How to Get More Website Traffic with Social Media

A brand website is still the most important marketing tool that allows most businesses to convert visitors into customers and therefore grow revenue. However, the number of competitors is constantly growing, so it can be daunting  to cut through the noise and grab the attention of potential customers. Thus, businesses seek out new creative ways to drive more traffic to their websites.

crowd
Photo by Rob Curran on Unsplash

With the rising popularity of social media platforms, businesses with social media presence get an opportunity to turn their engaged followers into website visitors and convert them into customers with ease. 

Why Drive Website Traffic with Social Media

At first blush, it seems that redirecting your social media followers to your website isn’t the best idea as people are more likely to interact with brands where they spend much of their time. But there are three main reasons to drive website traffic with social media:

  • The number of social media users is growing: The latest research by Statista claims that over 3.6 billion people use social media worldwide and the number is projected to reach almost 4.41 billion by 2025
  • The audience is active on social media: It’s no secret that modern customers want to interact with their favorite brands on the platforms they use more often. For example, Instagram has over one billion active users and 90% of them follow at least one business on the platform. 
  • The big variety of business-friendly features: Most networks allow business profiles to convert their social media followers into website visitors as businesses can add clickable links in the bio section, captions, or even Stories.

With the right social media marketing strategy, businesses get great potential to increase website traffic. Here are eight proven ways to get more website traffic with social media:

1. Optimize your profiles

Modern users visit business profiles for a variety of reasons: discover new product options, learn more about the business, support their favorite brands, buy products, or even share product recommendations to their friends. Moreover, social media visitors may want to learn more about your product, so it’s a good idea to add website links.

No matter what social media platforms you use, whether Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, it’s a good idea to optimize your profiles and get more opportunities to add clickable links. 

One of the best ways is to add a website link in the bio section so that visitors can find it with ease, just like Nike did it in the example below:

Nike

However, businesses should remember that their social media followers may want to visit their website after seeing interesting products/services on the profiles, so it’s essential to add links in the captions and Stories.

From the bio to caption links and Stories links, there are many ways to make it easier for social media followers to visit your website. For businesses, it’s important to make the most out of all link insertion opportunities and social media profile optimization is a must.

2. Promote lead magnets

According to CandyBar, customers are more likely to visit your website during the engagement phase, especially if you give them a solid reason to do it. One of the best ways to turn interested followers into website visitors is to promote lead magnets.

Lead magnets are informative products that help people learn more about the brand and get some of their pain points solved. Here are several lead magnet options to promote on social media:

  • Ebooks
  • Online courses
  • PDF files
  • Reports
  • Case studies
  • Videos
  • Check lists

Here’s an example of promoting lead magnets on Instagram from TailWindApp. The company writes about the lead magnet in the bio and includes a website link so that followers can get access to it with ease:

lead magnets

Obviously, a well-designed lead magnet encourages social media followers to visit your website. But when you offer something valuable to your potential customers, not only do you give them an opportunity to test your product, but you also get more leads which allow you to contact potential customers and help them make the purchase decision.

3. Write great CTAs

If your social media profile has a link to your website, that’s great as it’s easier for followers to visit it. But not all social media followers know that visiting your website is important for them, so it’s a good idea to guide them with the well-written call to action sentences (CTAs).

Here’s how you can add a CTA in the caption and add a link so that followers can tap on it and read more on your website:

CTA

But if you use Instagram for business promotion, you should know that there’s no opportunity to include clickable links in the captions. Thus, you need to add your target page in the bio section and write a great call to action in the caption. Check out how Chanel did it:

Chanel

Not all brands publish posts with several sentences. If you write long captions, it’s important to make them readable, so you can add spaces in the posts. It helps to keep your followers engaged and grab their attention to the CTA which makes it easier for them to take your desired action.

4. Make the most out of ephemeral content

Despite its time-limited lifespan of 24 hours, the popularity of ephemeral content is growing  as so-called Stories grow 15x faster than feeds. Want to know the best part? Brands can add clickable links and redirect followers to the right website pages. 

