Why Would You Link From Your Website To Social Media Sites?

I received a great question from a client today.

He asked me, "What's the value of linking to your social media sites from your website? Seems counterintuitive - don't you want people to link from social media to the website? Why reverse it?"

Here's my response:

Great question!

It does seem counter-intuitive doesn't it? We spend all of this time and money getting people to our site only to send them away?

In my view there are several reasons why you would do this:

1. Social media sites serve as social proof. When people see that a company is on a variety of social media sites, they feel an increased comfort level that the company is legit. Strange but true.
2. Links to social media sites give people a way to connect with the company on the platform they most prefer. It really boggles my mind how long people will "stalk" a company before they buy. I've seen this happen dozens of times and the higher the average ticket sale for the client, the longer they will stalk. I have a client that sells high-end custom window treatments that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars and some of his clients tell him they've been watching his YouTube videos and Facebook feed for 2 years before they finally decided to buy!
3. High-quality backlinks work both ways. We all know that high-quality backlinks are a great signal to Google that a website is credible and should rank higher in search results. Remember that social media accounts also rank in search results. Building quality backlinks to a Facebook page, for example, will increase the relevance of that page in search results which in turn will increase the overall business presence online.
4. Linking to social media sites can also help the site itself in search. When the Google algorithm runs, they scan all the data on the site as well as the links to and from the site. If there are links to social media platforms that are filled with relevant content, this can help the site gain credibility in the eyes of Google.

All this being said, if at all possible you should always have the links open in a new tab so people don't leave the site when they click.

Hope this helps.

Take care,

-Chris