Updated January, 2022

One of the biggest questions we get is “Where should I add social login to my website?” Don’t worry- we’ve got you covered. In this article, we go through the top 3 places to implement social login on your website: Newsletter Sign Up, Contests, and Gated Content.

Think About YOUR Customer and YOUR website

Depending on your website, different social login options and techniques will make the most sense for you. It is important to put on your customers’ shoes and think about what works for them. You can also see what’s being done in your industry by scoping out your competitors.

Just remember to keep your target customers in mind as you read on. This should have the biggest influence on where you decide to add social login to your website. 

Use Social Login for Newsletter Sign-up

 

selena gomez's newsletter signup form with ae's social login

Use a newsletter sign-up form to find your company’s “Selenators!”

Newsletters are an effective way to grow a list of leads that you can reach out to later. They are also an easy way to direct traffic to your website, blog or promotion. In fact, a 2016 study by Campaign Monitor found that for every $1 spent, email has an average $44 return on investment (ROI).

Customers love well-crafted emails because they can count on being notified when you release fresh content, announce a sale or run a competition.

Getting your Newsletter Sign-Up Call to Action Just Right

Finding the right call to action is super important, and there is no one-size-fits-all option. It is going to take some experimentation to find the perfect incentive.

Notice how Mountain Equipment Co-op leads customers from strong statements about the company’s values to a short and sweet newsletter sign-up form

 

Start by asking yourself: what do your customers actually want delivered to their inbox?

Then, consider what you can actually manage to provide. It builds trust with the consumer if you only promise what you truly will deliver. Based on this, explain exactly what they can expect from you. If appropriate you can even state how often they should expect an email.

Here is an example of AE’s sign up form…feel free to subscribe of course! ?

[et_bloom_inline optin_id="optin_2"]

And don’t worry if you aren’t 100% sure about your newsletter CTA. Test something out and if it’s not converting much of your traffic, go back and try something different.

Tip: If you are looking for some ideas on how to word your newsletter signup form, check out this awesome blog post by Hubspot. Or if you need some design ideas, Canva has a bunch of great examples on this post.

Use Social Login For Your Next Contest

 

Ariana Grande Leaderboard campaign

Leaderboard contests really make your super fans stand out!

 

Contests are a fun way to engage with your fans and create buzz. Through a contest, you can get your customers to complete multiple social actions, boosting your social channels at the same time.

With a well thought out contest and an enticing prize, you should have no trouble getting fans to join in. Here’s an example.

Thievery Corporation ran a successful points-based contest to promote their album, Culture of Fear.

Thievery Corporation adds social login to their website to run contests and campaigns

Fans gathered points by completing social actions for a chance to win the grand prize

When fans used social login to register for the contest, they were automatically added into AE’s dashboard. This way, the band’s marketing team could effortlessly track what fans were doing.

Fans could then earn points by:

  • Following the band on Facebook and Twitter
  • Tweeting about the album or posting about it using their branded hashtag
  • Listening to the new album on Spotify
  • Buying the new album

 

How to Manage a Social Media Contest

AE makes contests like this one easy. Everything gets tracked by the engine, making ranking entrants and picking the winner easy. If you want to learn more, you can read the full Thievery Corporation case study here.

If you already run contests (or want to give one a try), then it’s a no brainer to implement social login into your entry form!

Tip: Decide on your contest’s goal before getting started. Is it to promote a new product, engage with customers, or get site visitors? Try and pick one goal per campaign.

 

Using Social Login to Access Gated Content

Gated content is anything on a website that requires login to access. This creates a feeling of exclusivity whether or not there is a membership fee. And often, these areas are so useful for marketing and sales teams that it makes sense for access to be free.

Selena Gomez Community Forum

See how Selena is crowd-sourcing content in her website’s forum…what a marketer’s dream!

 

Forum /Community Board with Social Login

Many artists have a forum on their website where top fans can chat with each other. Fans get to feel like they are part of a larger community and they get another opportunity to engage with the artist they love.

Creating a community based on your website gives you a lot more ownership than having, say, a page on Facebook. It’s easier to create an overall experience more in line with your brand and to lead fans to other parts of your website.

 

Social Login for a Members Only Zone

 

goodreads sign up page

See how Goodreads offers social login? It’s not just for customer convenience.

This is a part of your website that is only accessible to members. It can include pages that only members can view, for example, a members-only blog, or access to other exclusive content like behind-the-scenes videos.

This is a great option if you want to create a VIP experience for your customers. Moreover, you can share different kinds of content when you know everyone there is interested and engaged. It’s easy to manage this using social login, and AE’s social login will give you the greatest insight into how your members are interacting with your brand.

Tip: Your customers are already active on many social channels. If you want them to spend their valuable time on your site, you need to make it worth it. Facilitating a good members-only zone can be incredibly time-consuming. Make sure there is someone on your team actively tasked with keeping the energy going.

 

#1 Tip for Getting People to Engage

If you want to get customers signing up for your newsletter or entering your contest, you need to provide the right incentive.

This comes down to knowing your target customer and clearly communicating the value. It may take a few experiments to hone down on the most effective incentives for your customer. Play around with it and get creative!

Make sure to be clear about what your customer will get (access to gated content, the chance to win a prize pack, etc.) and what they won’t get (bombarded by emails and spam).

It’s 2022 and people know that their data is valuable. So treat them with respect and give as much as you take!

Digital handshake between brand and user: a computer screen with the AE (Appreciation Engine) logo and a computer screen with a person, with a pair of hands meeting in a handshake in between.

 

Fill Up your Dashboard with Customers

With AE’s real-time customer data, you get to segment and target your fans with great precision. But none of that is possible until you have customers using your social login- that is after all, how AE works!

You know you are going to get a ton of really valuable insights. So, it’s worth putting the time in to think things through. No matter where you decide to add social login, you can look forward to these perks:

Newsletters:

With AE you can keep track of who is signing up for your newsletter and use that list to create lookalike audiences in Facebook or Google ads! You won’t believe how much more effective your ad campaigns are.

Contests:

Using social login in your contest means creating a big spike of awareness about your brand. Using AE’s social login means being able to manage all of the social channels and entrants from one dashboard. And, when the contest is done, you have all those fans to re-market to!

Gated Content:

With robust hosting platforms like WordPress, it’s now easy for any website to store lists of members. The problem is, your members aren’t just going to be talking about your brand on your forum. To get the full customer picture, you need a service like AE that tracks their activity across social channels. That way, when you want to reach out with a campaign, you can do highly precise segmentation that takes advantage of automation.

add social login to your website like imagine dragons

Imagine Dragons has customized AE’s social login for their Members-Only Zone

Go get ‘em, tiger!

The world is your social login oyster: be creative and always keep your customer in mind.

Need a Streamlined User Acquisition Tool?

Use AE Connect our customer identity and access management (CIAM) tool to capture your users online through social, gaming and streaming services and implement social login easily in any app or website.