How to boost your website’s traffic by using social media? At first sight, the goal seems simple. You just have to generate traffic by publishing content on social media. Alright, but what do you gain? Visibility for your company, which is crucial because we are talking about the acquisition of qualified leads, about the conversion of prospects into customers and how to fidelize them.
Social networks are a set of websites and platforms accessible on the internet made to create social interaction with an audience. In France, more than half of the population uses them.
Consider them as a way to acquire traffic to reinforce your brand awareness on your market.
No matter which field you work in, it is a great opportunity.Consumer behavior has evolved over the years. They are more connected, read the testimonies and compare before buying. More than 50% of them are influenced by social media before purchasing something.
The key to differentiate from your competitors resides in your capacity to adapt to your ideal target’s needs and to personalize your communication strategy. Increase the contact points to impact the diversity of your traffic.
Set up a Social Media strategy
Managing to gain more traffic on social media requires a structured social media strategy.
Define your goals and your audience
What are your goals and your target audience? These questions will help you determine your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
· What’s the reason for your company to use social media?
· What do you want to sell? Do you want to hire?
· What are your internal resources to ensure the regular publication of your content?
· Have you determined specific social networks to use based on your ideal target?
Apply Inbound Marketing
Do you know inbound marketing?
It is a methodology whose goal is to attract consumers by creating content with added value and give them a personalized experience.
Its opposite, outbound marketing is based on a more traditional form of marketing where the company approaches the consumer without necessarily knowing his/her need before. The idea is rather to create the need without a previous interest for the product or service by the consumer. Here, the goal is to reverse this old dynamic of consumers’ captation (outbound marketing). It means making your website’s visitors want to know more about you (inbound marketing) rather than using intrusive prospection techniques.
Ask yourself what are the expectations of your target audience in terms of social media content. By positioning yourself this way, you’ll enhance your chances to be searched on search engines.
The goal is to create content with added value which gives answers to your visitors’ issues. It is a great opportunity to showcase your expertise.
Enhance the engagement
The more optimal and in adequation with your audience’s expectations your positioning is, the more engagement you will develop around the publication of your content. Don’t forget that it is possible to like, share and comment on social networks.
The influence of social media on companies’ adaptation
Social networks are considered as communication channels which enhance the traffic on your website and develop your visibility. Since their take off, companies have embraced new marketing strategies to adapt to the evolution of the consumers’ behaviors.
Respecting the logic of the purchasing path
We can mention social selling which is the diffusion of added value content all along the consumers’ purchasing path. This strategy is based on the construction of a more human and authentic customer relationship,which generates more traffic to your site/company..
Becoming a brand ambassador
Companies also invite their employees to become ambassadors of their brand by giving a constructive opinion on social media. It’s a win-win strategy that is called employee advocacy where each party reinforces its personal branding.
Managing social networks with a all-in-one tool
Publishing content on social media requires organization. To do so, it is necessary to opt for an efficient steering tool. Choose a platform which offers complementary and adapted features: the possibility to prioritize the level of responsibilities by account, inserting call-to-actions, automating emails and newsletters, the appropriate storage capacity for your content, creating an editorial calendar…).
Sharpen your social media strategy
Using social media to boost your traffic is a strategic option. However, make sure to differentiate by choosing the right platforms.
Make the right choices
The multitude of social networks platforms doesn’t mean you have to engage on every one of them. Be selective and be present on the ones which match the behavior habits of your target audience.
Determine the social networks you will use based on your communication strategy and your brand image.
Furthermore, choosing a social network allows you to determine your goals (we have already seen that) but also which types of content you will post.
What do you want to share? Different content are at your disposal to entertain or inform your audience:
· Infographics: they are very appreciated because they are a great way to explain things in a modern and synthetic manner.
· Videos: it’s the preferred content on social networks these days. It brings credibility and impact on a determined subject, such as: client testimonial, expert interview, product demonstration.
· Tutorials: it’s the most used and well-known content to explain a particular subject because it is simple and quick.
A complete profile to communicate your content
It’s one of the first rules taught to social media beginners. Don’t forget to fill out your profile so visitors understand who you are and what your goals are.
It’s the perfect occasion to fill out the link to your website or blog.
Once you are done with that, you can create an editorial calendar from which you’ll be able to share your content on social networks. Nothing prevents you from optimizing old articles, capturing your visitors’ attention by asking questions, changing and/or optimizing your images, and modifying your titles.
Keep your feed up-to-date to capture your audience’s attention. Little piece of advice: go for visual content. You’ll be more likely to be seen and shared on social media.
Publication and its frequency
When should you publish content and at what frequency?
It’s important to know more about the habits of your audience. What are the days and the hours at which they are the most active?
The ideal moment varies from one platform to the other.
We have talked about the content quality but we would like to add that it’s important to determine different content categories. On one hand, it will enable your audience to have diversified content. On the other hand, you will get a better understanding of which category works best. You can create some funny content, behind the scenes of your company, or informative based on a quote or some storytelling.
Know your clients’ news
When you think about social networks, you automatically think about the most well-known : Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. But other options deserve some attention too:
· Pinterest: it enables you to share visual content such as images and infographics from your blog.
· Reddit: it invites you to show your knowledge on a subject or a field and get engagement from a dedicated community.
· Tumblr: it enables you to subscribe to numerous blogs which interest you and have easy access to the information you need. The advantage is that you can share the information you gathered on your blog.
· Snapchat: it’s practical if you want to show your company behind the scenes with short videos.
You can choose the most suitable platforms for your audience by consulting the demographic data. It will help you to understand which content is most suited to your target.
Develop the engagement of your audience
Do you sincerely believe that interacting with your audience helps create a real difference in loyalty? The answer is YES!
Seize the opportunity, answer questions and comments. It will benefit user experience and your brand awareness.
There are not that many companies who do it. It can be a real competitive advantage to develop.
Optimize your CTA
You have published your first content and you have noticed that engagement isn’t as great as you had hoped. It’s time to try out some things and enhance your call to action phrases.
Avoid sentences that are too simple and not really engaging such as:
· Click on the button
· Read more
· Obtain
Go for sentences that involve your visitors:
· I download my free e-book
· Yes, I’d like to participate in the next webinar
· I subscribe to this exclusive offer
Call to actions motivate your visitors to act. You can use them on your social media content to increase your traffic.
We hope this article will help you to develop your social media strategy, or for the newbies, to learn more about the reasoning behind those new medias.
One thing is for sure, social networks are communication channels which call for a real implication and reassessment to anticipate new trends and create content close to your clients’ needs.