Your Website Should Be Proud of your Social Life!

Posted by Analisa, Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 3:05 pm, under Best Practices, Social Marketing.

It is one of the most frustrating and saddening moments…when I visit a website and see small, unobtrusive, ashamed little social media icons at the bottom of the page, below the fold, and generally hidden from view. I happen to be looking for them, always, so when I have trouble finding these important links, I wonder, how is the unsuspecting non-social-media-obsessed visitor supposed to find them?

Many businesses have entered the social sphere over the last year and some understand the arena more than others. Most at least know that being social is a good thing, something to be proud of…or at least, among other social folks. But their website must feel like a non-social entity to many of them, because they are either afraid or reluctant to proudly display their Facebook, Twitter or Blogging status for visitors to see and follow.

Imagine going into your friends home and noticing that there were framed pictures of their other friends and family displayed beneath the sofa, under tables and in dark corners…You would wonder what they were so ashamed of!

Being social means being public, present and proud, so I want to encourage the following organizations to re-think the placement of social links on their websites. These businesses all have fairly active social lives, but hardly an indication of their alter-social-egos on their websites.

Unacceptable

Bocanova: A new restaurant in Jack London Square (where HyperFolk often have lunch)

See the faded Twitter and Facebook icons at the very very very bottom of the page.

The Fine Arts Museums: The homepage for both DeYoung and Legion of Honor Museums. Their site is lovely, with lots of color and images, and then you must scroll down down down to get these puny links:

*I once had a Twitter conversation with DeYoung’s twitterer about the lack of prominent social buttons on their site, and this was their uninspired response:

SF MOMA: Another museum that is very socially active but not shouting it from the rooftops of their website (those icons are minuscule 15 pixels each!) and  even their great blog is represented by a *tiny* text link :(

Mildly Acceptable

These sites are doing an OK job…at least they have designated areas on their site with titles like “Community”, but the lack of links on the homepage is still a bit sad…

Contemporary Jewish Museum: Their “Connect” page has lovely custom social media buttons:

The Oakland Museum of California: This “Community” page could really use some work, but at least the links are clear and explanatory…

Camino: This delicious restaurant in Oakland has an interesting way of discreetly sharing their social flair…with fixed positioned tags for their Twitter and Facebook page, as well as a link to their web developers’ site (Quilted). Despite their size, these links are visible no matter how small your browser window, and on every page:

Well Done!

These are some fine examples of sites that are eagerly encouraging engagement (and alliteration, apparently) smack in the middle of their homepages…

Popchips: Their simple and effective website makes it easy to find exactly what you  are looking for…I especially like the delicious link to a library of all relevant popchippy links!

Heaven’s Dog: First of all, this site is built on WordPress (bravo!) and this gives the restaurant access to lots of social networking tools. They have a Twitter widget that pulls in their latest tweets right at the top of the page. Then some simple but visible links in the right column:

SF Symphony: Our friends over at the symphony created a wonderful social network using Ning, and then encouraged people to join directly from the homepage of their site:

I hope these examples inspire you to update your social media links, or encourage those you know to improve their social call-outs. Each visitor to your website should be aware of your online community. They might even be there specifically looking for a place to leave you a positive comment or great review! Why be present on the social web if you are not sharing the invitation to engage with everyone that you meet?

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