A clickable Story link is one of the best features that allow brands to interact with engaged followers and turn them into customers. Why? There’s no need for interested followers to leave the app if they want to learn more about featured products or services, so it helps to improve customer experience.

Let’s take a look at Roots. The brand uses Facebook Stories to hook the interest of its followers and makes it easy for them to visit the website:

Roots

Since Roots invites customers to personalize their sweats, it’s no wonder that the company has a live chat on the target page so that customers can ask their questions, get replies, and ease the worried minds. If you want to build a live chat on your website, check out GetVoIP’s live chat software comparison or simply rely on Tidio.

5. Collaborate with social media influencers

Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most effective ways to draw attention to your brand and convince people to give your products a try. Since people trust social media influencers as much as their friends, it’s no wonder that businesses of all sizes reach out to influencers for a chance to enter an already established community and spread the word about their products.

When it comes to driving website traffic, social media influencers can help your brand, too. Why? When teaming up with influencers, you can ask them to invite their followers to visit your website or even add clickable Stories links to your website, just like in the example below:

influencers

When working with social media influencers, businesses can guide them on what type of content to produce and successful companies lay a bet on short yet interactive vertical videos. The BreadnBeyond report claims this content works well as 94% of people hold their phones vertically and vertical videos see a 90% higher completion rate.

In short, whether you’re a popular brand with an army of fans or an aspiring one with a small social media following, working with influencers gives an opportunity to reach a wider audience and drive website traffic.

6. Redirect social media followers to your website

Most people follow businesses on social media to learn more about their products and get in touch with brands they support. This means your social media followers are more likely to visit your website if you encourage them to do it. Thus, it’s a good idea to redirect your followers to your website.

For example, you can publish valuable content on your website and invite social media followers to check it out. Here’s how Whole Foods did it:

Whole Foods

Or you can also turn your loyal customers into brand advocates. According to ReferralCandy, 83% of satisfied customers are happy to share product recommendations with their friends, but only 29% of them actually do it. Thus, it’s a good idea to set up a referral program so that you can offer brand incentives for customers to spread the word about your business. 

As a result, customers will be more likely to share personalized URLs with their friends and followers for a chance to get a bonus from your brand. Check out this example below:

referral

To redirect social media followers to your site, it’s important to give them a solid reason to visit your website and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so you need to analyze your audience and test various ways to convert followers into visitors.

7. Organize a social media contest

With the love for free stuff and brand freebies, it’s no surprise that social media contests are extremely popular among users. In fact, 92.6% of businesses organize social media contests to attract new followers, raise brand awareness, and boost engagement.

When done right, social media contests can help to drive website traffic, too. For example, you can publish the entry requirements on your website or put ‘fill out the customer satisfaction survey on our website’ as one of the participation requirements.

Here’s how Lulus drives website traffic with its social media contest:

Lulus

8. Run social media ad campaigns

Social media marketing has become an essential part of any digital marketing strategy for brands of all sizes and niches, so the competition is high. To cut through the noise, businesses have to invest in paid ad campaigns and it gives results.

Not only can you reach your target audience with ease, but you can also choose the right objectives and therefore achieve your business goals faster. For example, it’s easy to set up ad campaigns that attract more website visitors.

Let’s take Matalan, for example. To raise awareness about its new collection, the company ran a campaign that showed off products and encouraged users to visit the website. 

ads

As a result, the campaign got a 59% increase in conversions and a 55% higher return on ad spend with dynamic ads. This means video ads are more popular among users, so brands can use video creation tools to create eye-catching social media video ads with ease.

Get More Website Traffic with Social Media

With the growing potential of social media platforms, it’s a good idea to convert engaged followers into website visitors who can become loyal customers. Moreover, there are a variety of business-friendly features on social media platforms that help businesses of all sizes and niches to reach their target audience and drive more website traffic.  


About the Author

Hugh Beaulac

Hugh Beaulac is a content marketer at MC2 Bid4Papers website and freelance SMM manager who also writes for high-authoritative websites on social media, email marketing, and business growth. With love for traveling, Hugh explores the world, but he’s currently based in Orlando (FL) where he can spend time with his friends and family.

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