5 Ways to Increase Website Traffic via Social Media

With everyone spending countless hours surfing their favorite social media sites it comes as no surprise that entrepreneurs have recognized the value these platforms provide in growing their brands audience. Although many businesses make the decision to enter the world of social media, many fail to maximize its opportunities. Read below to learn how to optimize your brands social media accounts and get more traffic to your website.

by Isaiah Bradford

No matter your business type, social media can help drive major traffic to your website. The key lies in 5 basic principles that will help to ensure your followers are led to your homepage.

1 — Research Which Platforms Your Target Audience Utilizes Most

If you are just beginning your foray into marketing your business via social media or already have established accounts on various sites, it is important to research which platforms your target audience utilizes most.

By evaluating your company, defining your goals, and assessing what sort of content your website generates. This will help you to establish what social media platforms are best suited for your business. For example, if your website is highly visual than social media sites like Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube may be great options. In contrast, if your site tends to publish more text-heavy content focusing on business or professional topics than Linkedin may be the way to go.

Defining these prior to creating accounts on various platforms will help you hone in on where your content would best be suited. This will save you time and allow you to concentrate your efforts where you’ll likely yield better results.

2 — Completely & Accurately Fill Out Your Profile

To many, this step sounds like a no-brainer. Yet, a high percentage of brand profiles fail to adequately complete the profile portion of the company’s social media pages. This common mistake not only makes your company look unprofessional; it also does a disservice to your brand by not listing information potential customers deem essential for making purchase decisions.

No matter if it’s your Facebook About section, Twitter or Instagram bio, or even a Linkedin company page you should be filling in or adding information such as hours of operation, website URL, a brief bio, and any information that is imperative to your business. This information should be added to EVERY social media profile that is created for your business.

3 — Publish Shareable Content

When posting to social media, each post should have a purpose. Take into consideration which platform you’re posting to, then define your SMART goals for the post. Once these goals are defined you will have a better vision of which type of post will get you closest to achieving that goal.

All content should be created in a manner that sparks interest, encourages engagement, and has a call-to-action request.

4 — Create Content That is Visually Based

Many social platforms create a heavy emphasis on visual content. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram allow you to post eye-catching visual content that will grab your audience’s attention. Even if the content you are posting is text-heavy, such as a blog or recipe, you should focus on creating an accommodating visual with a link to the actual page you are promoting.

5 — Post During Peak Times

Posting timely, interesting content is only half the battle. The second half requires ensuring you’re posting during times that your audience is active online. These windows of time are often referred to as “peak times.”

Most social media sites provide insights that provide graphs displaying when your followers are most active. Utilize this information to schedule posts for the same time frames to increase your contents overall views.