Pro-tips for Driving More Web Traffic From Social Media

Social media is your greatest tool in finding customers and leading them to your business. There are an estimated 4.48 billion social media users in the world, and a large number of them engage with online businesses daily. Here are four ways you can harness social media and generate traffic to your site.

Visibility is key

Before anything else, you must start with gaining visibility on your social platforms. Great content will do you no good without an audience. Plenty of businesses die out because they stay invisible.

So how does one get seen by social media users? Simple; you catch their attention. The best way to do this is to create presentable visuals. It has been proven time and time again that users respond better to visuals as opposed to text-only posts. From imagery to graphics and videos, the only limit is your creativity.

You can use images alongside text or as standalone content. Keep it to the point. You’ll want your audience to get the gist of your post for as long as their attention span holds, which won’t be an awfully long time. It’s okay to use stock imagery when you're short on original content, but you’re likely to connect with audiences better with authentic images that represent what your business is all about. Infographics can also be a more refreshing way of sharing more complex information, without being too overwhelming or verbose. If it’s interesting enough at first glance, you’ll have little to no problem getting the details across.

Let’s not forget video content. Recorded or live, nearly every business online takes advantage of this medium--and for good reason. Videos are effective at catching and holding viewers’ attention. Videos that leave a lasting impact on viewers are likely to get more engagements and ultimately earn you more traffic. Live videos give you the opportunity to engage with your audience in real time. Host Q&A sessions, make polls, and hear your audience out. The more they connect with you, the more traffic you generate.

Promote your content

No matter how great your site content is, if you don’t promote it on social media, no one will have the chance to see it. Post excerpts or teasers of your best blogs with links, invite users to visit your site. Promote even your older content for folks who haven’t seen them yet, as long as they remain relevant.

Making your articles shareable on social media is a good idea. Have a share button visible for others to help you promote your content. You could also show the number of likes and shares on each article to show readers that your content is worthy of a share.

Optimize your profile

When people first view your social media profile, you’ll want to make a good first impression. Their first glance should immediately communicate to them that you’re professional and legit. Create a distinct bio that defines you in a few words, then connect it with a link to your site. Have your logos or brand colors visible. Use pictures and headers that represent your business.

Use Social Proof

Another good addition to your social media profile is social proof. Incorporate your best customer reviews, comments and feedback into your profile. This lends you a lot of credibility as users almost always look at reviews first before making any decisions. Be sure to only use reviews that you have permission to repurpose.

Timing!

Timing is very important when posting your content. You can’t just post everything at once, or post at the same time every day. You won’t see any growth if you keep posting in times when no one engages. It always helps to look at your own data. Observe when users engage most with your posts, and create a plan for the most optimal posting schedules. There are a ton of third-party post scheduling tools that you can take advantage of to optimize your social media postings for maximum effectiveness i.e Hootsuite, Tailwind.

Driving traffic to your site with social media

There you have it. These are the four best social media tactics to increase traffic to your site. The better you get at applying these steps, the more successful your business will be.