Where to place your social media profile links on your website

For potential new clients, SPC Marine Marketing offers a FREE initial consultation which includes a review of your website and social media pages. Consistently I find over 80% of websites have their social media icons in the wrong place. Where do you place your social media icons?

Some businesses have their social icons on the footer, some on the contact us page, some on their news page only and some not at all. Last week I looked at 10 yacht charter companies and found only 1 company with their social media icons on the header.

Why is it important where you place your social media profile links?

• We read English and most languages starting at the top left going right and downwards.
• 3 out of 4 people check out social media sites before buying (IBM)
• You need to make it easy for people to find your social media pages
• You want potential customers to connect with you socially
• You want to increase your following.

How many of you when designing and building a website consider how it looks on a mobile device? You make sure it looks great on a desktop, you make sure it’s mobile-friendly but do you really take the time to explore it on a mobile device? If you did you would not place your social media icons solely on the footer. How long does it take on a phone to scroll all the way to your footer and how many people actually ever get there? Very few unless they are desperate for your contact details and you have not made these easy to find either.

With over 80% of people using their mobile devices to surf the web and 70% of traffic to a website coming from mobile devices (Blue Corona), the placement of your social media links should be to benefit the mobile user.

Where should you place your social profile links and icons?

Answer: ON THE HEADER or FLOATING

If they are placed on the header they will be seen first and they will be seen on every page your visitor hits. The alternative which can work really well is a floating social bar that moves as your visitor scrolls down the site. You just have to check that at no point does the floating bar cover up any of your great content.

If you would like SPC Marine Marketing to take a look at your website and social pages and give you recommendations get in touch. It's FREE and there are no strings attached.