By now you’ve heard it many times: social media plays an important role in marketing. And to get even deeper into the data is to realize how crucial it is in the world of e-commerce. So whether you use your website to sell products or to promote your services having a presence on platforms like Facebook and Instagram is important. In fact many people don’t realize the ways in which you can improve website traffic with social media.
The best thing about using social media is the sheer magnitude of people you can reach. You’re given an opportunity to go global and reach people around the world using social media to drive website traffic. Of course there are many who will say that they haven’t seen the results they expected. Not only are they not seeing a boost in website traffic, but their overall performance on social media isn’t that great either. And eventually after some effort they give up.
In reality having success with social media is possible with just a little dedication and a solid strategy. So if you’re ready to commit to using social media to drive traffic to your website, keep reading on!
Tips to Drive Website Traffic with Social Media
Maximize Your Social Media Profiles
Your social media profiles are the central hub to your entire presence. It’s where many will go to learn more about your brand asides from looking at your content. This means a strong profile is not only crucial but a good way to promote your website too.
There are two things you should consider when putting together your social media profile. First be sure to fill as many fields as are applicable. Include your name, what your brand is about, contact information and of course your website. Then when doing this, you should keep in mind relevant keywords. These will help when boost your social media profiles when people do web searches.
Use Multiple Social Media Platforms
To build a strong online presence it’s a good idea to be on more than one social media platform. It helps that there’s such a variety of them that allow you to uniquely connect with different audiences. The more opportunities you create to be seen only benefit your brand. But you should be mindful to only use platforms that work with your industry and where you can reach your target audience. Going this route also removes the pressure of feeling like you need to be on every platform available.
Instagram and Facebook for example are generally the go-to platforms for online brand building. And what makes them easy to manage is the fact that they are connect for things like content publishing and account management. However there are many other social media platforms to consider depending on your needs. TikTok or YouTube are great if you’re looking to share video content. You might consider using LinkedIn if your brand’s audience is geared towards businesses and professionals. There are also big opportunities with less used platforms like Pinterest, which is a great social media platform for encouraging website traffic.
Be care though that you don’t overwhelm yourself and sign up to too many platforms. It’s not uncommon for marketer to jump the gun by trying to manage multiple platforms, only to fail at one of them. One way to avoid this is to start small, and work your way up. Try signing up to one or two platforms, start putting in the effort and analyze your results. Once you find yourself comfortably in the swing of things you can slowly start to launch on other social media networks.
Engage with Your Audience Authentically
One of the benefits to social media is that it’s a direct channel to your target audience. Depending on your brand they can also be your customers, or potential ones. It allows you to connect with them directly, provide customer services and even get feedback. By putting in a little effort to build these relationships with your audience you gain their trust and encourage then to visit your website.
You want to be sure that your interactions are not only authentic but also consistent. Be sure to dedicate time to reply to comments and messages within a reasonable time. The faster you are to respond to inquiries the more people will see you care about their experience with your brand. You should also consider engaging with any posts you’re tagged in especially if someone is sharing your brand within their content.
Post Consistently to Build a Presence
If you want to be seen you need to ensure you’re posting consistently on your channels. An inactive account is never a good look and can actually cause a drop in followers. Not only that but most social media platforms algorithms are known to favour active accounts. This means the more you post the better the odds of your content reaching more people.
You also want your audience to know when to expect content from you. For example if you publish a weekly vlog on YouTube you want to be consistent with what day you upload it. That way your viewers know what day they can check in for new content.
The biggest mistake a lot of people make is they try to over post at the beginning, which usually is a content schedule that is just unrealistic to produce. Within time they run out of content ideas or just can’t commit to posting that frequently. Don’t feel like you have to post daily on all your social channels. Instead lay out a schedule that you can commit too, both content creation and account management.
Create Content that Promotes Your Website
You can’t expect to drive traffic to your website with social media if you’re not actually promoting your website. Social media platforms have become super friendly when it comes to sharing links. Facebook for example generates a link preview in addition to letting you share a caption. And while Instagram doesn’t let you share clickable links in captions, you can use their link sticker in Stories.
One tool that is extremely helpful when it comes to promoting your website on social media is using a landing page tool like Link Tree or Link in Profile. Instead of being limited to sharing one link in your profile, you can share a landing page with multiple links you want to highlight. There are mainly two different ways these tools work. Link Tree for example is a landing page where you can share different links. This is a great way to share direct links to specific areas of your website, like to a blog or online store. The other way these tools work is by sharing a landing page with all your Instagram posts that have a link associated with it. For e-commerce this is a great way to share products that are featured in the post.
