Many companies are concerned with their social media presence on the different platforms (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and aren’t concerned enough about how to integrate these platforms into their Website and their entire marketing campaign.

Gone is the day when the marketing goal was to drive people to a Website. In today’s world, you want to reach out and interact with people where they already are. A recent statistic I came across indicated that 76% of people want to see a company they do business with involved in Facebook, that doesn’t mean they just want to become a fan of your page and leave. They want to interact with you there.

That means that as a business, you should look at Facebook as more than a place to post status updates that just parrot your press releases. It should be a place to integrate customer service, special deals, community forums, or perhaps even make a purchase directly from the Facebook platform, instead of eliciting another click to your site to close the deal.

But let’s say you have a customer on your actual Website, you should still be thinking of social media integration. Can a fan “like” your page, letting their friends and family know? Can they “like” each individual product or service you offer? Can they share it? Interact with it?

How about the sign-on process? Can a user simply use their Facebook credentials to sign into your site, or do they have to go through three tedious screens to create yet another username and password to access your site?

Is there a blog integrated into your site to provide information to customers, or a forum to allow customers to provide information to customers? Is there great content that actually helps a site visitor make a decision (while bettering your SEO results at the same time?)

Integration is the social media nirvana – let’s all strive for it!