You may have heard of a social media aggregator and wondered if it’s something you need for your business. Essentially, a social media aggregator is a crucial component of your social media and marketing strategy.
And, as you know, integrating social media into your website can make a huge impact on your overall business success. But with lots of options out there, it can be hard to know where to start with social media aggregators.
In this article you’ll discover exactly what a social media aggregator is, why you need one for your business, and the different ways you can use it on your website.
What Is a Social Media Aggregator?
A social media aggregator is a tool that displays content from your social media platforms on your website. It can collect content from either a singular platform or from across your different social media platforms and curate a single feed which can then be embedded onto your website.
A good social media aggregator curates your content automatically into a single feed which updates in real time and allows customers to see content from your social media channels in one place. These days, many brands do a significant amount of marketing on social media, so it makes sense to integrate this into your website too.
What Social Media Aggregators Are Available?
If you have decided that a social media aggregator is something you’d like to add to your website, you first need to consider which type is best for your business. This will depend on your business type, which social media platforms you use, what you’re aiming to achieve with your aggregator, and your overall social media strategy. One of the best social media aggregator tools you might consider is Socialwalls, known for its user-friendly interface and robust features for aggregating content from various social media platforms.
Free to use image sourced from Pixabay
Below we’ll discuss five different types of social media aggregators that you can consider using on your website.
1. Instagram Aggregator
Perhaps you want to drive more traffic to your Instagram page, or maybe your Instagram page is booming and you want to leverage its success across other aspects of your business. An Instagram aggregator can gather your published Instagram posts and organize them into a curated feed on your website.
One huge benefit of an Instagram aggregator is that you can use it to set up a shoppable Instagram feed. This is when customers can click on your Instagram post and are directed to a product page to make a purchase. If you want to ensure your e-commerce store stands out in a competitive market, a shoppable Instagram aggregator could be the way to go.
2. Facebook Aggregator
Using the right aggregator plug-in, you can choose which elements of your Facebook page you wish to embed onto your website.
For example, you may simply wish to display your most recent Facebook posts, or maybe pin a post about a hot topic among your audience, such as data orchestration definition if you’re in the tech industry.
You could even curate a feed of your photos or videos. If you have a range of positive Facebook reviews, it would be a good idea to curate these into a single feed on your website. A Facebook aggregator can do just that and allows you to show off your Facebook reviews to website visitors.
3. Twitter Aggregator
If Twitter is more your thing, you can use a Twitter aggregator to collect your tweets and embed them into a single feed on your website. A good Twitter aggregator will let you customize how you display your tweets on your website so you can ensure they truly meet your needs.
For example, the City of Riverside in California uses a Twitter aggregator at the bottom of its website homepage to give website users an easy way to connect and see up-to-date content.
Screenshot from City of Riverside, California
4. YouTube Aggregator
Perhaps your YouTube channel is where you want to direct your website visitors. Maybe you’ve been using a video production guide to level up your video content and want to showcase it on your website?
What’s more, you can embed YouTube playlists onto your website, too, and your YouTube aggregator will update it automatically on your website whenever you add or remove tracks.
5. Combined Social Media Aggregators
What if you want to show content from multiple social media platforms on your website? There’s an aggregator for that, too! A combined social media aggregator will curate content from across your chosen social media channels and display them on your website in a user-friendly single feed.
This can be a game changer for businesses as it can cultivate customer connections and increase leads and engagement on your social media channels by simply making them more accessible and visible.
Why Display Social Media Content on Your Website?
1. Save Time
One major benefit of using a social media aggregator is that you can save time by using content that already exists. Just as auto dialer systems save you time when connecting with customers, a social media aggregator saves you time when creating content. You probably are already creating content for at least one social media platform, so why not display this content on your website, too?
If you had to manually create more content, or even copy over the content from social media onto your website, this would take time and energy. Instead, a social media aggregator does all the hard work for you and automatically embeds the content on your website.
2. Leverage User-Created Content
Free to use image sourced from Unsplash
Displaying content on your website that has been created by influencers to spread a positive brand image can be really beneficial. This could even be done by creating a brand-specific hashtag and displaying content related to the hashtag on your site.
It doesn’t just have to be content from influencers, either. User-generated content (UGC) created by your paying customers is hugely advantageous. Displaying this type of content in one feed on your website will definitely make you stand out from your competitors.
For example, why not add a short video clip of one of your customers showing how to call from PC or video chat with someone across the globe using your services? By doing so, not only will you increase trust in your viewers, but you’ll also be able to educate them on how to make the most of your offering.
3. Build a Positive Audience Experience
Yes, you have various social media platforms and connect with your audience through them. However, your audience needs to navigate multiple platforms to consume your content. Imagine how easy it would be for your customers to visit your website and be able to see relevant content in one place.
