Including social media content on your website can help build trust with customers and show that you are a genuine and active brand that engages with its audience. It can also show potential customers and your target audience what people have to say about your products or services.
You have a couple options when including social content on your website—you can include links to your social media or embed social feeds on your website. Whereas social links can simply be icons, a social feed shows live feeds from various social media sites.
So which option is best for your brand? Here’s when to include social links or embedded social feeds on your website.
When Social Links Are the Right Choice
Let’s face it—keeping up with social media is time-consuming, and not every business has the budget to hire a social media manager. If your brand isn’t very active on social media but has social media accounts, social links may be better than embedding social feeds.
Since embedding social feeds shows your recent activity or posts on your accounts, if you’re not active on social media, the feed may look the same to customers who visit your website days, weeks, or months later and see that the content is the same. This can be a red flag for people who want to see that a brand actively engages with its customers and cares about its online presence and reputation.
With social links, you can make it simple for people to find you on social media and connect or follow, yet you don’t need to advertise your social feed on your website. When you aren’t keeping up with your accounts, social media icons are preferable.
When to Embed Social Feeds on Your Website
If your brand is active on social media with regular posts and visual content, embedding social feeds on your website is generally the better option.
Live social feeds can showcase your brand’s personality, make your website appear more engaging and dynamic, and allow people to see your brand in action. It can also directly connect people to your social media so they can like and follow.
You have different options when embedding social feeds on your website. For example, you can do a combined feed from different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, or you can simply show the one you most frequently use.
The best part about embedding social feeds on your website is that you don’t need to maintain them because they are automatically updated. This helps keep your site fresh, relevant, and shows your engagement to your users right from the get-go.
Which Option Is Right for You?
Both social media links and embedded live social feeds are excellent options for businesses as they can easily connect with customers and share information. However, which one is right for you depends on your engagement level and how you want your business to be seen.
If social media is a big part of your brand and you are active daily or weekly, embedded social feeds are the way to go. However, if social media takes a backburner in your marketing strategy, stick with social icons for now. You can always embed social feeds later as your brand grows.
Wondering which approach is right for your website? Contact Gazz Consulting today for a consultation on how showcasing your social presence can improve your digital marketing strategy.
