8 Effective Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website from Facebook

With over 2 billion internet users, where can small business owners go to find potential customers for their product? Thanks to online communities such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc, it’s pretty easy to reach your target audience while they are going about their daily lives.

According to Hubspot; “Facebook captures about 10% of all internet visits, with visitors spending an average of 28 minutes on the site. Even more revealing 50% of Facebook Fans prefer brand pages to company websites.”

So you’re probably wondering if you should give up on your website and focus on Facebook as your business hub. I would advise not to because even though Facebook has a lot of traffic it is still quite limiting. Websites generate more leads and sales compared to Facebook. You also do not have control of Facebook’s algorithm, they can decide to shut down Pages or choose to discontinue a particular feature that is key to your marketing goals.

Do not build your business on a platform you can’t control. With your website, you can style it and add any feature you want. It would be wiser to use Facebook as a marketing strategy to drive people to your website.

We all want more traffic to our website because the more people know about your product or service, the more likely you can make a sale. But with over 50 million business pages on Facebook, how do you set yours apart and get people to visit your website?

The Type of Content You Should Post

One of the most common quotes in the digital marketing kingdom is “Content is King.” Content isn’t part of your Facebook strategy, CONTENT IS YOUR FACEBOOK STRATEGY. Without content you won’t be able to;

• update your status
• post photos and videos
• share tips and information with your fans

Like I always say, come up with a content strategy and buyer persona before you start your digital marketing journey because they will give you focus and direction.

So, what sort of content should you post?

1. Tips and Tricks

Creating valuable posts on tips, how tos, etc that keep your fans informed and help them solve problems will not only keep them coming back but also boost your Facebook engagement . Share posts your fans would easily resonate to.

2. Blog Links

Posting snippets of your blog not only engages your Facebook community but also improves your search engine ranking. Google loves fresh content and displays them higher up in the search results. Posting links to your blog will help drive traffic from Facebook to your website.

3. Success Stories/Testimonials

People will purchase your product when they know someone else has used it to their satisfaction. Posting testimonials from your previous customers will help build trust and credibility between you and your Facebook fans.

4. Quotes and Jokes

The easiest way to grab the attention of your audience is to post quotes and jokes. These don’t always have to be around your industry. Out of every 10 quotes/jokes you make, about 4 can be on a general theme your fans can still relate to. I love to post motivational quotes because it keeps people invigorated. People share, like and comment on quotes and jokes more.

5. Images and Video

Did you know that;

• Only 20% of text is remembered
• 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual
• Colour images increase willingness to read by 80%
• 40% of people will respond better to visual information than text

According to analysis by Web Liquid, Facebook posts with photos have the highest user engagement than any other post. Videos add variety to your page and involve a longer commitment from your audience. Make sure you post visuals with high quality and which contain valuable information that will be worth the viewer’s time.

6. Pose Questions

Asking your fans questions is the easiest way to get their opinions on a topic or your product. It is a good way to get comments though they do not get as much likes and shares.

How To Direct Web Traffic from Facebook Through Lead Generation

One has to have a need for your product before they purchase it. A lead is someone who has interest and authority to purchase your product. They may be interested and have the means but may not require it at this time or they may not have the means at the moment but would love to purchase your product. These are why nurturing leads are very important.

How To Generate Leads from Facebook

There are two ways to generate leads from Facebook;

• Direct Leads
• Indirect Leads

Direct leads are generated by sharing content that links back to a form on your website. This form is used to collect personal information, such as emails and phone numbers, in exchange for an offer such as a free e-book, coupon, etc. These information collected will be used to re-target people.

Indirect leads are generated by using Facebook as a path to make sales. Example, posting content with a call to action to a landing page on your website. Here no personal information is collected.

Here are a few ways to generate leads from your Facebook;

1. Employ a Call-to-Action

CTAs are images, buttons, or messages that make your fans take some sort of action. Using a cover image telling a Facebook fan to visit your website or button on your Facebook page is a good way to generate a lead from your Facebook.

Use words like Shop Now when you post a link to your products or Call Now to get your followers to call you.

