications in social networks with direct links to the site help to expand audience reach and increase brand awareness. The easier and faster it is for a user to share an article, product or promotion, the higher the chances that new customers will learn about your resource.

Minuses of connecting a website to social networks

Despite the many advantages, when integrating the site with social networks can cause problems:

• pages of the resource will open slowly due to the connection of third-party scripts;
• the risk of personal data leakage increases in case of incorrect configuration;
• regular updates and technical support of integrations are required;
• increased dependence on promotion algorithms within the social network.

These disadvantages can be solved if you entrust the creation of sites to professional developers, for example, the IT-company Megasite, which occupies the first places in the rating of the best web studios in Ukraine.

Ways to integrate the site with social platforms

To link the site with social networks can be in different ways.

Share and Subscribe buttons

Adding social media buttons to a website is usually recommended on every page. The “Share” option allows users to publish content to their feed in one click. If their friends are also interested in the article / product / service / price, the number of your customers will increase. As for the “Subscribe” button, it helps to quickly attract new subscribers to your social networks.

Using social media APIs

An API (application programming interface) is a set of tools and protocols through which different platforms can communicate with each other. In the context of social media integration, an API allows a website to:

• display an Instagram or FB feed directly on the site;
• authorize users through their Google or Facebook accounts;
• automatically publish posts from the site's blog to social networks (cross-posting);
• collect statistics on likes, comments, followers, etc.

Thus API is a powerful tool that allows you to automate interaction with users through social networks.

Cross-posting

Automatically publishing website content on social networks allows you to quickly show it to your customers. This saves time, ensures stable activity on social networks and attracts additional traffic.

Social media advertising tools

Social platforms offer tools that help you customize your advertising campaigns to the right audience. The most popular options are:

• targeted advertising - ads are shown to users based on their interests, age and other parameters;
• retargeting - advertising for customers who have already visited your site or interacted with content. Helps to remind about the brand and incentivize a purchase;
• pixels - embed codes that track users' actions on the site after clicking on a publication;
• analytics - helps to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising.

Thus, the competent use of these tools helps to publish relevant content and create effective advertising campaigns.

Examples of social networks and website integration

How to increase traffic from social networks, you can consider the example of the “Share” button:

• news portal - the option allows users to share relevant news with friends;
• online store - the button allows customers to tell their friends about an interesting product;
• blog page - the option allows you to quickly publish an article in your feed, showing it to your friends.

To learn more about the possibility of integrating your site with popular platforms and advertising in social networks, contact Megasite specialists.