Unique Ways to Integrate Social Media into Web Design
- Add “connect” icons to the header;
- Stick “share” icons to the scrolling blog sidebar;
- Embed videos from YouTube.
Unique Ways to Use Social Media in Web Design
Obviously, I’m not telling you to turn your site into a social network, or a rolling masonry grid of photos. Instead, I would encourage you to think outside the box and consider how you can apply the strengths of social media creatively to your design. Here are some real-life examples to inspire you:1. Add Hashtags and Handles to the Design
When you think of what makes social media so distinct from other kinds of marketing, you’ll likely think of hashtags (#) and handles (@). They’re simple symbols that we used long before social media was invented and, yet, they now have a special significance for most of us. If it makes sense for your brand (i.e. it has a younger audience and also happens to be active on social media), hashtags and handles can add a really cool touch to your web design. Here is an example from the Nuevos Conductores website from Chevrolet Mexico:



2. Use Notification Tickers
Because of how ubiquitous email and social media have become in consumers’ lives, there’s no denying the lure of the pending message notification. You know the ones I’m talking about. Twitter does it:


3. Design a Timeline
With most social media feeds, we’re presented with a chronological timeline of our activity as well as those we’ve connected to. There’s something very appealing about this layout, in general, as it allows us to get a sense for someone’s story. And what is a website if not the “story” about a brand and its mission to serve its consumers? Dr. Pepper is a brand that’s been around a long time, but I bet a lot of its drinkers don’t know much about its history. Well, if they were to visit the Dr. Pepper website, they’d definitely learn more about where this soft drink came from and even catch a glimpse at old promotional content that some may recognize still today. If you navigate to the History page on the site, you’ll encounter a timeline that briefly tells its story (nice and succinct just like most of our own social media “stories”):

4. Talk to Visitors with Quizzes and Chat UIs
Let’s face it: a lot of times, a website just feels like a digital flyer. “Here is our business. Learn about us and get in touch.” I believe that’s why so many people flock to social media nowadays; to learn more about and actually engage with businesses. There are so many ways in which you can jazz up your web design to make the experience less lackluster, of course. A well-timed pop-up or an eye-catching animation can help. Gamified elements like timers are a nice touch, too. Aside from placing a live chat on your website—that someone then has to man—there has got to be another way in which you can make your web design really talk to its visitors. Right? One example I like is the John Frieda website. There is a Style Match page which allows visitors to talk to the site the way they would a hair stylist:

Wrap-Up
Social media plays a big part in the modern business's marketing efforts. But when it comes to websites, why is it that we only catch minor glimpses of it in the form of social share icons or the embedded news feed? I would argue that we should think more abstractly about the strengths of social media. Then, apply those same unique principles and elements to web design to make it even better.Suzanne Scacca
Suzanne Scacca is a freelance writer by day, specializing in web design, marketing, and technology topics. By night, she writes about, well, pretty much the same thing, only those stories are set under strange and sometimes horrific circumstances.
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