2. Include links with visuals

Take advantage of the fact that photos have more likes than the average post by including links back to your website. This will give you a higher click through rate than just posting a link.

3. Host a Facebook Chat

A Facebook chat is a virtual gathering of people to discuss a common topic. You can use a Facebook chat to bring fans together around a topic you think they can relate to. Whenever a question asked can be answered with a blog post or page on your website, use the opportunity to share your link.

You can also participate in chats relating to your brand. Answer questions by posting links to your website but avoid spamming people so you will not be kicked out.

4. Make your Updates Short

Yes, you’re driving Facebook traffic to your blog article, and your blog article will have lots of text. On Facebook, though, short, witty updates generate the most engagement, and click throughs. Ideally, keep your update one sentence, and under the 140 Twitter character count.

Remember that lots of your Fans are using Facebook on mobile, too. Keep this in mind when you’re creating your text. Make your blog updates a short, clear and intriguing teaser for your blog article.

Here’s a great example of a short, teaser update from the Huffington Post.

The Facebook update gives you a good idea of what the blog article is about. It’s funny, enticing, and short. The article headline in the link “11 Commonly Used Made-Up Words That Drive Us Insane” further tells the gist of the article.

5. Ask Questions

Questions naturally invoke a response, don’t they?

Use questions to generate click through actions from your Fans. Make your questions witty, short and intriguing. Keep your readership in mind, and always keep your question related back to your blog article.

There are many types of questions you can ask, from fill-in-the-blank, trivia, personal views, etc.

The Next Web uses a short, intriguing question for its readership.

The question “What will happen to the Like button?”, coupled with Mark Zuckerberg’s photo clearly summarizes the gist of the blog article. It leaves Fans wanting to learn more by asking them for their knowledge or views on what’s going to happen. Making a question for the update generates more curiosity than if the update was just the title of the blog, for example.

6. Make it Easy to Share Your Content to Facebook on Your Website

Adding a social share button to your blog or website makes it easy for people to share your content to their Facebook. I use Sumo plugin because it has all of the buttons I want to display and it floats along the side of the post as the reader scrolls through the article.

I also use Jetpack plugin to add a static button at the end of my posts.

Do not forget to ask people to share your content if they found it interesting.

Remember that people are mostly going to share something that is useful to them. When you’re creating content, always keep your customer’s benefit in mind.

7. Share Lifestyle or How-To Blog Articles

Generally speaking, your fans on Facebook don’t just want your product or service. They want you to enhance their life, and their sense of community on Facebook. Let’s face it, Facebook is a place where people go to catch up with their friends. As a business, you need to be posting tips to enrich the lives of your market too.

When you write a lifestyle or how-to blog article, share it on your Facebook Page.

Whole Foods uses the lifestyle strategy very successfully.

In this update, they share a link to their recipe blog. They use a full sized image in the post and link to the article with a shortened link. They use a friendly question in their text, and include the word “we”, to invoke that sense of community.

8. Use Facebook Ads

Facebook ads boost your reach to fans and targeted audiences. Use them to get your blog updates seen, and drive Facebook traffic directly to your blog and website.

You can use what Facebook used to call promoted posts to target your blog updates to fans and their friends. You can use more targeted Facebook ads to reach Facebookers with your niche demographics and interests.

Ads on Facebook don’t have to be expensive for the ROI you get. You can choose the pay-per-click option, so you only pay when someone clicks through to your site. Target your ads to reach your specific, interested people on a very granular level. Your ads are going to get clicked by your exact niche. (Yeah, very cool, right?)

Use best practices for your ad image, A/B test your text and targets, and link directly to your blog or blog post.

Tips for Using Facebook Ads:

• Use targeted Facebook ads to drive traffic from Facebook to your blog and website.
• Facebook ads enable you to reach extremely specific, interested markets.
• If you’re confused with the intricacies of developing a great Facebook ad campaign, use a Facebook ad tool.

Using the methods listed above you can use Facebook to generate leads which you can direct to your website. Make sure you have a way of collecting visitors emails on your website so that you can reach them directly.

Do you know of any other way to generate leads or direct traffic from Facebook to your website? Please list them in the comment section below.

Originally published at Apptivities.