5 Tips for Using Social Media to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Over the years, social media has evolved from simply a place for individuals to connect with friends and family, to one of the best opportunities for businesses looking to generate leads and drive traffic to their websites. While social media platforms themselves have changed drastically over time, there are many businesses that have not kept up and that are missing out on the opportunities social media offers. If you’re in that boat, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are some tips to get you back on track and help you start taking advantage of your social media platforms to drive traffic and business to your website.
1) Build and Optimize Your Social Media Profiles
Let’s start right from the beginning. Hopefully you have already created profiles on the major social media platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. If you haven’t done so yet, this should be a top priority for your business.
Once your profiles are created, optimization is crucial. Your profile is the essentially SEO for your social media pages. This is the information used to identify your business and connect you with potential customers. Take your time to go through each individual field and complete it as thoroughly as possible. Use keywords in fields where they are applicable such as your business description. Not only does a complete profile make it easier for customers to find you, but it will also instill confidence. An empty profile can raise questions and concerns about the legitimacy of a business.
Your profile is part of your online brand. Be sure to maintain consistency with your website when it comes to logos, color schemes, and various marketing materials. When you update your website, remember to update all your profiles.
2) Post Often and Consistently
Now that you’ve optimized your profiles, it is time to start accumulating followers and likes. One of the best ways to do this is one of the easiest. Simply start making regular posts on your social media pages. Depending on the platform, you will want to be posting anywhere from a few times per week to a few times per day.
Facebook: One or two posts per day.
LinkedIn: One post per day.
Instagram: Two or three posts per week.
Start developing a consistent posting schedule for each of these platforms and do your best to time them around peak hours. If you can’t do this, just be sure to get your posts in at some point during the day. You can find our detailed breakdown of the best times of day to post on popular social media platforms here. Be sure to always be providing links back to your website where appropriate. Remember, one of the goals is driving traffic back to your website where clients can find more detailed product information.
3) Engage with Your Followers and Target Audience
Social media is built around making connections with others. This not only means building a list of followers but interacting and engaging with them as well. If you develop a consistent posting strategy and accumulate a large group of followers, you are surely going to get comments on those posts. Take time out of the day to answer questions that may be asked or simply reply to comments so that customers see you engaging.
You might not have time to respond to every comment, but even a like here and there will go a long way. Also be sure to dedicate some time to answering private messages on these platforms. Not all interactions will be on your public page, but they are all equally as important. Engaging with others on social media is another great way to build confidence with your followers and potential customers.
4) Create Shareable Content
Posting at the perfect time of day and on the recommended schedule is great, but if you aren’t producing interesting content, your posts will go unnoticed. Even though you are a business, not all of your content has to be business-related. More often than not, it will be something that is completely unrelated to your business that will go viral and gain you a ton of followers and likes. Some ideas of things you can post on your social media pages include:
- Industry News and Information
- Product Information
- Infographics
- Tips and Advice
- Memes
- Holiday Posts
- Recipes
- Contest and Promotion Information
- Inspirational Quotes and Images
- Company Event Pictures
- Company News
- Customer Reviews
- Sharing Blog Posts
A great social media posting strategy will include a mix of these types of posts and others as well. Be creative and don’t be afraid to think a little outside the box when it comes to the things you post. Just be careful to avoid sensitive topics that may offend others.
5) Join and Participate in Industry-Related Social Groups
Social media platforms are full of groups related to your business. When building your follower-base, these social groups can be a great place to meet individuals and other industry professionals to connect with. Think of your target audience and demographic and start searching for groups that meet the criteria. Once you’ve found a few to join, be active and participate in conversations.
Many potential customers will join these groups looking for information. If you can be a resource for that information, you can build trust and confidence with customers and with the group as a whole. These groups will also attract other industry professionals like yourself. This opens up opportunities for potential referral partnerships as well.
Social media marketing can be one of the best sources of leads and traffic back to your website. Take some time to work on your profile and developing a sound posting strategy. The results will surely be worth the effort.