Reaching and receiving audiences has changed drastically over the past few years, with social activities now becoming integrated into just about every part of our digital lives. If you’re a marketer or business owner, you can take advantage of social media wildfire and leverage your target audiences into doing much of the heavy lifting for you. These social media implementations won’t only bring user convenience, but they’ll give your visitors and fans more opportunities to discuss and interact with your brand.
Social Login
Although it’s been around for a long time, only recently has social login been thoroughly accepted by users as a convenient, practical option for creating accounts on new sites, blogs, e-stores, and even other social networks. No more do we need to fill out tedious forms or manage a list of alternate passwords (hopefully Heartbleed taught you something about reusing passwords!); the traditional form is probably on it’s last legs now that the large social networks (even a few other web services such as Feedly and Evernote) are affiliated with new sign-ups.
Using social signups/logins allow you to collect useful data to further improve your marketing strategy while making it easier for new visitors to come back, buy and engage. It’s frustrating (and annoying) to have to fill in those details again and again. A single click or two is very refreshing and most users won’t think twice to signup, increasing user adoption rates. In addition, most social logins allow users to automatically bring over their social media avatar, instantly blinging out their new account with no effort at all. It’s a win-win to bring social login onto your website (if user accounts make sense).
Referral Programs
You’re probably aware of the ‘Share this with your friends and get $10’ shenanigans on sites like Jackthreads, Gilt, and other deal aggregate websites, and the catch remains the same: your friends need to actually buy something from that particular website under your referral link (or sign-up link) to give you any credit. As strange (or not) as it might sound, these referral platforms have seen rising success as social media continues to find its way into business-to-consumer interactions.
Take this example. If you’re shopping Jackthreads and you’re a cash stripped freshman, it’s likely the friends you end up recruiting are a similar demographic: cash stripped freshmen. Referral platforms help businesses communicate their deals and find new, long term customers. Plus, it takes a considerable less amount of leg work to reach these individuals; that means more marketing money in your pocket and less time spent trying to infiltrate your target audience.
Social Contests
Facebook was once extremely popular for social contests, but now many networks make use of various forms of socially situated contests, anything from quizzes to raffles. Some channels fare better than others (Twitter and Instagram stand out here), but Facebook still remains a heavy contender due to its contest scripts available for download, created, purchased online through a plethora of vendors. Looking to create some conversation or drive more sign-ups? Throw out a few posts on Twitter for followers to retweet your message with a particular hashtag in order to win one good or the other. Run a photo contest on Instagram or Pinterest where users vote for their favorite images (possibly of your products, maybe?). Tim Hortons and Young Drivers are well seasoned in this very art, and they’re proof social contests work.
You could even buy or sign-up for a contest script service and watch your page light up like wildfire; it’s seriously that effective, especially when contests offer tangible, material items. If you have new products or services, using contests to drive customers to your website and social media channels is a surefire way to get some engagement and bring some fun to the table.
