37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Website Visitors, Part 4

[Editor's note: This is part 3 of a four-part series on the session "37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Your Website Visitors" at the Bridge Conference. Click here for part 1, here for part 2 and here for part 3.]

At the 7th Annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference last week in National Harbor, Md., three fundraising technology professionals shared some website best practices in their session “37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Your Website Visitor.” Here are the final 11 strategies from presenters Sue Anne Reed, account manager, online fundraising at The Engage Group; Allyson Kapin, founding partner of the RAD Campaign; and Rob Manix, director of marketing technology at Defenders of Wildlife.

27. Give website visitors ways to connect with you via social media
"In my opinion, simple is better," Reed said. "If you as an organization are focusing on Facebook and Twitter, include those. You don't have to include every button of every social website out there."

Even if you have, say, a Flickr account but don't post content to it regularly, don't include it. Find ways to make your social media match your branding, Reed said, because it "gives people more opportunities to keep in touch with the organization."

She provided examples such as Sesame Street, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and the National Wildlife Federation.

28. Make content easy to share
"People want the ability to share content," Reed said. "Know where your audience is and only include those share buttons [i.e., Like, Tweet, etc.]."

She also said that if your audience is women-friendly, focus on Pinterest.

29. Incorporate social proof when possible
If you have a good number of followers and your content gets shared regularly, show that in the share tools. People like to feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves. Showing that this piece of content was shared 72 times on Facebook and tweeted 16 times helps build that community. Organizations like Operation Smile and Heifer International do a good job of this, Reed said.