Hey guys, just thought I’d ask your thoughts on something that’s been causing quite a conundrum for me and my company lately…

I’m the social media and marketing guy for a large car finance company in the UK, and our homepage is our biggest asset. Literally every click counts and we try and make the most of every second visitors are on the site. All about exposure and conversion.

The conundrum is, I am trying to push some visibility of the social pages to a more prominent place on the front page. I think it’d really help people know that we actually have a Facebook and Twitter account, and that we post much more interesting content than APR’s and other boring numbers. Going through the analytics for the page, though, there’s not one single panel or position I can put this info, as everything is there to drive leads to applying, and the rest of the team I work with don’t want to sacrifice even a small section of the homepage which could otherwise be driving applications, so I’m just left with a tiny few icons in the footer of the page where they’ve always been.

Sort of frustrating, but understandable. I was wondering if this was anything others had experienced, and if so whether you’d found a way to keep everyone happy whilst pushing the social aspects harder.

Cheers guys,

- Tom

@tcjw I have found adding the icons that link to social help drive attention. For some of the pages I have the “people who have liked us” portion with the facebook like button so they can see the number of “likes” Also adding the social share capabilities to any pages can help drive engagement

You’re making a boatload of assumptions. Until you test for say making or changing a call to action or 2 on the front page to accommodate social media logos,  you’ll never know if clicks will improve or decline. Ask the bosses to allow you to test – you may be pleasantly surprised. 
While you’re at it ask your webmaster if a left or right global column can be added to introduce new web real estate. 

@julietd @mitch-rezman The website is Creditplus. If you check out the site it’s probably more clear what I’m getting at. I’m slowly wearing down the guys in charge of the site (marketing and development) to get a good-sized social presence on there.

The first step I’m implementing is using the “latest deals” ticker to alert people to the facebook and twitter pages. In between each “latest deal” there’ll be a “did you know…” line which will say “check out our Facebook page for free guides, competitions and more!” and other things along that vibe.

This is going to be a long process convincing them, but I’m sure I can do it. We’re currently discussing doing a pretty major reshuffle and redesign of the panels on the front page and I’m designing them, so I might slip in a social something somewhere haha

Sounds to me that you are dealing with a numbers group. Show them the money!!! Look at competitors that are maximizing their social media networks to drive traffic and convert sales. Use that information to your advantage. I did a FB promo for Toyota, the results of engagement were HUGE. Find those on FB and present a valid reason as to why your efforts deserve a little more “home page” real estate. 

Good luck!

@tcjw

I personally think that all of this information -including social media buttons and contact info – should be accessible at the top of the page. This way bringing together all of the disparate parts of what is ‘online media’.

I sometimes reward organisations with a like just simply because they have thought and cared enough to have these buttons at the top of their page, but I’m biased.

Anyways, you can marry the buttons into your existing web template keeping in theme if this makes your peers happy, and also trial it and track all of your pages (Google analytics etc) and use this compelling data to convert your peers as well. It will help is the point. 

I make a point of making sure links/options to connect with your brand or business are included on ALL collateral, even when you’re sending out emails, e-newsletter campaigns, business cards, etc. I have the follow us on FB, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, whatever there so they feel well, connected. 

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