For customers, anything you do to make their life easier is a winner. You are providing them with something they might not even know they want. An embedded, up-to-date social media aggregator allows them to access your content from one singular place and is a game changer for customer engagement.
4. Craft the Perfect Call-to-Action
An interactive, clickable, live feed of your social media content is enticing to your website visitors. Social media aggregators can be very visually exciting, and it will be virtually impossible for your customers to pass by without clicking through and engaging with your social media pages.
Free to use image sourced from Pixabay
5. Attract New Followers
As well as increasing your social media engagement and reach, a social media aggregator can also attract new followers to your social media accounts.
Website visitors will first be attracted by the carefully curated content they see on your website, but once clicking through to your social media platforms they may be inclined to follow you or subscribe to your content if they like what they see.
How to Customize Your Social Media Aggregator
Now that you understand what a social media aggregator is and what it could do for your business, you might wonder how you can customize your aggregator to best meet your business needs.
Choosing the right social media aggregator tool is like choosing the best influencer for your brand. It has to be the right fit. As well as deciding if you want an aggregator for a single social media platform, or a combined social media aggregator, you should decide how you want it to look, because social media aggregators can be customized in various ways.
1. Layout and Format
With most social media aggregator widgets, you can choose from a variety of layout options. This dictates how the social media feed will look on your website.
Posts can be static or animated. You may choose to show a grid of stills or have a dynamic widget that rotates your most recent posts on a timer.
When making this decision, decide how much space you want to use up on your web page, and what will fit in with the overall design and aesthetic of your existing website.
2. Aesthetics
Speaking of aesthetics, you can change the look of your social media aggregator by customizing the overall color scheme, accent colors and even font style and size. Making these tweaks can help your aggregator fit in with your brand style and ensure you stick to your brand’s identity.
Free to use image sourced from Unsplash
3. Language
Many social media aggregators offer the option to change the language to the customer’s mother tongue, so you can ensure that customers in different territories can still easily access your content. This enhances the customer experience, makes customers feel more valued and more likely to stay loyal to your brand.
What to Look for in a Social Media Aggregator
Choosing the right social media aggregator tool is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly – it’s just as important as selecting which remote desktop client to use for your business. When deciding which social media aggregator to go with, you should make sure you take the following four things into consideration.
1. Cost
As we mentioned, some social media aggregators are free, but you should carefully consider whether free versions meet your needs. Yes, low or no-cost options are great, but only if they actually make a difference to your business.
Consider if you can afford to pay for a social media aggregator that offers more benefits such as better customization control or more KPI insights.
2. Reputation
With the rise of social media and digital technologies in general, there has also been a rise in social media aggregator providers. Do your research and choose a reliable provider with a good reputation. You can often find user reviews for such providers, and it may be worth checking out your competition to see if they use a social media aggregator and who their provider is.
Choosing an aggregator tool that has a large user base and a good reputation will give you peace of mind that you are in good hands. It’s essential that aggregator tools comply with permission legislation in order to curate the content from social media platforms.
Free to use image sourced from Pixabay
3. Managing and moderating content
A very simple social media aggregator will show all posts from your chosen platform(s). But what if you want to have more control over what posts are shown?
If you’re looking for more control, choose an aggregator that gives you the ability to moderate the content that is pulled through from your social media channels.
This can be especially important if you plan on having a real-time aggregator, as you’ll want to ensure any potentially harmful posts are not shown on your website. This gives you time to address any negative comments on social media if required.
Similarly, you may want to choose an aggregator that allows you to manage the content that is pulled through to your website, whether this is a certain hashtag or custom content that you specifically want to highlight on your website.
4. Measuring KPIs
As with all marketing ventures, it’s important to be able to measure the impact a social media aggregator has on your business. You wouldn’t think twice about monitoring calls for moderation purposes, and it’s important to measure your marketing efforts too. Why bother implementing a social media aggregator if you’re not able to measure if it’s working for your business?
Choose a social media aggregator tool that allows you to measure its performance and report on it. Different tools may offer this in different forms, so it’s important to do your research and find out how you’ll be able to measure the effectiveness of the social media aggregator tool you choose.
Do You Need a Social Media Aggregator for Your Business?
So, by now you understand exactly what a social media aggregator is and how it can benefit your business. You should also have some understanding of the various types of aggregators that are out there and what you should look out for when choosing a social media aggregator tool.
Ultimately, the right social media aggregator tool can boost your engagement, increase customer satisfaction, and solidify your brand image. Is a social media aggregator right for your business? Only you can make that decision, but the information we have provided here should give you plenty to be thinking about.